Friday, April 21, 2006

al-Andalus - Day 7

The reconquest continues in Seville. We arrived yesterday in the midday heat (29!) providing a good enough reason (not that we needed one) to satiate our parched gullets with Seville's renowned orange juice. Please warn the grocers back home that orange prices may rocket as my dad works his way through Andalucia's crops.

After Granada we spent a couple of nights in Cordoba, the former Muslim capital. I had forgotten the strong emotions that the provocatively remodelled Mezquita (mosque-cathedral) hybrid could evoke.

Seville's April festival is in full flow - a strange counterpoint to the sombre Holy Week earlier in the month. There are bullfights every day and we visited an exhibition dedicated to Seville's Matador par excellence - Manolo Vazquez - which consisted of some wonderful black and white photography and more surreally the severed ears and tails of the bulls he 'defeated'.

I've rediscovered a previous addiction - cafe bombon. A straight espresso poured into a shot glass laced with sweet condensed milk.

Tahir Shah's 'The Caliph's House' is proving to be a good holiday read. Each chapter is headed with a Moroccan proverb. The most fascinating thus far being "Tomorrow there will be apricots".

Got to go; more of Seville to be discovered.

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