I saw my last blog entry was days ago, yet so much has happened.
Portugal was beautiful and had many surprises. Of course there were the beaches, the little fishing boats and the trams in Lisbon, that look like little toys. However there is place called Sintra which was so green and lush, that It could have been a hilltop retreat in India.
I have wisely taken the advice of my family, and NOT get married again in Portugal! Although most of the ladies there look and sound like they should be Samba singers, such Is the lilt in the language.
What did I like best about the place ..... Basically nothing because I liked all of it. Looking at my journal I see that I have written that the Portugese are more laid back than the Spanish and whereas in Spain everything seems to be done on a grand scale in Portugal the sense of history is just as grand more more dignified if that makes sense.
Of course the tastes buds got a run. This time all I wanted to eat were littles cakes called Pastries of Bethlehem which are basically baked custard tarts. Originally monks baked them and sold them, as a way of making a little, when their monastery was destroyed, and they had to find a way to survive. Fortunately for us, even though the order didn't survive, the cakes did.
For all you folks who have access to the net while you are reading this a google image search of "Cascai Lisbon" or "Cascai Portugal" might be enjoyable. This beach suburb of Lisbon, reminded me a lot to St Tropez on the French Riviera. They both started off as little fishing villages, then they were discovered by the jet set rich and famous. Cascai like St Tropez now has all the villas and megabuck mansions. All very tasteful like the mock Norman castles that seemed to have been all the rage for a while. Cascai is at the stage where there is boutique everything, but not at the tacky trash stage yet. As in all things the Portugese seem to have a live and let live attitude to it
Yesterday was our last day in Spain on the outward trip. A day full of Spanish riches and traditions, and the one I have been waiting the whole trip for. We went from Seville to a place called Cordoba, which used to be the most important city in Andalucia, that part of Spain. There is STILL a great rivalry between these two cities after about six hundred years that makes the Sydney vs Melbourne thing look like a playground spat. But that's another story.
So Cordoba. There is a mosque there that is the third largest in the world. What makes this one unique, is that there is a Catholic Church, within the Mosque (cue google image search "mesquita cordoba" this was because at one time or another either the Muslims or the Catholics were running the place. It is breathtakingly beautiful in its own way and the architecture reflected the change in beliefs. For example, there is a very big area for prayers, a thick wall with heavy doors, then a beautiful green courtyard with a gently playing fountain. Originally neither the wall nor the heavy doors existed, because the Muslims who designed the place, believed that man (inside the building) and nature (the courtyard) are as one in the eyes of God, so nothing (such as a wall) should become between them. When the Christian Catholics took over, a wall was built between the two places because the garden would be a distraction.
Strangely enough, although the mosque has been a Catholic Church for hundreds of years and most people in Cordoba are Catholics. Yet these same people, still talk about getting married in "The Mosque!"
A must do google image search is "Spanish Pavillion 1929 Expo Saville" if you want to see the beauty of traditional Spain in one place, in one go, this is it.
We have just arrived in Morroco, so we will see what we make of this.
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