Sunday, November 25, 2007
Medina
The first up when you enter the gates are the ruins (remains) of where the common man lived --- long demolished and brought to earth only the boundary walls remain. The living quarters ranged from the humble to the more noble ones. Many 'pseudo-royalty' moved up from the city of granada into the alhambra. Prominent among them is the Palacio Abencerrajes where the Abencerrajes family lived. They are famous for the hall of Abencerrajes inside the Nazrath palace and the fact that the entire fmaily was apparently massacarred when one of the chiefs dared to dally with the kings mistress (wife?).
Sunday, September 9, 2007
in a line at seven in the morning.
Granada of the Pomegranate!
a bath a day keeps the doctor away!!!!
espana=muchos calor!!! espain=many-colour!!!
Thursday, September 6, 2007
From Cordoba to Granada
A lot of history, some pictures to follow.
Monday, September 3, 2007
A little history!
The first half a century of Moorish rule was divided and full of internal squables. However, in 756, Abd-er-Rahman established himself in Cordoba as the emir of Al-Andalus, the arabic name of those parts. During his reign, he transformed Al-Andalus to the cultural light of Europe. In 785, Abd-er-Rahman I started the construction of the Mezquita in Cordoba and is one of the most magnificient buildings today.
Under the moors, the iberian peninsula flourished for centuries. The art and architecture of that period is famous. Many libraries were established which held millions of books and manuscripts, unparalleled in the rest of europe at that time. Muslims and non-Muslims often came from abroad to study in the famous libraries and universities of al-Andalus. The moors expanded and improved Roman irrigation systems to help develop a strong agricultural sector. They introduced many new crops including the orange, lemon, peach, apricot, fig and pomegranate as well as saffron, sugar cane, cotton, silk and rice which remain some of Spain's main products today. A big progress was made in the field of medicine as well. Abu al-Qasim, regarded as the father of modern surgery wrote the kitab al-Tasrif ("Book of Concessions"), a 30-volume medical encyclopedia.
There is a lot lot more ... saving for the next time!!!!