George and Beth had agreed to go on a family trip and Ann wanted to see Spain and vicinity. We chose a tour company based on our need for a Jewish oriented tour and kosher food (more on that in a later post) and set out an hour before midnight on Oct 21, 2017. Spain is about as big as Texas so obviously we didn't see the whole country.
The trip included Spain (cities on the map of Spain that we visited include Barcelona, Cordova, Seville, Malaga and Granada), Gibraltar and Portugal (cites on the map of Portugal that we visited include Guarda, Evora, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Sintra and Lisbon).
There was quite a bit more walking and steps then we thought there would be (and some steps were without handrails and even on slippery pavement) but that is the only way to see things in this part of the world. .
Sightseeing days were long. We typically were up at 7am and didn't get finished with supper until 8pm or so (some days 10pm). Because of this, I had to reconstruct the trip after we took it instead of posting each day. Long sightseeing days are obviously the way to maximize the opportunities to visit places.
In many of the following posts, I provide historical information that comes from all kinds of sources including on line encyclopedias and the sources the encyclopedias reference as well as what local guides told us and also the various brochures we received during the tour. I tried to chase down many of the questions I had about the history.
However, I may have gotten some facts wrong anyway. Also there are a number of places where the history is actually uncertain or at least I was unable to determine a consensus or adequately document 'correct' opinion. Any help along those lines would be welcome.
maps are from lonelyplanet.com
image of book from walmart.com
Also, almost all the images expand when you click on them.
A table of contents of sorts is on the right side of the blog. You can click on a subject. Also, when you get to the last 'page' of a blog, you can click the 'older posts' to get to the next page.
Various posts are in different colors. That is just to break up the visual monotony and since some people do better with different colors.
Finally, I sometimes provide a link to another website. This is done by a one or two word change in color. You click or double click on the word (or words)
We used Turkish Air as they had an excellent price for traveling. Turkish Air did pretty well but there were some issues at the airport in Istanbul.
One minor issue was resolved. The coke machine in the first image advertises itself as having Coke Zero and Coke Light but when we arrived at the airport, the machine was out of both. They fixed that in about an hour.
One issue was annoying on both flights to the airport. The airport doesn't have enough gates for the incoming flights and so you have to get off the plane and get on a bus to get to the arrival deck.
One issue was a bit scary but resolved. When we got to the Istanbul Airport after our sightseeing trip, it was Nov 6 and our outbound flight was Nov 7.
If we had wanted a hotel it would have required a VISA and Turkey might have been tough about it but we did get through without having to get VISAs (and a hotel room).
We did have to walk a good 40 minutes through various passport areas but we finally would up at the Premier Lounge - we paid 59 Euros each and got to sit on nice chairs, have free wifi, free soft drinks and beer, etc. while we waited (about 20 hours) for the flight back to the US.
The airport has multiple lounges.
The 2nd image is the Turkish Airline lounge.
The third image is the HSBS lounge, the 4th is the Premier Lounge
(2nd, 3rd and 4th image are from various Istanbul airport websites).
We (George, Ann and I) arrived at the hotel a few minutes before midnight on Oct 22 and met Beth who had gotten in a few minutes earlier (from tel Aviv). George had been wondering if our passport would be taken by Spain or the new Catalonia Government. It was the former.
The hotel in Barcelona was only about 10 minutes from the airport (although our driver took 25 minutes to get to it because a few wrong turns).
On the 23th we met the tour. At one of our first stops in Barcelona we saw some pro Catalonia independence graffiti.
This stop was Park Guell. It has numerous pieces designed by Antoni Gaudi of late 19th and early 20th century fame (but typically built by someone else since he was busy on the famous Church). The second image is George in front of a Gaudi version of an aqueduct (I am not a fan of Gaudi but I can appreciate the 'vision'). Eusebi Guell bought the land and hired Gaudi in about 1900 to create an estate for several dozen wealthy people who wanted to live on a hillside. It didn't work out that way so it is now a park.
The third image is of many of our tour group (note the hats - the group is Shai Bar Ilan) looking at a Gaudi designed house.
It was to be part of a neighborhood but ended up being owned by the lawyer representing this development enterprise according to our local guide (or it may have been the tour manager).
The fourth image is Beth (aka Tamar), in front of what is one of the "gingerbread" inspired houses in the park - designed by Gaudi in cooperation with various assistants and built by an assistant.
The fifth image is another view of this house.
This time it has George and Ann and it shows a closer view of Gaudi's version of a Queen Ann tower.
This building, while not occupied by a resident or used as an office, at least has a clean rest rooms.
The sixth and seventh image are from the internet (from the shutterstock.com website) .
The sixth is of a building, called the hypostyle, that was, in the overall design, to serve as a market and/or public meeting place
The seventh is of part of a very long public bench on a plaza. The bench is probably the longest public bench in the world that is also painted in mosaic art (the local guide said it was the longest public bench in the world but this turned out not to be quite true). The bench was added to the plaza between 1910 and 1914 and is not a Gaudi design.
The eighth image is of a building in downtown Barcelona that was actually built by Gaudi and is occupied today by stores, offices and resident. The little figures at the top are said (by some) to be the inspiration for some characters and other things in George Lucas's films. You can actually walk on the roof of this building and see them (we didn't have time for that).
The ninth image shows George walking into the Roman walled part of Barcelona.
The tenth image shows some Picasso designed (one of his students executed the work) artwork on what was, at the time of our trip an art studio.
The eleventh image (from a Haaretz website) shows the "Great" Synagogue of Barcelona which has a foundation from the 2nd century but walls from the 6th or 7th century (image from tripadvisor.com) and was expanded to about its current size and shape in the late 13th century under James I (he was King of Aragon during the disputation of 1263** - according to some records the synagogue was actually expanded a few years after that event by his order although this chronology has been challenged). Shlomo Ben Aderet, or the Rashba probably presided at this synagogue and probably Nachmonides did also (per various opinions). There is also the opinion that the synagogue in the image was what was added in 1267 and that the previously existing synagogue is next door (what is now a restaurant). Another opinion is that the 1267 improvement was a higher ceiling and that the next door area is what was the women's section.
The great synagogue probably seats about 30 (it is small to prevent churches from being jealous but also perhaps because the community didn't need a bigger one). We davened mincha (did the afternoon prayers) in this synagogue. Our tour group included enough for a minyan (prayer quorum). The functional end of the Jewish community in Barcelona was 1391 with a pogrom* (one of dozens that year throughout Spain) and a 'convert, die or leave' order (James II of Aragon then modified the order but the massacre had done its work).
The most famous building in Barcelona is of course the Gaudi cathedral, which is still under construction a hundred years after it was started. Eventually there are to be 12 of those towers (image from pinterest.com)
* a pogrom is a non government organized massacre targeting one ethnic group which has some government or ecclesiastic encouragement.
** the disputation of 1263 was a debate between Pablo Christiana, a convert from Judaism to Christianity and Moses ben Nachman who was required by the King to participate. The main issue was the interpretation of various passages in the Talmud which Pablo contended supported Christian theology although there were other issues. Subsequent to the debate, Moses left Spain.
Girona is where Nachmanides, a.k.a., Moses ben Nachman, a.k.a., RanBAN lived for most of his life. It is about 40 miles northeast of Barcelona.
The first image shows George (right) and Ann (light green shirt) in foreground and the tower of the Cathedral of Girona in the background. The Cathedral was built in the 15th century so it postdates the time of Nachmanides.
The second image shows a monument to cork. The Catalan cork research institute is near Girona as is a cork manufacturing plant (cork is grown mainly in Portugal - there is a separate post in this blog on the subject of the cork industry).
The third image shows George examining a statue of something that looks like a weasel but people say it is a lion. The statue dates only from 1986 but it replaced an earlier similar statue of unknown date. A local legend is that if you kiss the lion (or whatever it is) you will come back to Girona. A similar local legend is
"No pot ser veí de Girona qui no faci un petó al cul de la lleona"
"you can’t be resident in Girona until you’ve kissed the backside of the lioness"
The fourth picture shows people in our tour group looking at a street with a Jewish name. This, plus some tombstones, is pretty much all that is left of what was once about 1000 Jews in a town of 10,000. Old Girona is well preserved. This is partly because several times the area was devastated by the plague and there wasn't much pressure to tear down old houses to build bigger ones.
However, there is no house that is identified as RanBAN's house and no synagogue identified as RanBAN's synagogue. RanBAN lived in Girona for most of his life and it was, apparently, pretty tranquil. The unfortunately exciting part of his life began after he became the chief rabbi of Barcelona at about the age of 56 (~1250CE). The image is from wikipedia. It is early 20th century painting.
The woman in the fifth picture is examining some art at the Jewish museum in Girona.
The sixth image shows Ann and Beth in a garden at the Jewish Museum. Note the flower - its real.
The seventh picture shows how people identify homes formerly lived in by Jews.
One way is to look for an indentation in the doorway frame that would be where the mezuzah would have been.
After visiting Girona, we went about 10 miles to the northwest to a town called Besalu.
First image is as we cross under the tower and then walk the long Viejo Bridge to the town. Some archeological work had been done there in the past few decades. Jews had lived in the town from the 11th century to near the end of the 15th century.
Second image is of the bridge from the Jewish section of town. The bridge was built in the 11th century over a previous Roman bridge that was lower. The bridge was rebuilt in the 14th century, damaged in the 20th century during the civil war and repaired after that. The river is the Fluvia.
In 1254 James I (the King who presided over the disputation of 1263) gave permission for the expansion of the Jewish community in Besalu. This was part of a program that appointed Jewish tax collectors and financial administrators to the town (and apparently this worked as the revenue to the King increased as a result). Subsequent Kings increased Jewish legal rights in the city and the Jewish population of the city (about 200 at the time) was protected from the anti Jewish pogroms of 1391 that occurred in a half dozen Spanish cities and dozens of towns and villages.
However, the persecutions began again in the 15th century and by the mid 15th century there were few Jews in the city (the rest of the population had decreased also). Then there was the expulsion of 1492.
Third image is of all the family on a porch where a synagogue may have been.
In 1964, the mikvah* of the Jewish community was discovered and subsequently archeological work was done. This is one of the most well preserved and largest medieval mikvahs in the world.
The fourth image is of the mikvah (from myeclecticimages.com). Personally, it seemed to me to be much bigger than would be needed by a community of only 200 people.
Sometimes, Besalu is called the most important city you've never heard of. It is very well preserved as it was probably nearly abandoned from the time of the great plagues in the 16th century until the 20th century.
After Besalu we went to Barcelona and had a meal at the Maccabi restaurant on the Rambla which is a main shopping avenue of the city. This is one of two kosher restaurants in the city and the only actual kosher restaurant we used during the trip (other than those connected with a hotel).
We also drove by the statue honoring Columbus (fifth image from Gettyimages) whose first voyage to the new world must have had something to do with Barcelona although I am not sure what that was. The voyage was, of course, begun in the year of the expulsion.
After supper and seeing the statue we went to the Barcelona airport and took a plane to the Granada airport.
* mikvah is a Jewish ritual bath basin. It is used for the monthly immersion of women after menstruation, for conversion and for washing a dead body before burial.
We got to our hotel late on October 24 (from the airport) and woke up to a cool morning (although our hotel room was hot because the a/c wasn't working and we couldn't get the windows open). The coolness was partly because Grenada is about 2000' above sea level.
The first image shows George and Ann at an overlook. The Alhambra is on the left on the ridge. The new city is in the background. In the very back are some mountains. The highest parts of these mountains were snow covered (the peak of the Sierra Nevada, which means 'mountains of snow' in Spanish, is about 11,000 feet).
We began a walk through the old city which included the old Jewish district which later became occupied by the higher income gypsies according to our guide (assuming I understood her).
The gypsies didn't come to Spain until about 100 years after the Jews and Moslems were expelled from Spain in 1492 and 1502 respectively. Soon after the gypsies arrived they became subjected to the Inquisition and quite a few had property confiscated and a few were even executed.
The second image shows a house that keeps its show plates on the exterior walls of the house.
The third image is, per our guide, an entrance to property that once belonged to a Jewish family.
The 4th image show some in our group looking at another house which was thought to have been part of the Jewish quarter. In the background is a hill which is where the poorer of the gypsy population lived, many in cave-like dwellings.
The fifth image shows a street sign. 'Callejon' is street and 'Mentidero" means liar. So basically, it means 'Liar's Lane'.
The sixth image is another of the narrow streets in the old city.
The seventh image is at a little plaza where we stopped to buy some Cokes and rest a few minutes.
This plaza was, at one time the center of the Jewish Quarter (before 1066 when there was a massacre of Jews by moslems and maybe several times after the Jewish Quarter was repopulated). The plaza has had a number of new tiles placed but is still the same plaza functionally.
The 8th image shows the gate by which we left the 'old city'. It is part of the city walls built by the Moors.
The 9th image shows Ann and, to her right, another of our tour, on a plaza overlooking a valley. We actually walked down many, many steps into that valley to get to part of the new city.
The 10th image is on the way down. Some of our group are in the image but what I really wanted to get in the picture is the beautiful lavender plant on the wall.
The 11th image is a very near the downtown new city. It is a narrow street and, interestingly, the drainage is in the middle of the street rather than the curb. A fair number of older streets in both Spain and Portugal were like this.
The 12th image is the Isabel Catolica square in the downtown of Granada. It has Columbus asking Isabel for funds for the first voyage. In 1492, Isabel and Ferdinand had a palace in Granada and that, per most sources, is where the deal between Isabel and Columbus was made.
The 13th image is near the Isabel Catolica square but it has a Jewish theme. The statue honors Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon who was a physician and, more importantly, a translator and the founder of a translation institution in the 12th century. The actual institution operated in France since Judah and the others had to leave Granada sometime after about 1150 due to the Almohades persecution. The Almohades were a warlike and fanatical Muslim sect who had overthrown a warlike but slightly less fanatical sect, the Almoravides. The Almoravides had been invited to Iberia by the Granada caliph to help fight the Christians 60 years earlier. The Almoravides eventually ousted the caliph who had invited them and set up their own regime and then the Almohades did likewise to the Almoravides.
The translators created Hebrew and Latin versions of important philosophical works, for example, 'Beliefs and Opinions' a work of Saadia Gaon (10th century) and the' Kuzari', a mid 12th century work of Judah ha Levi (both were originally in arabic). Translators subsequent to Judah created Latin versions of Arabic commentaries on Aristotle's Logic, Galen's De motu musculorum (the movement of muscles) and other important classical works. The work of a translator in those days involved quite a bit of commentary as well as pure translation so the translators had to acquire a high level of subject matter literacy as well as language skills to do their work.
Alhambra ('al hamra' in arabic means 'the red one') is a 35 acre palace/castle (or palace/castle complex) on a hill.
The Romans built a small fort on this site and centuries later, a 9th century caliph expanded on the fort, basically converting it to a fortress with substantial walls. It was essentially unused between the 11th century and the middle of the13th century (all that time under Moslem rule). At that time the ruling caliph began an expansion and restoration which was basically ongoing until the 14th century when Sultan Yusef I moved in and made it his palace.
The first image shows Beth walking in one of the gardens (there are about 20 gardens, some built by Moorish rulers, some by Christian rulers). The garden vegetation is fairly modern dating from the 19th century but based, where possible, on descriptions of the gardens found in the journals of 14th-16th century visitors to the site.
The second image is that of George in one of the gardens where they did landscape art.
I didn't get anyone in the third image. However, I was very impressed with it.
The fourth image is the courtyard of the Palacio de Generalife (the architect's palace). This is called the Patio de la Acequia (Court of the Water Channel). It was built in the beginning of the 14th century. The water comes from the mountains near Granada and retention pools constructed in the palace grounds provide both the water and the pumping force.
The fifth image shows our tour manager speaking into the 'whisper system' we used. The garden that this shows was one build by the Christian Kings after they took Granada in 1492. I took this image partly because it shows the use of a vine we call 'Virginia Creeper' (on the right) as a landscaping plant. In our part of the world, this vine is a pest and effort is made to remove it.
The sixth image shows a patio near the top of the Alhambra. The city is laid out below.
The seventh image shows the Palace of Charles I of Spain. He was also Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. The first of these was because he was grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand, the second was because he was grandson of Maximilian I. He was King of Spain from 1516 and Emperor from 1519. He abdicated both positions in the 1550s (various parts of his domain became Kingship of his sons and other relatives).
The eighth image is that of Beth and Ann at the courtyard of the Palace of the Ambassadors. This is the palace at which most government business was done in both the Moslem and Christian periods.
The ninth (from wikipedia) and tenth images (the 10th is mine) are at the palace of the lions and the courtyard of the lions. In the 8th image a pool provides a nice mirror image of the palace.
The palace was built between the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
The lions were, according to our local guide, a gift from wealthy Jews (there are 12 lions, perhaps symbolizing the 12 tribes) and were displayed by the Sultan to show that his non Moslem subjects loved him. Our tour manager said the gift came from Samuel Hanagid (the leader of the Jewish community in the early 11th century and also a poet, philosopher and diplomat for the Sultan), as a fountain, apparently identical to the fountain we saw is discussed by a visitor to Samuel's house. I pointed out that since Samuel died in the 11th century he could not have given it to the Sultan in the 14th century. George said that it might have been a descendant of Samuel.
This is possible but complicated by the fact that the Jewish community of Granada was almost wiped out by the massacre of 1066 and what was left was persecuted by the Almoravids in the late 11th century and the even worse Almohads in the 12th century.
The Jewish population did return in the 14th century and by the mid 15th century there were from 10,000 to 50,000 Jews in the city and it may be that the family of Samuel re-possessed the lions and gave them to the Sultan or it could be that the lions were in cold storage and discovered by agents of the Sultan or the lions of the 14th century might be a replica of the lions of the 11th century. Anyway, with respect to the 12 lions, some records of visitors in the 15th century say that the 12 lions were for the 12 hours of day (or night) and that one lion would be a fountain each hour.
No description of Alhambra would be complete without mention of the Alhambra decree (a.k.a., the edict of expulsion) of March 1492 which gave the Jews of Spain 4 months to leave.
Images 11 and 12 are from the site of EvainMadrid@wordpress.com. Image 11 is the courtyard of the Palace of Ambassadors (similar to one above but without Beth) and image 12 is in the hall of the Ambassadors (we were not allowed to use flash inside) and is thought to be where the decree was made. Isabella I of Castile was the person behind this decree. She had, a few months before the decree, gotten a new confessor (the new archbishop) who is now thought by many to be the initiator of the decree. The decree was formally revoked in 1968 and in 2014, any Jew who can demonstrate (I'm not sure how you do this) a Spanish heritage is entitled to Spanish citizenship (and duel citizenship is recognized).
The Alhambra has numerous viewpoints at which the city may be observed. Image 12 is George at one such point. The modern city of Granada is on the left, the hill in which the poorer gypsies used to live is on the right.
After we saw the palaces, we had more gardens to walk through on the way out. Image 13 is of Beth at one of these. It is the garden outside the 'Tower of the Ladies'.
It is not a great image but I thought it would be nice to know a pomegranate tree is part of the gardens. As a reminder, these gardens have been planted beginning in the late 19th century but are intended to replicate, as near as possible, the gardens of the 14th-16th century.
Finally, the Alhambra is what is generally considered a 'restored' or even 'reconstructed' site. This work began in about 1830 and went slowly until the 20th century.
The final two images (from wikipedia) show what the fortress tower looked like before and after, restoration and reconstruction in the 20th century.
