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Adelante
Entry 19 of 23 | show all | print this entry |
Buenos Dias Amigos!
Howz it going? I am great... really excited. Im travelling to Morocco today! Yes, Im going to touch the African continent too!
I have spent the last 14 days in Valencia and Granada. You may have heard of Valencia oranges... well they originated in Valencia, Spain. The city of Valencia is surrounded by orange groves. Its a nice city with the standard spanish plazas and with numerous bridges built over a large dried river which has been converted to parklands. Its two major attractions are the Valencia Cathedral and the Cuidad de las Artes y la Ciencias (city of arts and sciences). The cathedral is dedicated to "Santa Maria" (Saint Mary). This used to be a mosque, but it became a Roman Catholic cathedral when the christians reconquered Valencia. It is famous for housing the Holy Chalice - the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. I was amazed and astounded at seeing such a significant religious and historic icon. Not as historically significant but none the less impressive is the city of arts and sciences. It forms part of Europe's largest urban culture and leisure centre which includes a massive aquarium, science museum, palace of music, a skate park, planatarium and iMAX cinema. All this is housed in a series of modern dome and eye-lid shaped buildings which are nothing like I have ever seen.
I also have to mention I attended the Espana v Norway (Euro 2004 qualifier) football match at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia. It was a full house and I was in the front row behind the goals. The crowd was chanting for the whole game and the atmosphere was electric. I was sitting next to an old lady who was talking to me in spanish all game and she hugged me a couple of times when spain scored their goals! - all I could reply was "Si, si!"!! Spain won 2-1, so the crowd was in a jubilant mood.
By the time I arrived in Granada I was pretty tired so for the first couple of days I just chilled out at the "Oasis" hostel. Granada is famous for the Alhambra Palace - the greatest muslim legacy left in Spain. From the 13th to 15th centuries Granada was the capital of the last muslim kingdom in Spain. The Alhambra consists of a massive fortress and surrounding walls, Palace and beautiful gardens... all decorated in a unique islamic style. It is a huge complex and it took me the best part of 4 hours to explore.
Finally I have to mention the food in Spain. I have to say they have a wicked selection of aceituna (olives) here and I have been sampling a lot of them. Also the selection of smoked hams (Jamon) is awesome... some varieties of jamon sell for AU$160/kilo!!! A typical meal for me starts out with going to the local market (whichever city im in) and buying fresh bread, queso (cheese), jamon and aceituna. I have also discovered classic spanish tapas here in the south of spain. Tapas simply refers to little appetisers. Legend has it that tapas originated when, due to an illness, the Spanish king Alfonso the 10th, had to take small bites of food with some wine between meals. Once recovered from the disease, the king ordered that in all inns and tavernas, wine was not to be served without something to eat. Today this extends to any alcoholic beverage. The tapas food ranges from little 'bocadillo' (sandwiches) to meat dishes which are very tasty. I have also tried the famous dish Paella but since im not a huge rice fan I though it was average food.
Buena suerte y tener cuidado.
Lots of love,
Peter
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