Andalusia

Recently I made a trip to southern Spain with three other friends - Noris, Eskandar and Nash. It was one of the most fun trips I had in Europe after my family's.

We had a bad start. The flight was delayed 2.5 hours, arriving at 2ish in the morning and nearly missing our car rental booking. We arrived at our hotels at 4am and took whatever rest we could before we hitting the roads.

What was thought to be a cursed start, never materialised. In fact, it was the start of a fantastic journey. Andalusia, I call it the magic of southern Spain.

I grew up learning about Andalusia in the history books. It was the starting point of Islamic civilisation in Europe. Christians, Muslims and Jews lived and celebrated the diversity of art, culture and power for seven centuries in Andalusia. This is no wonder Spain today has the most UNESCO world heritage sites after Italy. Many of them are in Andalusia.

Malaga

With only five days to cover, we started at Malaga where we landed, drove to Granada, broke the journey at Jaen and Ubeda, before stopping over at Cordoba. We flew home from Malaga. We intended a relaxed trip. So we didn't try pushing to the west where Seville and Cadiz were. Both of these cities were highly recommended before we planned the itinerary. A relaxed trip it was, we managed to cover more places than we planned. Our ancillary trips include Marbella, where I bought a few HRC t-shirts for friends and I, and Torremolinos where the "sexy" beaches of southern Spain are.

The sun was shining everyday. Average temperature ranged early to mid-30 deg C everyday. We experienced 42deg C when we were in Granada. It was so hot it wore me down. It's like being in a sauna and you can't run away! Still it was a relieve from the miserable weather where we came from.

The number speaks for itself

The highlight of Granada was the Alhambra, palace of the Moorish rulers from mid 14th century. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Andalusia and rightly so for a number of reasons. The intricate carvings of Arabic writings are echoed through the nook and cranny of the palace walls. It struck me standing in awe marveling the engineering and architectural splendour of the palace like the Vatican City of the Muslim world. Both are tourist sites but the difference is only one is functioning.

Alhambra courtyard

Fine carvings

We thought we have seen everything with the Alhambra until we arrived into Cordoba. Cordoba was like a country on its own. It didn't look Spanish. It ticked all the boxes of what I imagined Middle East to be like - palm trees, dessert-like, hot weather, exotic food and a little bit chaotic. Cordoba's answer to the Alhambra, is its Great Mosque. What is unique about the mosque is that it doubles as a Cathedral, called Our Lady of the Assumption. But it wasn't always like that. It was built and used as a mosque until the Spanish Reconquista (recapturing) of Cordoba about 300 years after it was built.

The Great Mosque (Mezquita)

Much thought was put into the building. The symmetrical design of the double arches were meant to provide an infinite sense of the mosque. The lower columns supporting the first layer of arches were designed smaller than second tier columns to accentuate a wider sense of space. The mihrab was constructed with 1.6tonnes of gold and was the highlight of the mosque. As beautiful as it was, then came the bombshell to put a Cathedral smack bang in the middle of the mosque. It was like sticking a knife right through the centre of a birthday cake and twisting it! The irony was converting it into a church was perhaps the best thing that happened to the mosque during the Spanish Inquisition where art, doctrines and culture from other faiths were destroyed.

Cathedral in the mezquita

Cordoba

A trip to southern Spain is not complete without a visit to the beaches. So we went to Marbella and Torremolinos to satiate our fascination with the sun, sea and sand. Marbella is "infested" with British tourists. Almost every corner we turned to is a British. You can easily spot one when they speak. Marbella does look like a posh beachside resort, and probably that explains why the only Hard Rock Cafe (known to be very selective) in southern Spain is located here.

Marbella

There's just so much to talk about the trip which I didn't and couldn't possibly cover here - the food, flamenco, language, World Cup, warm people, hotels we stayed, museums, hospitality, surprises, stunning sceneries and friendship. That's just writing them but there's more traveling to do. We have Andalusia Part 2 where we will take on Seville and Cadiz. See you next year.