Ronda, Spain

Ronda is perched high on a rock, surrounded by cliffs, and divided into two parts by a 295 feet deep gorge.

For the Moors, the town was impregnable for many centuries.  The town was taken by the Spaniards in 1485, seven years before Granada fell.

El Tajo (the ravine) divides Ronda into the whitewashed La Ciudad (the old Moorish town) and El Mercadillo (the new town).  The Puento Nuevo (New Bridge) was built from 1751-1793, after the previous bridge fell. 

The Plaza de Toros is one of the oldest in Spain (1785) and the birthplace of modern bullfighting. The Ronda bullring was the first great Spanish bullring. 

Seville, Spain

We drove one and half hours from Cordoba and arrived in Seville.  Seville was Spain's largest and richest city in the 17th century.  Today Seville is the fourth-largest city in Spain. 

Plaza de Espana was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929.  Plaza de España has been used for some of the scenes of George Lucas' STAR WARS Episode II:  Attack of the Clones.

Old Seville is bisected by its grand boulevard, Avenida de la Constitucion.  It was made into a pedestrian boulevard in 2007. 

Los Reales Alcazares was originally a 10th century palace built for the governors of the local Moorish state.  Today it still functions as a royal palace.  This is a Christian ruler's palace, built in the Moorish style.



The Sevilla Cathedral was built on the site of the main Mosque.  The Christians kept the mosque's minaret and turned it into a belltower.  They also kept the Patio de los Naranjos to be used as a cloister. 

The Sevilla Cathedral is the third largest church in Europe.  St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is the largest, the next largest is St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and then the Sevilla Cathedral.  The cathedral is the largest Gothic church. 

The mosque on the site was torn down in 1401 during the Reconquista.  It took the Christians 120 years to build the cathedral.

The Giralda is 330 feet tall and is one of most beautiful and admired towers in the world. 

The spiraling ramp inside the tower was designed for horseback riders who rode up five times a day for the Muslim call to prayer.

Views from the top of the Giralda Belltower:

Cordoba, Spain

Cordoba was a 4 1/2 hour drive from Toledo.  Cordoba has a Roman and Moorish past.  It once served a regional capital for both empires.  During the Dark Ages, Cordoba was the center of a thriving and sophisticated culture.  The city was famous for religious tolerance, artistic expression, and dedication to philosophy and the science.

We started our tour by visiting the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. 

The Alcazar was built by Alfonso XI in 1386.  Within the walls stands the old palace which is now a museum with Roman sarcophagi and mosaics.  The Moors added the gardens rich with flowers and fountains.

Then we walked to the Jewish Quarter.  It dates from the late Middle Ages, after Muslim rule and during the Christian era. 

This synagogue is the only one preserved in Andalusia.  It dates to 1315 and was built by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim craftsmen.  The synagogue was used as a church until the 19th century

Our final destination was the Mezquita.

A former mosque, the Mezquita was once the center of Western Islam and a wonder of the medieval world.  The mosque was built in 784 AD.

The Baroque bell tower encases the original Muslim minaret.  The muezzin would climb the minaret five times a day to call the Muslims to face Mecca and pray.

There are 850 columns topped with double arches. 

The arches are round Romanesque above a Visigothic horseshoe arch.  The horseshoe arches are made from alternating red brick and white stone.

In 1236, Saint-King Ferdinand III conquered Cordoba and turned the mosque into a cathedral.  16 columns were removed and replaced by Gothic arches to make the chapel. 

Toledo, Spain

Toledo was a one hour drive from Madrid.  The bus dropped us off at the escalators at the bottom of town.  The city sits on a high, rocky perch that is protected on three sides by the Tajo river.  It is so well preserved that it is forbidden by the Spanish government to have any modern exteriors.

For centuries, Toledo was a Roman transportation hub in the center of Iberia.  In 554 Ad, Rome fell and the city became a capital for the Visigoths.  In 711, the Moors made Toledo a regional center.  The city was reconquered by the Christians in 1085. 

We started with a walking tour of the city.  The city has a confusing medieval street plan.

Our first stop was the Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca.  It is one of Toledo's oldest monuments.  It was built by the Muslims around 1200 and was originally a synagogue.  It has Moorish horsehoe arches and wall carvings. 

During the course of its history, it has been used for worship, military purposes, and even a warehouse.  It was restored once and for all in 1851 and reacquired its former glory.  Today it is a church.

The Toledo Cathedral is considered one of the finest examples of 13th century Gothic architecture.  It was built between 1226-1495.

After visiting the Cathedral, we ended our walking tour at Plaza de Zocodover.  We went to Santo Tome mazapan shop.

We bought a box of assorted mazapan.  It was all very delicious! 

This picture was taken after we had sampled a few!

We then took the elevator back down to the bus parking area and headed off to our next city...Cordoba.

Madrid, Spain

Prado Museum

One of the world's greatest art galleries with a collection of over 5,000 paintings and sculptures.  The building was constructed towards the end of the 18th century as a natural science museum near the Botanical Gardens.

The Prado has Spanish art (Goya and Velazquez), Italian Renaissance art (Titian, Fra Angelico, and Raphael), and Northern art (Durer, Rubens and Bosch).

Just a few of the works of art that we viewed were:

Francisco de Goya:

La Maja Desnuda
The Second of May
The Third of May
Saturn Devouring One of His Sons

Diego Velazquez:
Las Meninas
La Infanta Margarita de Austria

El Greco:
The Holy Trinity
The Resurection
The Adoration of the Shepherds

Palacio Real

This is Europe's third-greatest palace after Versailles and Schonbrunn.  King Philip V commissioned the palace after the fortress on the site burned down in the 18th century.  Philip was the grandson of Louis XIV.  He was born in Versailles Palace and preferred speaking French.  He wanted Palacio Real to be his own Versailles with over 2,000 rooms.



Avila, Spain

Avila is one of the best-walled cities in the world.  Alfonso VI ordered the building of the walls to fortify the city during the battle between the Muslims and the Christians. The walls were built from 1090-1099AD.

The best view of the town is about a mile away at the Cuatro Postes.

The Cathedral of Avila

On the outside, the Cathedral looks like a fortress.  It is situated next to the ramparts and makes up part of the defense system.  It was thought to be the first Gothic cathedral in Spain. 

The Convent of Saint Teresa was built in the 17th century on the spot where she was born.  She established Discalced Carmelite convents throughout Spain. 





Segovia, Spain

Segovia was founded by the Celts around the year 700 BC.  It was conquered and destroyed by the Romans around 80 BC.  The Romans rebuilt the city and it soon became one of the most important imperial cities in the Iberian Peninsula. 

Because Segovia was a Roman military base and needed water, Emperor Trajan had his engineers build a nine-mile aqueduct.  It began at the Rio Acebeda and channeled water to the city, ending at the Roman castle. 

The Segovia Cathedral was built between 1525-1768, when the Renaissance style was already predominant in Spain. This was Spain's last major Gothic building.  It has been named "Lady of Spanish Cathedrals."

The Segovia Alcazar is perched on a rocky ledge where it overlooks all the passes into the valley.  We don't know when it was founded, but there has always existed a fortress here since the time of the Roman domination. 

This palace was a favorite residence of the monarchs of Castile during the Middle Ages. Alfonso VI began to add extensions to the Alcazar.  In 1256, part of the building collapsed but was later reconstructed.  It has grown through the ages and its function has changed many times.  Besides being a palace, it was a prison for 200 years, and then the Royal Artillery School.  There was also a fire in 1862.

The last restoration took place in 1940.  It had now recouped all its past grandeur and architectural splendor.  It is now serves as a museum.