Onward to the rock fortress of Gibraltar! It’s really confusing, because while being located on the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula, of Spain, it is under British control. What? Yes, that was my reaction too.
In essence, Gibraltar is one of the fourteen remaining British Overseas Territories, remnants of the British Empire. With an area of 6.7 sq kilometres and home to slightly over 32,000 persons, it is a mere 1% of the size of Madrid, the largest city of Spain.
A parting shot in Torremolinos before moving south to Gibraltar.The famed monolithic Rock of Gibraltar.
As our coach made way into Gibraltar, we saw the imposing presence of the limestone monolith that, legend has it, marks one end of the limit to the known world (the other end being Jebel Musa, on the opposite side of the Strait of Gibraltar).
Gibraltar has only one main street, and it runs through the only runway the small airport has jurisdiction over. Yes, you read it right, it runs across the runway. Very strange and it made me very nervous, considering how runway incursion is a massive bane of any aerodrome controller’s life.
Turns out everyone who drives into and out of Gibraltar are very used to this arrangement, where vehicular traffic have to halt before barriers and red lights, to allow aircraft to take-off or land. It isn’t too much of a hassle, since the airport sees only about a total of 30 flights per week but that is expected to rise exponentially over the years. I hope they have a better arrangement by then.
The ancient Moorish Castle purported to be built in the 8th century.
Right away, we were all whisked to Europa Point, located at the most southerly point of Gibraltar, in hope of having a glimpse of Morocco. Alas, it was too hazy over the waters. We were sorely disappointed but it was alright, there were other sights to see at the viewpoint like the lighthouse, the Harding’s Battery, a mosque and a shrine.
On a clear day, one can see as far as Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Europa Point is only this large; it didn’t take us all too long to explore the area thoroughly so our tour continued to Upper Rock Nature Reserve. (Update : the name has since been changed to Gibraltar Nature Reserve in 2013).
Barbary Macaques are native to Gibraltar, and are mostly seen on the Upper Rock. They appear to be tail-less, thanks to evolution, which has deemed tails to be useless to them over the centuries. The sightseeing bus stopped at a site at the Upper Rock so we could come up close and personal with the primates. I even attempted to pose near one to take a picture together, but I have to admit that I chickened out and daren’t go too near. The macaques are wild, after all.
You can see part of the runway in the background of the picture above. It continues to baffle me how Gibraltar operates with a main street running across their only runway. Fascinated, even.
After spending half a day exploring and understanding Gibraltar, we left for lunch before heading for Seville, capital of Andalusia.
We spent the night away in a very large room. There were a total of 4 doubler-decker bunk beds for the both of us, and the huge space really unsettled me. I most likely didn’t sleep the whole night because it just felt… strange. The mister felt the same way but we both unilaterally but unanimously decided to keep it to ourselves until we left the hotel the next morning. Suffice it to say that we were both mighty glad when we got to leave the room for good.
After breakfast, we were hanging around outside waiting to board the coach and that was when we were rather surprised to learn that hotel in the outskirts of Granada is located just across from where Granada National Airport is! Not very certain here, but I’m guessing that this airport serves only domestic flights and probably doesn’t operate at night since we were not bothered by landing or departing aircraft the night before.
And the day has finally arrived! We are finally visiting La Alhambra, the location I consider to be my personal highlight of this trip. While this palace and fortress complex is perhaps not as well-known as Sagrada Familia the iconic landmark of Spain, it can most certainly hold its own with its colourful history, evident from being the second most visited tourist attraction of the country.
A cursory check on Alhambra’s official ticketing website gives one an idea of how massive the palace grounds are. Apart from the palace itself, there are massive gardens and museums for both day and evening admissions. And since queues for both ticket-buying and entering are equally long, an intended visit must be planned in advance. This is really something I want to put out there for everyone including ourselves (we do want to explore Andalusia on our own again, one day) to consider since it’s easy to think that this seemingly lesser known attraction will be less crowded.
Another bright and sunny day.
Yup. Crowded. I think it wasn’t that difficult to conclude. And this was just at the entrance. We were hoping that the crowd dispersed in the sparse palace grounds. We were fortunate that it really did.
We walked quickly through the gardens to keep in pace with our guide through the grounds, to get to Charles V Palace. Came by beautiful buildings along the way but we were running on a schedule trying to beat the crowd so…
Charles V Palace (Spanish: Palacio de Carlos V), possibly one of the most unique structures within the compound of La Alhambra, was ordered to be constructed by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1500-1558. While some of the rooms within the palace had been converted by Catholic Monarchs after the conquest of Granada in 1492, Charles V wished to have a permanent residence befitting his status to be built near the Alhambra palaces.
Taking a picture within Charles V Palace.
This building is of relative importance in Spain due to the Renaissance style although it met with multiple difficulties and construction was only completed in 1952, more than four centuries after works commenced in 1527. Standing within the unique circular two-storey patio almost made me feel like I was in a bullring. Totally unrelated to the structure itself but considering that I was in Spain after all, I didn’t feel too bad about this gross misunderstanding.
From Charles V Palace, we proceeded to the fortress of Alcazaba, one of the oldest part of Alhambra. Built in the 13th century, the Alcazaba had had a colourful history: when the palaces were completed, the Moors used this fortress for military purposes. Later on when the Christians took over, they transformed it into the state prison. Like many other parts of Alhambra, it was neglected, fell into disrepair and was forgotten until the late 19th century when restorative works commenced.
Patio of the Gilded Room, between the Mexuar and the Gilded Room, became a meeting place for everyone.Court of the Myrtles.A closer view.
Throughout history, Court of the Myrtles (Spanish: Patio de los Arrayanes) was given various names but the current name came about because of the myrtle bushes surrounding the central pool. At 31 metres long and slightly over 7 metres wide, this pond has somewhat become an iconic spot whereby every visitor to Alhambra tries to photograph (the queue to get into the vantage spot was long). It’s easy to see why – the green pool acted as a mirror, reflecting the surrounding buildings and structures.
A precious group photo of the group of people we travelled with.Generalife, the most beautiful part of the grounds, in my opinion.
You could say that our guide saved the best for last. The Generalife (Spanish: Palacio de Generalife) we see today is nothing like what it looked like before, since it was altered and rebuilt multiples times throughout history since the 13th century. Composed of several beautiful, large gardens, the quarters became a retreat for Kings of Granada who wanted to get away from the mundane-ness of their duties. In contrast to the more opulent architecture of other buildings in the area, buildings of Generalife are plain and simple. Here, the floral and water take centrestage.
While walking in Generalife, I get it why this place was chosen as the place to get away from it all. With the greenery and sounds of water trickling, I felt calm and at peace despite the heat. Kinda makes me wonder how this place looks like at night. From pictures online, La Alhambra is breathtaking at night.
It was a long drive westward to Granada and that necessitated an early morning departure from Valencia, with an intermediate stop at the cathedral town of Guadix along the way.
Another pit-stop for toilet break.Legs of Spanish Iberian ham. Apparently very expensive but from memory, these weren’t.
Such run-of-the-mill pit stops are now a common occurrence each time we journey on to our next destination along the southern coast. What makes this one particularly interesting were these legs of ham we spotted hanging from a pole, the first of its kind we came across. I would go as far to admit that I did not particularly appreciate the smell (not really a fan of cured meat and pork) but hey it was a rather strange sight to us, and we all gravitated closer to have a look. Someone in our group actually contemplated bringing a leg home!
Beautiful landscape of Andalusia.
Before we arrived at Guadix, we made a lunch stop and had the most awesome and satisfying meal of the trip. I was totally blown away by the seafood paella. Indeed, no one else does seafood paella as well as the Spanish do. Not even Spanish restaurants in Singapore, unfortunately.
Now, Guadix is one curious town, being one of the oldest human settlements in Spain dating all the way back to the Stone Age. While it lies at an elevation of over 900 metres, most of its inhabitants live underground in cave houses. This is because in general, Andalusians are rather fond of living underground as a means to escape the summer heat, given the semi-arid climate of the region. They are also very proud of their unique dwellings, as we found out while walking round the town: we came across several signs inviting us to view their cave houses if we so wished to. We eventually did take up an offer, curious to experience how cooling these cave houses actually are.
In spite of the scorching heat outside, I was taken by surprise at how the ambient temperature dropped so significantly the moment we stepped into the cave house. There was no air-conditioning or fan whatsoever but wow, it felt like the temperature dropped by 10 degree Celsius instantly. The wisdom of our ancestors simply never fails to amaze me.
Cathedral of the Incarnation in the background.
We climbed to the top of the hill for a panoramic of the town ancient town and its surroundings. Beautiful day it was, and we were somehow shaded by some clouds overhead, making the short respite atop the hill more bearable as we enjoyed the view that went as far as the mountain ranges of Andalusia. And from where we stood, the Guadix Cathedral (also know as Cathedral of the Incarnation) was a striking presence and I would have loved for the opportunity to visit. Suffice it to say that we didn’t manage to on this particular trip.
Rare pic of me in full concentration trying to take a panoramic shot. Didn’t quite work out…
Guadix started out with producing quality cutlery but over the years the focus had shifted to mostly handcrafted earthenware, which was evident everywhere at every corner we turned.
It’s quite clear earthenware wasn’t actually our cup of tea; we were really more of the fridge-magnet-and-postcards kind of tourists and were happy to stop by the store at the corner of the street where our coach was parked nearby. Seemed like we were definitely travelling with like-minded group mates, judging from the picture above. ๐
And finally, we were on our way to Granada, which was definitely one of the highlights of our itinerary. After all, Granada isn’t known as the Moorish jewel of Spain for nothing, primarily for its strong Moorish influence in its buildings and streets culminating in the impressive Alhambra Palace. Our first place though, wasn’t the palace but the viewpoint Mirador de San Nicolas, located next to the Church of San Nicolas. Even since Bill Clinton the ex-US president visited this viewpoint in 1997, it has become the must-visit viewpoint for every visitor to Granada although that is not to say that the other viewpoints offer less superior views. For the record, Mirador de San Miguel also offers a splendid view of this beautiful city.
We bade farewell to Barcelona early in the day and boarded the coach that was to be our main mode of transport for the whole duration of the trip. And since our group size wasn’t very large, everyone had ample space to take two seats each. Very helpful for stretching out when needed since we were spending a lot of time on the roads tracing the lower coast of Spain.
Toll booths as we were leaving region of Barcelona.
One of the many typical pit stops we made along the way.
After a pit stop to relieve our bladders, we headed for Penรญscola, an ancient fortified seaport that is now part of the Valencian Community. Often called ‘Gibraltar of Valencia’, it is located along the Mediterranean Coast and a very popular tourist destination. If Penรญscola sounds familiar to you as it did to me, it is likely because you’ve heard of the annual comedy film festival that the town hosts. Either that, or you might have mixed it up with yet another place with beautiful beaches – Pensacola in Florida, United States of America. I know this because well… I did. ๐
The old town of Penรญscola comprises a confusing maze of narrow winding cobbled stone streets with the castle located at the highest point of the town, at 64 square metres above mean sea level. It was built by the Knights of the Templar in the late 13th century, and since then it had undergone several minor alterations.
Beyond this gate and we would have officially entered the medieval town of Penรญscola.
It was a gorgeous, beautiful day with cloudless blue skies as we came into close contact with the Mediterranean Sea and finally understood its enigmatic draw. Long romaticised as the destination for lovers, the many islands and coastal cities with dramatic coastlines surrounding the Mediterranean Sea are often overrun by tourists during the popular summer months. It really doesn’t help that many of these coastal cities and bigger islands are also ports of call for cruise ships (I’ll admit I am not a fan of cruise ships – they destroy the environment at least three times more severely than aircraft). In this respect, we have chosen well, to visit Penรญscola during the shoulder month of April. I felt immense relief at not having to jostle with crowds of cruise ship tourists while we explored the walled fortress.
The Mediterranean Sea is indeed blue in colour. Its lacking in certain nutrients promoting growth of sea algae resulted in the signature blue and clear waters. The lack of sea algae meant that the water remains close to pure water, hence reflecting the true colour of the sky. That doesn’t really explain all of the factors why seas and oceans appear blue, but for the most part, this does explain why the Mediterranean Sea appears bluer than the rest of them.
Sadly, it won’t stay this way for long given the pollution from increased sea activity supporting tourism. Sustainable tourism is a term coined only in recent years, but one that resonates with me as we travel more widely over the years. It’s a huge topic to cover on its own so for now, I shall just leave it here as food for thought.
The castle is now a popular tourist attraction and the beaches and surrounding area a popular family holiday resort. The surrounding shops, I have to say, are mostly tourist traps selling run-of-the-mill souvenirs. This is unfortunately the way it has become for most, if not all popular tourist spots. Nevertheless, that did not take away the charm of the ancient town one bit. And I’m all for it if these retail activities help support the livelihood of the locals.
Around noon when the sun was getting a little too hot for comfort, we returned to our coach to seek refuge and headed for Valencia, the third largest city of Spain after Madrid and Barcelona.
And one of the first things we did was to sight-see Valencia while in the coach. I was thoroughly impressed with the various architecture found all around the city, especially in the centre where Romanesque architecture dominated. We were driven across town to make a stop at the world famous City of Arts and Sciences.
L’Umbracle at City of Arts and Sciences.
Being the most important modern tourist attraction of Valencia, the cultural and architectural jewel that is City of Arts and Sciences feature several futuristic-looking structures including one that resembles the skeleton of a whale and an open-air structure made of numerous arches encompassing plant species indigenous to the region serving as the entrance to the ‘city’. In the ‘city’ there are several museums and other interesting spaces which we unfortunately did not have enough time to explore in further detail..
Valencia Cathedral, also known as Saint Mary’s Cathedral, was our next destination. As with most European cities, this church sits in the heart of the old town. It was consecrated in the 13th century as a Catholic Church that was built over the site of a Visigothic church, which was turned into a mosque when the Moors occupied Valencia. This church has a vastly interesting history this way, but hardly unique since we later learnt that the church in Cรณrdoba has a similar history.
Because the construction of the church was built over two centuries from the 13th to the 15th century, the structure consisted of several different artistic styles, but predominantly Gothic. While the interior does look a little like a mishmash of several architectural styles, the vast majority of visitors to the church miss this as they pay the most attention to the chapel located at the back of the church, for a very important artefact housed within.
Chapel of the Holy Chalice.
From the standpoint of Roman Catholicism, the Valencia Cathedral is exceptionally important because of the rather nondescript Chapel of the Holy Chalice within the church. Or rather, what the chapel keeps behind the protective glass – the Holy Chalice, also known as the Holy Grail, believed to the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper with his apostles. Religious historians cannot agree on how it travelled all the way to Valencia, and while no one can really prove that this is the authentic Holy Grail, it is probably the most famous of the several Holy Grails there are.
After the immensely interesting guided tour of the Valencia Cathedral, we explored the streets of the city and came across a mobile kiosk selling Orxata. Orxata, a drink made from nuts and apparently unique only to Valencia, originating as far back at the 13th century. Our group crowded around the mobile kiosk and inundated the poor Spanish lady with our orders, curious about the taste. The drink was very refreshing and to be honest, tasted just a tad like the soybean milk that I liked. A welcomed beverage given how scorching hot it was getting.
As we continued with our walking tour, we came by an impressive large building that was closed. We were told that this was the market. The Mercat Central of Valencia (Spanish: Mercat Central de Valรจncia) is claimed to be one of the biggest and oldest markets in Europe. It started out as an open-air marketplace in the 19th century and did not have a roof until 1928 when construction was completed.
Standing across from Valencia Cathedral.
The famous El Miguelete Bell Tower.
We finally rounded up our walking tour with a view of El Miguelete Bell tower attached to the Valencia Cathedral. Like the church itself, the bell tower looked like it was designed by an architect who couldn’t decide on the style he wanted the tower to be built in. This functioning bell tower is a curious sight, for it seems to be incomplete, exposing the large bells. Indeed, the bell tower never finished construction after it was halted for some reason in the 18th century. The final phase of construction never resumed since the locals decided that they liked how the bell tower looked. And this is how this unique-looking tower comes to existence.
A newly-wed couple we met during our city tour around Valencia.
If Plaza de Toros de Valencia (officially Plaรงa de bous de Valรจncia) somewhat reminds you of the Colosseum in Rome, that’s because this bullring arena built in neoclassical style in the 1850’s did take inspiration from Rome architecture including the Colosseum and the likes. Situated almost right smack in the city centre, this arena sits over 10,000, making it one of the largest arena in Spain, making it really hard to miss.
Anyhow we passed by (several times) but a pity we didn’t get the opportunity to enter for a visit since we were on a tight schedule. In fact, that was the last landmark we saw of Valencia in daylight. We had to travel onwards to our accommodation for the night before travelling some 500km to our next destination – Granada.
Mention this city located on the North-Eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula facing the Mediterranean Sea, and several images come to mind: the Port of Barcelona, La Rambla and Camp Nou. After a short and uneventful transit at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, we landed at Barcelona El Prat Airport on a cloudy, balmy day. Almost immediately, we were whisked off to commence our tour of the City of Counts once we cleared the customs.
The mister still looking fresh after a long red-eye flight from home.
Our first stop – Barcelona Olympic Stadium (or Estadi Olรญmpic Lluรญs Companys, as renamed in 2001). The stadium was originally built in 1927, and renovated in 1989 in preparation to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Today, the stadium continues to play host to some of the most important sporting events Barcelona sees. It also hosted numerous concerts held by several famous artists including Bon Jovi, Madonna, Rolling Stones and Shakira, just to name a few.
By a stroke of luck, we found the stadium to be relatively deserted. Perhaps it being mid-day had something to do with this seemingly odd phenomenon at otherwise a rather important landmark of the city. Shortly after, we were ferried to another place for more sightseeing.
One important cultural aspect of Catalonian Barcelona is the Sardana Dance symbolising unity and pride. Circles of people join their raised hands and slowly dance round and round with small, precise steps. The circles become bigger as more people join in the dance, and eventually when the circle becomes too big, it may break into several smaller circles. Usually, all are welcomed to join but it is good to observe how to do the dance properly prior to jumping in because a wrong move could really upset the rhythm of the whole circle.
Given the significance of the Sardana Dance, little wonder that we came across a delightful monument depicting the unity dance on Montjuรฏc, a broad shallow hill with a relatively flat top overlooking the harbour, to the southwest of the city centre. The monument, known as La Sardana de Montjuรฏc, was completed by Josep Caรฑas and officially commissioned at Montjuรฏc Park in 1966.
Panoramic view of the port of Barcelona.Inexpensive souvenirs for family and friends.
The monument was not the only reason why we found ourselves on Montjuรฏc. There, we were also greeted with a scenic panoramic view of Barcelona. Montjuรฏc Park seems like a must-visit for all tourists to the city because while we were there, tour buses were constantly offloading more and more tourists at the park. Apart from the view (which must look better on a clear day), the park came complete with a small cafe and mobile vendors selling keychain souvenirs. It only took us mere minutes to fulfill our responsibilities (with the requisite souvenirs) to our family and friends.
After a late lunch, we were brought around on a city tour where we saw numerous notable landmarks, in particular houses designed by Antoni Gaudรญ. Right from the start, Gaudรญ the architect thought very differently from his contemporaries. He loved nature and his designs were greatly influenced by different forms of nature. La Pedrera (or Casa Milร )with its bold forms of the undulating stone facade is a fine example.
Interior ceiling depicting sunflowers.
La Sagrada Familia is probably the singular most famous landmark ever to be associated with Gaudรญ and maybe even Barcelona. This large Roman Catholic Church commenced construction in 1882, and till today, is still incomplete. The construction progressed so slowly largely due to the fact that funds were coming in solely via private donations, not to mention the interruption of the Spanish Civil War. It is largely anticipated that the church will finally be completed by 2026, on the centennial of Gaudรญ’s death. Whether it can be completed on time remains much to be seen. If it does, we really should revisit Barcelona that same year, some 20 years after our first visit.
Construction of the Passion facade was still very much underway.
There are 3 grand facades to the church building – the Nativity facade to the east, the Passion facade to the west, and the Glory facade to the south. The Nativity facade was the first to be completed and directly bore most of Gaudรญ’s influence. At the time of our visit, only the Nativity facade was truly complete; both the Passion and Glory facades were still undergoing construction, especially the latter. Without a wide-angle lens, there was just no way one could take in the whole facade of the cathedral, which stood at an astounding height including the spires.
Our last stop for the day prior to dinner was a visit to La Rambla (‘Las Ramblas‘ in Spanish), a street in Central Barcelona lined with kiosks, stalls selling flowers and animals, buskers, street performers, cafes and restaurants. The promenade is therefore, a place to see and to be seen, for locals and tourists alike. However in recent years, more tourists than locals like to linger along the streets, and that has somewhat changed the character of the streets and the nature of businesses plying along the promenade considerably. Tourist crowd during the high season has also attracted many pickpockets to easy prey in the form of inattentive tourists.
Walking down La Rambla was quite an experience in itself. The street performers lining along two sides of the street were most impressive, and totally devoted to their trade. We’ve seen street performers prior to this visit, but never with such amount of vivacity and dedication. From the sheer ingenious to the downright absurd, we’ve seen it all. In fact we think we’ve seen the best here in La Rambla, Barcelona.
As we walked on, we came by this enthralling bazaar of sorts and decided to explore further. It turned out to be a wet market selling groceries and sweets. The surfeit of colours were so vibrant we felt like purchasing some of them, especially the fruits! Unfortunately time was not on our side. We left the bazaar after briskly walking through it and made our way back to the coach.
That evening, we were brought to a restaurant called Marina Moncho’s by the marina to have probably the most delicious seafood paella we’d ever eaten in our whole lives. It was our first time with paella and what a fine example it was. Never got to taste seafood paella that comes anywhere close since.
TRIVIA: Barcelona, nicknamed the City of Counts (‘Ciutat Comtal‘ in Spanish), is the capital of Catalonia (an autonomous community of Spain) and the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid the capital. This moniker came about as sort of a commemoration to the Counts of Barcelona who took control of the city at the beginning of the 9th century. The counts became increasingly independent and expanded their territory eventually to control the whole of Catalonia. Barcelona is often erroneously abbreviated as Barรงa, which is used exclusively to refer to FC Barcelona. The locals commonly used the abbreviation ‘Barna’ instead.
Wayfaring: Still 