05 - Seville, Cardoba and back to Seville

The Spanish countryside is dotted with these large Bulls... makes for interesting viewing and photographs... this one was on the way from Estepona to Seville


In Seville - you have to mix with the right crowd...


liquor induced genialty...


architecture in Seville....


The view from out hotel room...


This old lady was selling snails...(random finger not for sale!)


More of the Seville Cathedral...


by know.. you should have expected it...


and from the other side... this is supposedly the largest on the Iberian Peninsula..


Closeup of the front - gothic architecture at its finest...


Inside the Alcazar... yet another Moorish fortress/palace... this one got a significant amount of use from the subsequent catholic kings - this was where Columbus was granted his ships, where all the conquistadors were commanded from..


And inside.. more arches and courtyards and fountains, pools...


It never gets old...


The ladies' courtyard...


For the king who wanted the sky in his bedroom... beautiful plane tessalation work..


...its just keeps coming...


I know you were waiting for it...:)


The summer house!


Down below...


Hang time.. waiting for the cathedral to open...


Arab waterwheel in Cordoba...The cathedral in Seville didnt open...(religious function) so we set out to Cordoba..


Outside the Mezquita...


The Mezquitea.. initially a mosque.. and now a cathedral - typical of Spanish history.. but beautiful nevertheless


The famous arches....


hypnotic...


Was that the same picture ??


Feel like a mosque yet?


and yet its not... I thought it was like Gazpacho... a million different influences added on top of each other.. what would it have been like unaltered ?


and on the outside...


The fortress next door..


bulls... Toro...


The impound lot.. when our car got towed... !


The last day... roaming the streets of Seville...

That was it... after that we drove to Madrid, got terribly lost, got pulled over for a drug inspection.. and almost all of us barely made our flights... !

04 - Mijas, Fuengirola, Rhonda and Cadiz

After the greuling days at Granada and Malaga - we slowed down the pace... on to Mijas


posterchild for White villages - Pueblo Blanco..Mijas is set into the mountainface... about 40 kms from the coast


From the parking lot...


Ruins of a fortress at the town lookout point.


totally unplanned...


impossible is just the beginning


Gorgeous vistas everywhere you look


a little Sangria..(or strawberry milkshake)


Turns out the girls dont always dress like this.. that day was their annual feria - fiesta....mmm..!


On the way to the Feria...


The queen of the fiesta...:) !!


They pass out special sherry made for the festival... this gets better and better..


the view on the way out...


....


The beach - Playa..



Time for dinner !!


thought we'd leave without a velveeta picture??


This is how they do it...in Spain !


Rhonda... beautiful little town built on a and around a gorge... was also having its annual feria that day...man.. did we luck out !


or did he....!


Another Pueblo Blanco on the way to Cadiz...


The cathedral in Cadiz with its intantly recognizable yellow glazed time dome..


The oldest city in Europe...


Square in front of the Cathedral...


as seen in the shades..


I did say we had slowed down the pace...


Lounging on the steps...<...


Ordering lunch at the fried Seafood take away place


This is how we do....


refreshments..!


The carnage...!


Writing my journal back at the hotel in Estepona