马德里夜景 Madrid at night

Our return flight to New York was delayed in Madrid. We used the extra evening to explore the city. It was cold but we found beautiful buildings with beautiful lights.


Plaza Mayor, Madrid.


Street lights, in front of Puerta de Alcala, Madrid.

我见到了非洲！ Tangier--my glimpse of Africa

Castle "Castillo de Guzman el Bueno" in Tarifa, the southernmost city in continental Europe.


Visitors enjoy the view of Africa from the castle in Tarifa. Africa is only 15km in the distance, south of Gibraltar Strait.


From Tarifa, Spain, we took a 35-minute ferry to cross the Gilbratar Strait. Then we landed in Tangier (Tanger), a completely different culture, country, continent! We were with the Arabs, in Morocco, Africa.


Market scene in Medina, Tanger. We only had time to see Kasbah, and the markets in Medina.


Market scene in Medina, Tanger.

塞维利亚 Sevilla

Seville's cathedral--the biggest in the world, says the Guinness Book of Records--was built on the site of Moorish Seville's main mosque between 1401 and 1506. The structure is primarily Gothic, though most of the internal decoration is in later styles. The adjoining tower, La Giralda, was the mosque's minaret and dates from the 12th century.


Cathedral and bell tower above the orange trees. In 1401, the 12th-century Almohad mosque was destroyed to clear space for a massive cathedral. All that remains is the Patio de Los Narajos, where the faithful would wash before prayer, and the famed minaret La Giralda, built in 1198.


Orange tree courtyard (Patio de Los Naranjos) of the cathedral, Sevilla.


Cathedral of Sevilla. Legend has it that the reconquistadores in 1401 wished to demonstrate their religious fervor by constructing a church so great, they said, that "those who come after us will take us for madman." With 44 individual chapels, the Cathedral of Sevilla is the third largest in the world, after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and the world's biggest Gothic edifice ever constructed. It took more than a century to build.


Cathedral of Sevilla.


The retablo mayo (altarpiece), one of the largest in the world, is a golden wall of intricately wrought saints and disciples.


Sepulcro de Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus' supposed tomb). The four black and gold crowned sepulchre-bearers represent the eternally grateful monarchs of Castilla, Leon, Aragon, and Navarra, four kingdoms of Spain at the time of Columbus' sailing.


Columbus tomb in the Cathedral of Sevilla. There's considerable mystery surrounding the actual whereabouts of Columbus's remains, since he has four alleged resting places throughout the world. The sepulcro was inaugurated in 1902, 396 years after Columbus died.


Courtyard view from the adjoining tower, La Giralda, of the cathedral. The climb up La Giralda affords great views.


Sevilla's alcazar, a residence of Muslim and Christian royalty for many centuries, was founded in the 10th century as a Moorish fortress. It has been adapted by Seville's rulers in almost every century since, which makes it a mish-mash of styles, but adds to its fascination. Now this palace serves as the residence of the King and Queen of Spain during their stays in Sevilla.


The royal baths of Pedro the Cruel's lady friend-- are found beneath one of the palaces.


Wall tiles in the gardens of Alcazar, Seville.


Street of Sevilla at night.


Tapa bars of Sevilla in the early evening. Still early.


Sevilla.


Plaza de Espania, Sevilla.


Sevilla (Seville) at night.

西班牙哥多巴的清真寺 Mezquita of Cordoba.

哥多巴的大清真寺是我所见到的最美丽、最引人深思的建筑了！这完全是多种文化、宗教、艺术、建筑的结晶。I am at lost for words.

In Roman times Cordoba was the capital of Hispania Ulterior province and then, after a reorganisation, of Baetica province. With the building of the mezquita (mosque) in 784 on the site of a Visigothic Basilica, it became the most important Moorish city in Spain and the most splendid city in Europe, a position it held for 200 or so years until the Cordoban Caliphate broke up after the death of its great ruler Al-Mansur in 1002. Thereafter Cordoba was overshadowed by Seville and in the 13th century both cities fell to the Christians in the Reconquista.


View of the Mezquita of Cordoba from Puente Romano.


Mezquita in the sunset. Over the course of the next two centuries, the Mezquita was enlarged to cover an area the size of several city blocks with more than 850 columns, making it the largest mosque in the Islamic world at the time of its completion.


One of the Mezquita's exterior doors. When the Mosque was converted to a Cathedral almost all the outer doors were sealed. During Moorish times, the many open doors of the Mosque let in light which made it brighter and one would imagine a more welcoming place than it is today.


Orange Tree Patio of the Mezquita.


Inside the Mezquita are row after row of arches and pillars. Marble was required for the Mosque's construction. Many of the pillars in the Mezquita were pilfered from earlier Roman buildings. If the pillar was too long, it was sunk into the ground and reshaped to fit in with the other columns.


The Mezquita of Cordoba. Marble columns and a chapel.


The Mezquita of Cordoba. Carved from granite and marble, the pillars are capped by the characteristic banded Mudejar arches of different heights.


The entrance to the "mihrab" (Islamic prayer room) is adorned with Byzantine mosaics and bordered by Koran inscriptions done in gold.


The Mezquita of Cordoba, inlayed ceiling, beams, and a chandelier.


Painted over.


The Mezquita, Cordoba. Part of the cathedral and part of the mosque.


The elaborate ceiling of the Catedral in the Mezquita.


The Holy Cathedral Church, former Mosque of Cordoba.


The Mezquita.


The Mezquita, Cordoba.


The Torre del Alminar encloses remainsof the minaret from where the muezzin would call for prayer.


The Mezquita of Cordoba.


Cordoba.

西班牙阿罕布拉宫 Alhambra, Granada

Si has muerto sin ver la Alhambra no has vivido.
If you have died without seeing the Alhambra, you have not lived.
如果生前没有看过阿罕布拉宫，就算白活了！


Alcazaba, the Alhambra's fortress, dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries.


The view of Granada, from the Torre de la Vela (watchtower) of the Alcazaba.


The view of Granada, from the Torre de la Vela (watchtower) of the Alcazaba.


Flags on the Alcazaba, Granada.


The Alcazar, the royal palace built for the Moorish rulers Yusuf I (1333-1354) and Muhammed V (1354-1391).


Patio de los Leones (Courtyard of the Lions), the grandest display of Nazarite art in the place, where a rhythmic arcade of marble columns borders the courtyard, and a fountain supported by 12 marble lions bables in the middle.


Inscriptures on the wall of the Alcazar.


Inscriptures on the wall of the Alcazar, la Alhambra, Granada.


View from El Generalife, the sultan's summer palace.


Palacio de Carlos V. Emperor Carlos V built this Renaissance masterpiece by Pedro Machuca (a desciple of Michelangelo). Although it is incongruous with the surrounding Moorish splendor, scholars concede that the palace is one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Spain. A square building with a circular inner courtyard wrapped in two stories of Doric colonnades, it is Machuca's only surviving design.


Palacio de Carlos V, Alhambra, Granada, Spain.


Tourists outside of Palacio de Carlos V, Alhambra.