In the wild

 We went for a short walk to La Garcipollera yesterday. There's a tarmac road, rather spoilt and broken, which goes as far as the village with the strange name of Villanovilla. We've done it many, many times. Yesterday was the first time we'd seen a stag. It stood below us, frozen until we went away.

On the way back the flock of sheep and their little lambs we'd seen ealier had moved away, but their guard dogs came to see us, one of them with a confused lamb.

There was a nice view of the Ciudadela in the evening.

Cordoba

 The most important building in Cordoba is the mosque-cathedral.  The highlight of our trip to Cordoba was the opportunity to sing in the mass on Sunday. In the Andalusian heat; even in October it was sandals and shorts weather, we had to wear our uniforms. 

As we were outside the closed outer door waiting to be let in, we saw a bridal couple having romantic photos taken, so we sang them a romantic song; luckily they were pleased!

Zaragoza heroines

We spent a week in Zaragoza, and on one of our walks we found the door of the church of El Portillo open.- we hadn't been in it before, so we went in. There were a couple of ladies there and one of them took us to see the heroines. At the beginning of the 19th century there were two terrible sieges where the people of Zaragoza resisted Napoleon's troops. Many of the streets are named after the heroes and heroines who are still remembered. 

It turned out that several of them were buried in the church, honoured and commemorated there.

This statue is one of the heroines, Agustina Zaragoza

Wikipedia says:Agustina Raimunda María Saragossa i Domènech, better known as Agustina of Aragón, was a Spanish woman who defended Spain during the Peninsular War, first as a civilian and later as a professional officer in the Spanish Army. 

Born: March 4, 1786, Reus

Died: May 29, 1857 (age 71 years), Ceuta

Battles/wars: Peninsular War: First Siege of Zaragoza; Second Siege of Zaragoza; Battle of Vitoria

Casta Álvarez Barceló was an Aragonese insurgent, who fought in the First siege of Zaragoza. This took place during the 1808 to 1814 Spanish War of Independence, or Guerra de la Independencia Española, part of the Peninsular War. Wikipedia

Born: 1786, Zaragoza

Died: April 29, 1846 (age 60 years), Cabañas de Ebro

Battles/wars: Peninsular War

Manuela Sancho y Bonafonte was an Aragonese revolutionary who participated in the defense of Zaragoza during the Peninsula War. Wikipedia

Born: June 16, 1784, Zaragoza

Died: April 7, 1863 (age 78 years), Zaragoza

The bones of the three women are in the casks. You can see that there is a wreath which has been laid recently.

Cordoba and Granada

 In the afternoon I went to the Alcazares Reales. Free entry for senior citizens. 

Nice gardens

The 3rd century Roman mosaics were spectacular

The Granada photos start here

Let's pass on to Friday. After breakfast we walked to the meeting point for the coach. The journey to Granada takes 2 hours, with a coffee stop. We were taken straight to the Alhambra.

Spectacular palaces and lovely gardens

Cordoba

 I sing with the Orfeón Jacetano. We've just come back from a trip to Cordoba, Andalucía. Google Maps say it's 844 km away from here. Taking a coach to Huesca we got on the high speed Ave train there. It took us all the way, with various stops, to Cordoba. 

While in Jaca the weather is autumnal, in Cordoba I wore shorts and sandals all the time,  the temperature in the 30s. 

The hotel was in the old quarter, very close to the Mosque; we were told to get a bus which would take us close: it didn't. So some of us grabbed taxis and covered the rest of the distance in them. Our taxi squeezed through very narrow streets; ones you wouldn't think a car could get through-made me hold my breath!

We had to leave our suitcases in a store-room and go to the restaurant where we were booked to eat. It was a nice meal, although the meat was a little tough, the rest was delicious.

The seats in the train are quite tightly-packed-you can't help playing footsie with the person opposite you.

Hotel los Omeyas, rooms around a central courtyard where we ate breakfast. After dinner we were allocated our rooms and had time to do some exploring.

The Roman bridge tempted me

Patio of the orange trees

The following day was free, so I gave in to my temptation and went for a run first thing; I really wanted to run across the Roman bridge.

It's difficult to see without people, but you can if you get up early enough.
My morning project was the Botanical Gardens.

Poor man's coffee

Devil's chickpeas

Something from the Canaries

                  A prehistoric plant

Pomegranate hedge

loofah vine, I thinkThere's more to come.