Iberia 2017

A series of opportunities drew me to spend a month in Spain and Spanish lands.

Plaza Cibeles. Note the banner "Refugees Welcome."

(Click on any photo to enlarge, then zoom in)

The trip began with a visit to the Teatro Real in Madrid to see Alberto Ginastera's 1967 opera Bomarzo. My review of the performance is published at Peninsula Reviews.

Entrance to Sorolla house and museum in Madrid

I also wanted to visit the former home (and now museum) of the painter Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923).  His paintings of the sea and beach scenes are superb.

The artist's studio

After four wonderful days in Madrid I boarded a bus for the five-hour trip north to San Sebastián, in the Basque Country. My dear friend María met me there and we traveled the 30 minutes by train to her town of Zarautz.

View of Zarautz, population about 23,000

Beach at Zarautz, looking toward Getaria

San Francisco Church, Zarautz

Waterfront at Biarritz, France

María and I visited with her friend Michele in nearby Biarritz, who hosted us for the night in her beautiful and artsy home near the sea.

María and Michele

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

The Alhambra from Mirador San Nicolás, near sunset. The 12-acre complex of buildings was constructed beginning in the 13th century, first by Moorish kings, and in the 15th to 16th centuries by the Catholic monarchy. Note the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. That is the water supply for the entire area.

View from the opposite direction of the first photo, the Albaicín neighborhood as seen  from El Alhambra

The Generalife, the sultan’s summer palace where the royals would go on a hot summer day, an easy stroll from the Alhambra.

The Moors developed a remarkable system for water distribution, which they learned from the Romans. Water was diverted from the Sierra Nevada. It coursed through the Alhambra and then into the Darro river just below. Fountains are found throughout, accompanied by the gentle sound of running water.

View of the Alhambra from the gardens of the Generalife.

Bridge across the moat connecting the Alhambra with the Generalife.

The Alcazar, the fortified area of the Alhambra, enclosing the royal palaces.

Puerto de Vino, the entrance to the Alcazar.

The reflecting pool

Islam forbids the representation of people or animals, so the elaborate decoration of walls contains geometric tiles and inscriptions from the Koran.

Tom, María and Roger at the end of the tour, taking us almost two miles around the 12 acres of the Alhambra.

Statue of Washington Irving, who wrote Tales of the Alhambra in 1829 during his four-month stay here. His efforts led to a greater interest in the preservation of this remarkable monument to Moorish architecture.

Coming soon: photos of Granada and other sites in Andalucía