Spain

We spent ten days in the South of Spain - traveling round Andalusia. We stayed in Granada, Seville and Cordoba, and whilost I was expecting to like Seville most, I thought it was a bit disappointing. The best example being the contemporary art museum which had exactly 24 exhibits , and the permanent collection had disappeared entirely.

Highlights...
The Mezquita/Cathedral in Cordoba. Its an intriguing building. Essentially a mosque with a cathedral core built in the middle of it, and lots of statues of the Virgin Mary. Well worth seeing

Carmona. We went here on the way to Seville, and the little town was reaching the end of its festival. Its a charming place, full of winding streets, old churches, with a village square where lots of people sit in the afternoon

Baena. Centre of Andalusian olive-oil poduction - the very best to be found, and we bought two
bottles. Its heavenly stuff - far too good for cooking, definitely salads and bread only.

Wine! In particular sherry - we went out to Sanlucar, one of the three towns in the Sherry triangle, where they produce largely manzanilla, my favourite dry sherry.

Julio Romero de Torres. I don't know if any of you have heard of this Cordoban painter and his somewhat unique style. Half naked swarthy Spanish women in seductive poses, furtive looking male guitar players, images of death - all quite bizarre. definitely worth seeing!

Lecturing begins next week - a fair bit on this week....