Mom in Spain: The Pleasures of Gardens, Vino Tinto, and (of course!) La Comida!

Mom left a week ago after staying here for almost two weeks. We planned her trip around the 3-day holiday here in Madrid. I'm so glad she finally made it over here and was able to experience the reasons I love Spain! I tried to keep our schedule loose and with lots of relax time, but we still managed to do a lot of walking and moving around.

Our street

She arrived in the morning and after resting we took a walk around my hood. I showed her the Mercado de Anton Martin where there are separate stands for fruits and veggies, fish, meat, olives and other pickled delights, bread and pastries, etc. I love going to the markets just to look at the big whole fish with their shiny scales, the shocking pig heads and other parts.

 photo from the internet, but I could've taken it!

We visited Plaza Tirso de Molina and chatted with the woman who I sometimes buy flowers from. She gave Mom her first dos besos (two kisses). That's how people greet each other here. We walked through Lavapies and along Calle Argumosa where we sat out on the terrace and had some vino tinto and chips. It was a cool sunny day.

From there we headed on to Retiro park where we sat on a bench under the tall dinosaur-like pines. On the way home we stopped in at the Museo Reina Sophia during their free hours. I wanted her to see the famous Guernica by Picasso. It's a painting depicting a small pueblo in the Basque country that was bombed by Hitler's people during the Civil War.

Day Two

In the morning we took the high speed train to Cordoba, a small town in Andalucia. We stayed in a hotel right next to the breathtakingly beautiful Mosque. We had a quiet interior room, which was fine with us as we wanted to be able to sleep at night. It was fiesta time in Cordoba so the streets were packed with both tourists and locals gearing up for a long night of partying.

Inside our hotel. There were plants everywhere and a center patio with a fountain.

We had lunch at the Bodega Mezquita right next to the hotel. Salmorejo (a cold, creamy tomato soup), Eggplant fried in honey, Russian Salad, and some of Cordoba’s famous fino, a very strong white wine. It was hard to swallow at first, but by the end of the meal we were enjoying it.

We explored the impressing Mosque-turned Cathedral which sits next to the River Guadalquivir. It’s many arches take over the ceiling space. It’s one of the few Cathedrals in Spain where a lot of the Moorish design and architecture have remained and been preserved. 

The outside of the Mezquita. That's me by the door.

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Mom inside the Mezquita. 

Some of the remaining original work by the Muslims. I prefer their designs to the Catholic's many depictions of the suffering, bloody Jesus.

The courtyard of the Mezquita. I really like the different shapes of the cypress and palm trees. There are also lots of fountains and channels of water running everywhere. 

Cordoba is famous for it's flowery patios and the weekend after we left they held their annual patio festival when people open their doors to the public. We caught a few sneaky glimpses!

A view of Cordoba from the river as the sun was setting. 

Granada

After a nauseating (for Mom) bus ride to Granada, we collapsed in our ancient hotel which was in the Albaicín, a part of Granada that was originally built by the Muslims. All the houses are painted white and perched in a scattered maze on the hill across from the Alhambra. Our hotel was called La Casa de Los Fuentes. It wasn't really a hotel, but something more like a boarding house. There were people staying for weeks and a few people who lived there. There was a fountain in the middle of the house which was open. This is a typical style of many traditional Andalucian houses. The middle of the house is a open-air patio and the house is built in three stories, four sides that surround the patio. It allows for air to move through the house and keep it cool in the summer. 

(Mom, can you send me some pictures of the hotel?)

In order to get tickets for the Alhambra we had to wake up at 6:30 Monday morning and hike down through the Albaicín and up the steep hill to the Alhambra. Walking through the Albaicín in the early morning hours felt special. There was no one else around and the ancient city was just waking up. The sky was just turning from night to day and was a deep, stormy blue.

While waiting for our time to enter the Alhambra we went down to Plaza Nueva and had a wonderful, scrumptious breakfast at a fancy jazz cafe. Eggs, bacon, toast, fresh orange juice, cafe con leche, the works! It had been raining a lot and was nice to spend time in a warm place with lively music.

Even though it was my third time going to the Alhambra I was still excited and in awe over the breathtaking vistas and ornate detail everywhere. And it was my first time being there in spring. The gardens are the most important part of the Alhambra and when they are in bloom there is this feeling that you've entered some sort of fairy land.

 

 The original designers of the Alhambra and the gardens really knew how to incorporate nature into the buildings. Everywhere there are fountains, trees, and flowering bushes and vines. The buildings with their arches and curves are gentle and seem to mimic deigns in nature.