An unabashed tourist and her family explore the world one holiday at a time.
I can’t tell you how much I loved walking towards the Alhambra’s entrance. On the one side, the wall of the fort is at least two storeys high, rough-hewn stones and mortar tantalizingly hiding the history behind it. On the other side, the lush vegetation in autumnal hues let a dappling light fall on the path leading to the gate....
Our real reason for visiting Granada was a trip to the Alhambra. I know, it gets confusing. We visited the Alcazaba in Malaga, the Alcazar in Seville and now the Alhambra in Granada. Here’s the quick and easy translation: alcazaba comes from the Arabic for citadel, alcazar means palace and Alhambra literally translates as “the red one” and is the...
When we arrived in Granada, the GPS directed us to the nearest (and probably most expensive!) underground parking garage in the area. It seemed a little dodgy to us at first. The walls were sprayed with graffiti and a boisterous group of teenagers sporting hoodies and tattoos congregated around the exit. We avoided eye contact and tried to look as...
The only things my father wanted us to bring back for him from Spain was a leather belt and Cajun spices. So wherever we went, we kept our eyes open for exotic spices (although we later found out that Cajun is actually a mixture of various spices, which we ironically found in a pharmacy back home). But before we found...
Gibraltar was a definite highlight of our trip to the south of Spain, mainly because we had opted to take a bus tour and had a wonderfully witty guide who managed to keep me entertained all day. While he expertly navigated the narrow streets of this small island city, he kept up a continuous narrative about the sights along the...
Visiting Gibraltar turned out to be logistical nightmare. Because I’m travelling with a South African passport, I needed to get a visa. There was a slight chance that Gareth’s parents wouldn’t be able to join us for our Spain 2010 holiday, in which case we considered making a quick stopover in the UK to see them while we were in...
Last week I wrote about our visit to Seville’s Real Alcazar. Here are some more pictures of this interesting palace and it’s beautiful gardens. For more posts in the Spain 2010 series, click here. Have you been to Seville’s Real Alcazar? What was your favourite spot?
The Real Alcazar, or royal palace, in Seville was one of the highlights of our Spain 2010 trip. While the Cathedral was bustling with tourists, the Alcazar was strangely deserted when we visited, even though the two sights are only a stone’s throw away from each other. Perhaps the €7.50 per person entry fee is to blame, but the moment...
Over the years it’s become tradition to climb the highest tower in a city (usually that of its resident cathedral or the local castle) to have a birds-eye view of the scenery. In Seville, we climbed to the top of La Giralda, before exploring the area around the cathedral on foot. This is what we saw: For more...
The Seville Cathedral, locally known as Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, is the third largest church in the world. With my penchant for Catholic churches, it was inevitable that it would feature as one of the two main attractions when we visited the capital of Andalucía. An earthquake in 1356 badly damaged the city’s mosque and the then...