"...The lower part of the walls is encrusted with beautiful Moorish tiles… the upper part is faced with fine stucco-work...artfully joined, so as to have the appearance of having been laboriously sculpted by hand…”
"...we passed through a Moorish archway into the renowned Court of Lions... The alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops, and the twelve lions which support them cast forth their crystal streams as in the days of Boabdil..."
The Alcazar was built in 1328 as a military fortification, and was later extended to include gardens, transforming into a residence for the Catholic monarchs after the Reconquista.
Dia de los Muertos honors the dead with customs that combine indigenous Aztec ritual with the Catholic faith brought to the New World by Spanish conquistadors...
The first home I visited in the Jewish Quarter taught me about Golden Threads. The second was all about papermaking.
The Jewish Quarter in Cordoba is one of the largest and best preserved in Europe.
The Mezquita was the largest mosque in the Western world, measuring almost 24,000 square meters. It was built in stages between 785 and 987 and would be considered the most important sanctuary of Western Islam.
Cordoba was a scholastic center from the 8th century. Under Muslim rule, it celebrated a golden age of cultural revival and was among the most diverse and religiously tolerant cities of its time.
It's my last day in Istanbul, so I cram as much into my remaining hours as I possibly can.
I will always remember Toledo as the city where churches, synagogues and mosques have such similar architecture that you might not realize which house of faith you are in without a guidebook.
Daveno Travels 