One week in Andalucia !

Last april, we took a week of vacation in Spain. From home, the french/spanish border is a mere two hour drive ! We decided to go south, all the way to Grenada, visiting Toledo, Cordoba and Segovia on the way. The weather was not always nice, but we still got to see lots of stuff !

Toledo is an ancient, fortified city, which was once home to kings. We were there on palm sunday (week before easter) and got to see a traditionnal procession.

(one of the cathedral)

Cordoba is one of the three large cities of Andalucia (with Sevilla and Grenada), with a dominant arabic history. The building now called a "cathedral" really is a mosquee dating back to the 11th century.

The rest of the city is beautiful, with small streets twisting around, traditionnal houses, flowers hanging from railings, and so on...

Grenada is probably the most visited city in the region. Because we took that week of leave at the last minute, we could not get tickets to visit the famous "alhambra" (entries are limited to a few thousand people each day).

 

We could still visit the rest of the town, with its massive but elegant cathedral, and the nice view and the alhambra (meaning "red" in arabic, which is not obvious from the picture because of the lack of sunshine).

We also made quick trips to smaller towns, castles, ruins, and so on :

On the way back to France, we stopped at a lovely hotel housed inside an old covent. Except for a disoriented, hence very irritated Sybille, that was one of the most confortable nights we ever had...

(the windows on the second floor are the hotel rooms)

Then we drove to Segovia, whose ancient fortified city is sitting atop a cliff. A gain, we took our time walking the streets, looking at the old buildings.