Spanspek

Today has been full-on: two tours of the city!

The first took us to the Plaza de España, a large semicircular building erected for the 1929 World Expo. It celebrates all of Spain with frescos of each province lining its lower walls. We looked at only the outside. What it´s for now, who knows, but it certainly is impressive.

The next stop was the Maria Luisa Gardens and the Jewish Quarter. Yes, another. I suppose it´s an indication of the tolerance of the Muslim overlords of the time that the three faiths should be allowed to co-exist. But then they do have one thing (God) in common! Like the Jewish Quarter in Cordoba, the streets are narrow, more the way of building than anything peculiar to Jewish quarters.

We also toured the 1929 and 1992 Pavillions, each set comprising buildings erected to represent countries or groups of countries. Then it was on to the Macarena Cathedral. Many Catholics will disagree of course but since I´m pretty much faithless these days and it´s hard enough to understand devotion to something one must know is untrue, throwing enormous resources at places of worship at the expense of the devotees is utterly immoral. But that´s partly my Protestant upbringing!

This afternoon we went to the Real Alcázares, an enormous palace built by the Arabs and taken over by the Christians. But as with the Corbdoba Cathedral, an enormous amount of it has been preserved.

You have to hand it to them. Denied the right to make images of people, the artists threw their efforts into geometric design which is just breathtaking.