Day 14 - Spain, Ronda

We stayed at a beautiful hotel overlooking the canyon. Was a bit of a splurge but worth it.
Husa Reina Victoria

Jerez, 25

Ronda, 29400

Spain

34 952 87 12 40

There were tons a tons of children dressed up for a party, it was so cute to see the parents dote over them.

Pileta Cave-We rushed here to catch the last tour of the day and are so glad we did. The property is privately owned so this guy takes you deep into his cave with gas lanterns! The cave is amazing and it was so great how casual it was- seemed like we were back in the 1800's exploring a cave for the first time. He lets you touch a few spots and pound on a few stalagmites that sound like pipe organs. At one point in the cave he jumps up and you here this loud echoing when he hit the ground...their was another cavern below us. We started getting nervous when other people started doing it...we didn't want to fall through.

“Ronda is the birthplace of modern bullfighting, and this was the first great Spanish bullring. Philip II initiated bullfighting as was training for knights in the 16^th century. Back then, there were two kinds of bullfighting: the type with noble knights on horseback, and the coarser, man versus beast entertainment for the commoners(with no rules like the WWF wrestlers) Ronda worships Francisco Romero who melded the noble and chaotic kinds of bullfighting with rules to establish modern bullfighting right here in early 1700’s." -RS

and of course...more ham.

Day 14 - Granada, Alhambra

The Alhambra is the greatest Moorish palace in Europe (and therefore one of Europe's top sights-get tickets early) It was more of a retreat as Granada was only a regional capital. The Spanish Reconquista moved south, taking Cordoba (1237) and Seville (1248). The Narzarids- a ethnic group of Spanish Muslims held together the last Moorish kingdom until 1492 (sound like the year Columbus sailed the blue, yep thats right) In Palace Nazaries in 1492 Moorish King Boabdil signed the terms of surrender ending the 700 year Reconquista and left to Africa and it was here that Columbus pitched to Isabel and Ferdinand his idea to sail the blue.

One phrase is repeated over and over in Arabic script "only Allah is victorious" 9,00 times "Allah" looks like a cursive W with a nose on the left side. We saw it over and over.

The amount of water that flows through the grounds is really amazing. What an oasis in the desert. King Charles plopped his round palace (abandoned by his son, Phillip II, who left to build E l Escorial north of Madrid) right in the middle of the ground after the Reconquista but besides this, you feel like you've entered a different world. The palace was never topped, as Phillip had other plans.

Driving trough Spain

Day 13 - Barcelona, Casa Batllo's