Rain in Spain and Spain in Rain.....

Rain Rain go away ..

Little johnny wants to play..

Rain Rain go to Spain....

And Rain it did indeed....

Well after we had renewed our vows a couple of times, we left for our honeymoon with of course a brief stopover of 4 days at Dubai ... pretty cool place you know (now thats our home by the way)

Day 1 Freezing MADRID

The weather in Madrid quite literally drove me MAD and itching to get RID of the gloomy feeling...it was freaking zero degrees and cloudy and windy...even though i am supposed to be dramatic and hypochondriac (obviously as per my better half), it was extremely cold for someone who had come from the humid climes of Mumbai...

Ok i guess i will stop whining and get on with my story...anyways we reached our cosy hotel (more like a motel),quickly got into warmer clothes and headed out to the metro to explore the city.. afterall we had only a day here and we intended to make the most of it...

It was already afternoon when we started and got off at the Opera station and started to walk towards the Puerta del Sol..This is Madrid's most famous and most central square, located just a short walk from the Plaza Mayor..Outside the Casa de Correos is a stone slab on the pavement marking Kilometre Zero - the official starting point for Spain's 6 National Roads. 

This is a vibrant part of the city - full of bars, restaurants and shops...It started to rain even more heavily and the temperature dipped to about 0 degrees C...cold and wet as we were we started to make our way to the Prado Museum...Located in the eponymous street, El Paseo del Prado, its dazzling display of works by the great European masters such as Velázquez, Goya, Raphael, Rubens, and Bosch (among other major Italian and Flemish artists), is housed in an 18th-century Neo-Classical building..there were so many pieces of art that it was daunting to remember any particular one....

Unfortunately due to the weather i could not take many pictures..We then went to a cafe to have a quiet cup of coffee and tapas and take in the atmosphere...as it was getting dark we made our way back to the motel oops hotel...

Day 2 Just in time for Madrid to Malaga

The next day was much better in terms of the weather and though the sun was playing hide and seek, it was bearable...

We saw the The Palacio Real, or Royal Palace which is Madrid's largest building and the largest royal palace in Western Europe. It was built on the site of the old Alcázar. 

 

It is located next to the equally beautiful Plaza de Oriente square.  We also saw the palace gardens, called the Campo del Moro from the top... The Plaza de Oriente takes its name from its location - to the east of the palace, and contains several sculptures. 

 

While walking there we saw several street artists like the headless earl (i like to call him that) ..there was also photograher who was using a very old camera and had props to ensure that the final picture that would come would be as if taken in another time and era...

As we walked by the various lanes of Puerta del Sol again , we decided to pick up some small souveniours ...and of course I flipped on these lovely pair of brown suede boots...it was already nearing midday and  we then realised that we were running late and rushed in the metro to our motel..thankfully we had already checked out...finally when we reached the counter we were almost refused as the gates were closed and i was like if we miss this flight these will be the only pair of boots Z will buy me....but fortunately they let us through and off we went to Malaga !!!!!!!

We reached Malaga and got our rented car - it turned out to be a red sporty honda civic..it was such a pretty car that for a moment Z thought that with a car like this we might get mugged but we took it anyways and set the tom tom to our hotel ...Once we reached there we settled in we had a quiet dinner at the restaurant in the hotel

Day 3 Stalagmites and Stalactites J

The next day we were off to Nerja ...this town is on the Costa del Sol which has sandy coves sheltered by the impressive Sierra de Almijara mountains...fortunately or unfortunately the skies cleared up but we could not take in the sunshine as we were in the cave L... Well went to see the famous Cuevas de Nerja and had a touristy photo taken of both of us as token of being there...we roamed abit in nerja and decided to head back to malaga and explore ...

We went to the Alcazaba and then walked up to the Gibralfaro Castle which had stunning overview of the city and the port...after all the exhaustion we settled for a quiet meal and slept off...

Day 4 Rains and Ronda brrrrrrrrr

The next day we headed to a place called Ronda which is famous worldwide for its dramatic escarpments and views, and for the deep El Tajo gorge that carries the rio Guadalevín through its centre. 

Unfortunately for us the weather turned really bad and it began raining heavily off and on...anyways we headed for the 18th century Puente Nuevo 'new' bridge, which straddles the 100m chasm below, for its unparalleled views out over the Serranía de Ronda mountains... 

Across the bridge, there was an elegant cloistered 16th century convent which is now an art museum in old Ronda called La Ciudad...

Day 5 Granada and Gambas L

The next day we made a day trip to Granada to see the Al hambra and Nasrid Palace...The Al Hambra is an entire walled city within the city of Granada. There are royal apartments, forts, gardens, pavilions, barracks... All this surrounded by an impressive wall..

The Alcazaba consists of buildings dating from the thirteenth century in grounds used solely by the military...we also saw Jardin de los Adarves (Garden of the Ramparts) laid out with cypress trees, flowers and many fountains...

then there are several palaces beginning with The Palace of Comares which is considered one of the jewels of the Alhambra, with a beautiful pond flanked by two rows of hedges ...

another palace known as the Lions Palace...there are 124 columns that surround the courtyard. Everything in this garden has a symbolism representing paradise, surrounded by four rivers, while twelve lions at the centre represent the twelve signs of the zodiac...

 


The first two palaces are distinct in their Arabic style but the palace called Carlos V Palace has architecture from the renaissance period and even today is considered to be one of the best examples of renaissance architecture.... after spending a good 5-6 hours walking we decided to explore the remaining city and head back home...

We headed back home and had a nice quiet dinner in an Spanish place where Z had the famous la gamba (tiger prawns cooked with garlic and olive oil) and subsequently had a bad bout of allergy.

Day 6 Read Relax RestJ

Since the allergy was quite severe we decided to rest the next day ...This day was spent resting and reading (ZR-Theodore Boone and ZM- Death Match) ...okay don’t judge me by the name of the book... both of us were reading murder mysteries ..

Day 7 Dive, Disaster and Dance....

 The next day Z's allergic reaction was better and he decided to dive...we headed to Almeria at Playa del Sol where Z went for a dive...and i was suppose to drive back home as Z was tired..
however things took an unfortunate turn and we got stuck in sand while taking a turn... as i tried to get the car out of the sand, our clutch box broke and we were stranded... then we called the rent a car company for assistance and then waited for the pickup...the car which sent by the Rent a car was an Audi with a suited chauffeur...

we could hardly believe that it had come to receive us...

as soon as we sat, we fell asleep and we were dropped to the Rent a car office at the airport in about 2-3 hours...there we had a long discussion and finally got a replacement...that night we went to Torremolinos  to watch a flamenco show which we enjoyed thoroughly and then headed back to hotel ...

Day 8 Cordoba

 The next day we made a day trip to visit Cordaba to visit a La Mesquita...this Mosque Catheral is has mixed styles of architecture and it is actually very fascinating to see Arabic and Catholic styles at one place... 


Interesting tidbit : Built in 786 as a mosque, the structure was expanded several times under Cordoba's Muslim rule while still remaining largely true to the original design. Following the Christian Reconquista of Cordoba in 1236, work immediately went underway to convert the building to a church, and four centuries later a cathedral at the center of the building was constructed, though not without controversy as it significantly altered the space. Today, despite the presence of the cathedral, most of the original mosque structure remains remarkably well-preserved...

As we walked away from the Catheral, we towards another fortress called the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos...this was supposed to be the headquarters for the Spanish Inquisition...the fortress has very beautiful gardens and a roman sarcophagus...

Spaniards are very proud of displaying their flowers and have read somewhere that there are contest to see which alley is more pretty...

we passed across a particular Calleja de las Flores.. A beautiful narrow street, full of flowers with a wonderful tiny square at the end and excellent views of the Mezquita's Tower framed by the buildings lining the street.

Well after all these sights we returned back to the hotel and packed our bags for another journey ...homewards...