Wednesday, June 23

Hello again,

I wanted to say more about my trip to Cordoba. The mosque is beautiful, I can´t remember how back it dates, but it is hundreds of years old; like many of the buildings here. The mosque was supposed be destroyed, but Carlos V happened to visit Cordoba while traveling on his honeymoon. He saw how beautiful and impressive the building was and decided not to have it destroyed; but convert it into a cathedral. They added onto the building, but much of the original architecture remains.

Yesterday, we took a bus up to a part of Granada called Sacromonte. It is high up on the hill/mountian and is an area where the gypsies lived in caves. We visited a museum and saw how the caves were utilized by the families. It was really interesting to see how and why the caves were used the way they were. People still live in some of the caves today and they have electricity and cable TV. The caves at the museum didn´t have plumbing or bathrooms, that I saw, but surely the families that live in caves now have those ammenities!?!

From Sacromonte the three of us, Jo, Anyita and I, walked back down into Granada by way of the Albaicin. In the Albaicin there is a plaza that looks out across to The Alahambra. It is a nice place to sit and enjoy the view. The plaza is always busy with gypsies and pèople that make their living selling their handiwork. Paintings, jewelry and playing/singing/dancing flamenco - the reality is that they are a bit unsavory, but it nice to sit and listen for awhile. You can see from my photos that I love the narrow streets and all the flowers that decorate the houses. The streets of The Albaicin and the villages in The Alpujarras were similar.

One thing I forgot to mention about The Alpujarras were the entrances to some of the houses. Juan led us into a doorway with dirt floor and downward sloping tunnel. I thought to myself, ¨What in the world is this?¨, but as you go along the path it turns and opens into a beautiful courtyard/garden with 4 or 5 front doors to different families houses. The openings were built like that to provide privacy for the families. At night/afternoon, the families gather in the garden and visit.

That´s all for now.
Courtney