Spain - July 2004

In July 2004, Wendy and Rick visited Barcelona in the Catalonian region in northeastern Spain then the historic,
multi-cultural Andalucia region in southern Spain. After arriving in Marbella, a beautiful beach city, we drove to
Granada, Cordoba, and Sevilla, stopping in many old Renaissance towns and viewing olive groves along the way.


Barcelona is a magical place--especially thanks to the architect, builder, furniture-maker, and artist, Anton Gaudi. (L) Rick passes a clown face and (R) a lobster, two of the many whimsical sculptures inspired by Gaudi along the Promenade next to the Barcelona Harbor and strewn throughout the city.

This friendly lizard (above L) greets visitors to Parc Guell, envisioned by Gaudi to be a new district in Barcelona but instead became a delightful park with fantastical buildings, fountains, statues, benches and plazas, covered in mozaics with "broken" tiles and wild colors. Above (R) are the buildings at the Parc Guell entrance that look like fairy tale houses.

Gaudi dreamed of a great cathedral in Barcelona, and began to build the La Sagrada Famiglia in the early 1900s. He realized that it would not be completed in his lifetime because some of his planned architecture was not technologically possible at that time, including (above L) a fifth tower which is just under way. But Gaudi did see some of his buildings enjoyed by the families who commissioned them, including Casa Batlo whose roof (above R) includes the "back of a dinosaur, scales and all," as well as onion-shaped towers.

Andalucia in Spain is an ancient province influenced by Gypsies, Moors, Jews, and Christians. In downtown Granada, you can see spices in a street market that come from all over the world. Above (R) is a view of the Alhambra taken from Alabazin hill (a gypsy part of town) in front of a church.

The Alhambra is huge castle-compound built by the Moors then taken over by the Christians (Rick and I stayed in the hotel on the grounds that was a convent). The Lions' Courtyard (above L) in the main part of the Alhambra is classic. The Generalife was the "summer home" higher up the hill, with gardens and fountains (above R) that help keep the whole house cool.

Cordoba is another lovely city with a rich history. Rick stands next to Jewish philosopher, Maimonides (above R), who lived in Cordoba in the 1300s and was commemorated by this statue on his 650th birthday. A typical street corner in Cordoba is above left.

Our final stop in Spain was Sevilla--a typical street corner is above left--especially famous for its bullfighting. We toured the main bullring which was closed and also an amazing home where the family of a Duke still lives and allows the public to visit.