Spain Road Ways Two on the Loose TRAVEL HUMANITIES PHOTOS

Zaragoza - Zahar of the Red Hand. Ethnic History and Legend

2010-03-11T19:48:00.005-05:00

Tracing Zaragoza:

Who Were the Iberians Here

Before Rome

Looking at Legend

And Migrations from the Middle East - Languages of "isolates"

The easy part of history is found when people have records, organization. The difficult part is figuring out what happened with earlier people who preceded the structured ones.

Zaragoza:

Rome.

Usual tourist sites and history start with Romans, see ://uk.holidaysguide.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-124788-zaragoza_history-i/, with the legions invading Spain, and the town taking the name stemming from Latin Saragossa, and then Caesaraugusta. See also http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Zaragoza,-Spain/, focusing on the Christian era: the Virgin Mary appearing to St. James the Great in the first century AD. A work of word-name sources only refers to the Romans, and later the Arabs. See ://www.archive.org/stream/localetymologyde00char/localetymologyde00char_djvu.txt/

Before Rome. Iberian.

Keep going. Learn elsewhere that the site of Caesaraugusta is different from the Roman town. There was an Iberian village, with a newer town later nearby built by the Romans, Cesaraugusta, or Caesaraugusta. Not the same as the Iberian. See ://fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/Zaragoza,_Spain/ Its name was Salduie or Salduba.

Linguistics. And Iberian script resembles Phoenician. See ://fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/Iberian_language/ There were Phoenicians all over the Mediterranean, including Phoenicians in Sicily, so this would not be unusual in itself. This language is not the same as other languages with Celtic roots. See ://fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/Celtiberians/ Egyptians attribute language with written characters is said to have originated with the Phoenician, Taautos, from Byblos, Phoenicia, see ://phoenicia.org/alphabet.html/ and the Semitic languages, as well as others, stem from the forms. More on linguistics, including comparative charts, at ://atheism.about.com/od/ancientmythologyreligion/ig/Lebanon-Phoenician-Photos/Phoenician-Alphabet.htm/

So were the original Iberians at Zaragoza Hebrew? Perhaps. This site thinks so, Hebrew Hispanic History, but are they authoritative, or moneymaking? see ://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/genbbs.cgi/ /New/37557/ This site agrees, showing "Iberia" coming from "Eber"-ia, the grandfather of Abraham (Hebrews, not Jews at that time) or Heberia, or Hebrewland. See ://jahtruth.net/britspan.htm/ The focus there is in exploring origins of Gibraltar, as "not Spain."

Does location help with possibilities.

Look up Zaragoza, Aragon. Find it at ://www.red2000.com/spain/region/index.html/ There are many references to its origins with the usual "Old Iberians, Romans, Goths, and Arabians." See that list, for example, at ://www.red2000.com/spain/zaragoza/index.html/ A traverse from the Mediterranean at the northeast of Spain, crossing to Galicia, puts Zaragoza at a major point.

Derivation of Iberia. Eberia - Heberia - Hebrew
Remember: Hebrew did not mean "Jewish" in earliest times.
It was one of many tribes

Something may or may not be missing. Where formal history is lacking, look at legend. This is an ext\p://jahtruth.net/britspan.htm

Legend of Zahar of the Red Hand

There is legend here that is a far cry from staying satsified that all this area represents is a thriving Roman commercial and military center. We have an unexplainable tribe and language, an "isolate" as they say, like the Basques, and other groups that seem to spring from parts unknown.

This connection is suggested for the Iberian isolates: Palestine, and even Egypt. By legend, of course. Research old migrations of peoples from the Middle East to Iberia, and from there to Hibernia, even, there in antiquity,

Zahar of the Red Hand starts with a story in Genesis

It is said in legend that the Old Testament Zarah, twin son of Judah, who was himself son of Jacob / Joseph, went through these events, see The Red Hand of Ulster, at ://www.baronetage.org/redhand.htm:

During Zarah's birth, he stuck out his fist first, causing the midwife to tie an identifying red cord around it to designate the first-born, for purposes of the inheritance; but

Zarah then pulled it back, cord and all; and his brother Pharez was born, fully born, first, see Genesis 38:28-30; so

Zahar, with no inheritance, migrated from the Palestine area to (and here the stories vary) through Egypt first, or directly to Spain, Iberia, where

Zahar and the Zaharites of the Red Hand founded the city of Zaragoza. Then,

Zahar's descendants were pushed out to northern Spain and Galicia by the Romans and others; and from there went to Ireland, Hibernia. Or "Hebernia" - for the Hebrew's new land. There,

The Red Hand of the Zaharites remained the symbol of their settling.

Of course, Ulster has an alternate legend, of the Red Hand of Ui Niall casting his self-severed hand to the beach to claim the territory ahead of others, but we are interested here in the Zahar idea.

Spain as the stopping off point for ancients from the Middle East:

This is of interest to us because we also found a tale of a Queen Scotia, buried in Ireland from antiquity, and said to be the daughter of a pharaoh, and that explains alleged Egyptian hieroglyphs on her grave. Is any of this so? Does it matter? See Caledonia: Scotia and Scotland before Scotland. Queen Scotia, Ireland. See also ://www.irishidentity.com/extras/places/stories/martello.htm/

Those Old Testament roots are also in a highly partisan account of Irish origins, the story that recurs, at ://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/redhand.html/ Are we looking at descendants of Hebrews, migrating through other places, including Spain, to Ireland. Anything that gives enjoyment is not to be discounted, and we find this idea enjoyable. And as explicable as anything else.

Basques - Behind Guernica; and Forward

2009-08-21T15:34:00.008-04:00

Basque Country

Nation. A Nation. This Nation. Then, That Nation. Whose Nation has Rights.
Whose Nationalism Prevails.
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Force Decides, Temporarily, or Uneasily, or Permanently.
For How Long?

I. Basque country.

Travelling north and east, from Burgos, between Bilbao and San Sebastian, well off the main highway, north, in mountains, is the town of Guernica, the old capital of the ethnic group. Do a maps search to find it.

If you are heading ultimately from Bilbao and San Sebastian, to the rowdiness of Pamplona , curved to the south from San Sebastian, it is all too easy not to explore the hills. Parts of the mountain area are called "the Basque Switzerland" - around the Alava valleys to the north, and vineyards to the south (think Rioja), see ://www.carmalaga.com/informacion-basque/alava.htm/ Three provinces make up the "Basque Autonomous Community" - Alava, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa. New to us, but a must go next time. The lakes of Laguardia are in Alava - LaGuardia Airport of New York Mayor fame?

But with our best meal of the trip in a Basque restaurant in Bilbao, and so many unanswered questions about the Basque country, this is our advance scouting for the next trip. Basques. Who, where from. Why the violence. We want to go back.

Compare: Basque mountains, coast, vs; southeast of Basque Bilbao, from Spanish Burgos. There,flat land, easily invaded. Not the Basques.

The land south of Bilbao is flat, windmill farms, easy for invaders. Not so in Basque country. Invaders gave up.

II. The Basques: A Group that considers itself its own race.

Theirs is a persistent history of the different, living in an area from time unknown, consistent, uninterrupted heritage, seeking independence from the later-enveloping Spain, the alien governmental amoeba, or from enveloping France on the other side of the Pyrrhees Mountains. Separatists, others call them. But they never asked to be surrounded by the aliens. They resist absorption. Think back to high school microscopes and the amoebas. Gotcha. Farmers, herders, navigators, fishermen. They will not be absorbed.

Source and trigger of that interest in Basques suddenly, after a trip is over, this time: The novel, Guernica, by Dave Boling, Bloomsbury 2008, see ://www.daveboling.com/. Emphasis at the outset. The unique language. The card game of mus. Find the rules at ://www.pagat.com/vying/mus.html/ Draw cards, then bet on who has the best hand. Bluff, insult and look at these rules! Go there. The winner is the mano. Now. I love it. Must learn mus. Grande, chica, pares, juego. Fair use: quote from Quernica, by Boling:

The creative Basques decided that cheating could be prevented by declaring it a legal part of the game. Accordingly, if one never recognizes the existence of a border, then carrying goods across it is not smuggling, merely nocturnal commerce. And if a race believes it has always lived in its own nation, then protecting its imaginary boundaries is a matter of patriotism, not separatism.

From page 3. We are hooked already.

Picasso's comment to a son, the son age 15 (says the book at page 83), while they passed through Basque country, France to Spain side: How to check if Picasso said that? Or is this just a novelist being a novelist? Will go to quotes sometime. This is from the book:

"I know many Basques. Nobody works harder, or is more dedicated to his family. We used to say, 'Straight and tall, there goes the Basque. The ones I know could be stubborn and suspicious, but to have a Basque as a friend is something you can count on for a lifetime."

Apparently the Republicans (this is in the 1930's) wanted Picasso as a supporter, but Picasso saw himself as an artist, and art was about "other things" and not boring politics. Page 83.

Dance. Basques have a long history - this site says they themselves identify with Cro-Magnon peoples, see and some dances reflect the pagan past (everybody's was, if it not is, is that so?) ://paganismwicca.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_basque_witch_dance/. The "witch dance" is the sorgin dantza.

Other dances: see mixed group with hoops ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF3QkdbRes8&feature=related/ All men, the ezpata dantza. solemn (what is the occasion?), with swords, at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbg7qnaEWFU&NR=1/ Good view of flutes and drums. See a couple's dance, Arin Arin, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3oUfCBeKnU&feature=related

The novel references the
"jota" dance, see and hear it at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ustm1VmPGHU/and at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQRjgat5eSQ/ Go to Itxartu.com/ for the Itzartu Euskal Dantzari Taldea (traditional dance group - videos at ://www.youtube.com/itxartu); and for the North American Basque website at nabasque.org/ On Youtube videos are a series of lessons in the jota put up by the NaBasque group.

Language.

Not Indo-European. Hear Patricia speak it at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl75VkdWO8M&feature=related/ Translation? There is a Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada. The language is called euskara. See background and FAQ's at ://basque.unr.edu/16/16.1t/16.1.1.faqs1.htm/ There are some similarities with these languages: the Georgian in the Caucasus; the Berber family of languages, Africa; the Quechua, Latin America. See ://basque.unr.edu/16/16.1t/16.1.1.faqs1.htm/

Linguistics: See this discussion of the languages related to Neolithic - Ice Age Cro Magnon, even possibly Paleolithic times, at Linguistic Connections, a Paleolithic Language, at ://www.atlantisquest.com/Linguistics.html/ Areas: Aquitanian (ancient tribe, central France), Lusitanian (western Iberia). Cro Magnon types include the Basque, some Berber (including the blondish ones among the Rifians, some Tuareg, Mauritani, Bretani (even the names sound like the modern areas). This is not my field, but it sounds interesting. The language is not related to others around, but is related to others in the group. Is this the ancient "Atlantic" language. Think Atlantis? More fun to consider, speculate. Where did it come from? See inscriptions at the Linguistics site. Authentic? Also connected to Welsh, Erse and Gaelic? Much to read at the Linquistics site.

Creation and linguistics. Are you ready for this? This site connects roots of Basque and Basque-roots languages with Eden. Go for it. Read at Basque Paganism at ://www.arcadia93.org/basqueengl.html/. Follow interest, and then assess. No premature assessing, please. Cited as an authority is an Abhot, Dominique Lahetjuzan, 1766-1818. He finds Basque origins in names. The point is, with other references there, whether or not you accept all of them: roots here are deep, deep, back to Romans, Greeks, others with contacts with these peoples. Fascinating. What are the rights of first occupiers. Anywhere. Where does "time" begin.

Read up there on the Spanish Inquisition, other oppressions, killing of millions of healers, etc. Understand the heritage here. We forget. Also, refresh on divinities, early creation principles. Basques. A wealth of information on our earliest selves, before the nations, hierarchies and institutions tainted it all. Is that so?

Geneology; Origins.

Basque people are unique, we understand, in a number of ways. Their blood carries a high RH Negative factor. Are they so different from others in the linguistic group? Not sure. Go back to linguistics - Origins are unclear, with Cro Magnon populations, or original Iberians, or even survivors of Atlantis all circulating in the stories. See //basque.unr.edu/16/16.1t/16.1.1.faqs1.htm/ This site notes an "innate reluctance" of members of these groups to interact, intermarry with others not in the group.
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They have fought off assimilation for thousands of years. See ://www.atlantisquest.com/Linguistics.html/ For Atlantis geeks, read ://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=36137; and, of course, Plato: The Lost Cities of Atlantis, at ://www.geocities.com/ancients_uk/atlantis/plato.htm; and at Plato's Atlantis Dialogues, ://atlantis-today.com/Atlantis_Critias_Timaeus.htm/ Do a find for Atlantis to get to it. There was a wonderful and mighty empire, that conquered and built and shone forth in virtue and strength, see ://atlantis-today.com/Atlantis_Critias_Timaeus.htm#memorized/ and Solon's Tale continues:

But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.

One Critias had memorized the story of Atlantis, and it continues at the site. Keep doing the find for Atlantis to speed it up. So, there is Atlantis. Did remnants survive? Hmmm? Mists, smoke ....
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Oak. Then, reference to the symbolic oak in the center of town, an original and two successors that had been used as a gathering point for law-making or planning defenses, since the Middle Ages. It survived even the destruction of 1937, but finally died in 1994, see ://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3649397.stm/. The first was planted in the 1300's, and lived some 400 years. The tradition is that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella swore under that oak in the 1400's to uphold the Basque ancient privileges. It is a symbol of loyalty. BBC at ://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3649397.stm/ A replacement was to be planted (was it? must have).

Nationalist Anthem. In the 1800's, one Jose Maria Iparraguerra composed a song, Gernico Arbola, and dedicated it to the tree, and that composition became the nationalist anthem for the Basques. BBC at ://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3649397.stm/ Here is an instrumental at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qE75kev4Dg

Flag. The Ikurrena flag, red, white and green is banned. See it at ://www.geographic.org/flags/new1/basque_flags.html - like a pattern from the Union Jack, red ground, white center cross side to side and up and down, superimposed on a green X full diagonals.

Flags courtesy of ITA's
Flags of All Countries used with permission. *

Since no map identifies Basque country, the language is a definer, as are the dances, the celebrations. Some say the Basques survived because of inaccessibility - rocky, stony coast; high mountains around. But was it instead the language, incoherent to all others. "Everything that has a name exists," from page 6. What have the words seen. This takes us to a look, because memory is hazy, at what happened here.
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III. A WWII history: Basques at the epicenter of civilian slaughter.

World War II. Guernica, the ancient Basque capital. The Germans were eager to try out their Luftwaffe. In 1935, a German general published a book claiming that war is total and no segment of a population should be exempt, including civilians, and targeting them was legitimate in furthering the goals of the invader. Meanwhile, the Spanish civil war had begun in 1936, Guernica had held out. The Nationalist Franco was displeased, as he fought the Republicans.

Now the big names: Wolfram von Richtoven, cousin of the Red Baron from WWI, arrived with his Condor Legion, sent by Hitler. Bomb the city to see what would happen, since the city had not been involved in the civil war, and what would a bombing raid do to it. Send a signal to the Republicans of the power behind the Nationalist cause. An experiment, and a warning, with Guernica the tool. And get the troublemaker Basques in line. Richtoven chose it.

There were no defenses. The planes flew as low as 600 feet, destroying Guernica on market day. Dead: 1664. Wounded: 889. Political impact: England feared similar treatment on her shores, Chamberlain met with Hitler three times (appeasing?) in 1938, and modernized the air force. All this from The History Learning Site at Ask, ://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/guernica.htm/.

IV. The Picasso Painting, Guernica. The Basque Apocalypse, Muralized.

Pablo Picasso memorialized this Apocalypse, at a town used for target practice, animals in the explosions, a slaughterhouse of people and chaos, in a huge painting, see ://www.guernicamag.com/features/6/the_painting_guernica/ Do an Images search if it is unfamiliar to you. Guernica. Picasso. Here it is, at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid (we only saw the Prado), and a fine article, at ://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/artblog/2007/apr/26/picassosguernicabattlelives/

Without knowing the story, no wonder some moderns see nothing special in it, just another Picasso, see ://painting.about.com/od/arthistorytrivia/f/FAQ_Guernica.htm/ Learn the history, and nationalism and horrors are no longer abstracts.

III. Now back to the book.

To be continued. This section to include bits, such as this: Did the Basques originate as the survivors of Atlantis? Some of their traditions so suggest.

Other groups seeking self-determination: Thinking now also of Uighurs, any group surrounded, surviving, uncertain future in the way of the march of others.

IV. Current politics in Spain.

There are two Basque political parties: The EHAK, or Communist Party of the Basque Territories; and the EAE, or Basque Patriotic Action. See recent activities (past several years) of the independence movement from Spain, at ://www.onesolutionrevolution.org/?cat=14&language=en/
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V. Exonyms (!) - Endonyms. Names in countries with foreign names. See the evolving and self-questioning site at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonym/. Where are Basque origins (the origins of the Basques is unknown, so all this is very interesting, trust me). Rats. Nothing turns up. Stay tuned and we will keep looking. Why does wiki link to Geneva, Bern and Basel. No idea. See no connection with Basque.

.....................................................................................................

*To do that, we have to publish this exploration of Basques, as it is so far, and send the flag site an email, says their site, so we will do that. Publish. Get the URL. Then back to here. Is this worth it? No. The verbal description we think is enough, but the colors are striking. Bureaucracies. Turf. This flag is mine, say they at ://www.theodora.com/flags/. We want to separate! In the alternative, can we consider that this one permission covers future uses of flags? Or do we have to do this each time? No wonder the old ways, so simple, so common sense, lure us away from modern tickytacky. There must be another approach to copyright. Basques, good for you.

Conchita Cintron, Bullfighter - Women's Rights in Spanish Culture

2009-04-09T09:53:00.004-04:00

Bull, Bahre name (real or not?)

Sometimes, a country transports its culture as much as its people. Here, bullfighting.

One of the first women bullfighters - a matador - was Conchita Cintron, who just died at age 86. Her obituary from the New York Times is at ://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/sports/othersports/20cintron.html/.

Apparently she began her vocation at age 13, and was from Peru, not Spain. Still, the sport is so tightly tied with Spain, and she was living in Portugal at the time of her death, we include here regionally and culturally, here - with Spain.

Her life and near death - in 1949, she was gored in the thigh during a bullfight in Mexico, was taken out of the ring, broke away from the doctors in the infirmary, and returned to the ring to kill the bull. That bull was one of 750 taken in her career. She then fell unconscious and was taken to emergency surgery.

Madrid - A Collage of History. Architecture. Christopher Columbus, Plaza Mayor, Prado, Don Quixote, Palace

2008-02-13T15:42:00.015-05:00

ARCHITECTURE.

The idea of proportion comes across despite the many forms used. Recalling here an art history lecturer in college, who used a conductor's baton to tap out architecture - the base might be tap....tap....tap; one for each major aperture.

Then, the level above, with four apertures to each one below, might be taptaptaptap; and above it, two above the four, for tap tap; and a whistle and swoop for an arch with a tap, and BANG for the cupole on top of the dome. Gets under your skin.

Make your own sound effects as you look at buildings.

ROME REMEMBERED.

Here is Neptune, in a roundabout -

Some sites start Madrid's history with medieval times, see ://www.aboutmadrid.com/madrid/history.asp. Nuts. We like to do back and back. This one is better - 1000 BC, settlement by Iberian tribes, and Celts; and in 218 BC, in came the Romans with roads, many converging here. So, that is maybe why we have Neptune here. In the 4thCentury AD, Visigothic Kings took over after Rome fell. There is a whole park lineup of them. Very impressive, macho. Toledo was the capital for the Visigoths. See://www.world66.com/europe/spain/madrid/history.

CELTS.

Always surprised that the Celts were all over Europe, including Eastern and Central Europe, later pushed into England, Wales, Ireland. See ://www.watson.org/~leigh/celts.html. Need to research more on Celts and Visigoths.

ISLAMIC EMPIRE.

10th Century: Arab. Emir Cordova Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Rahman. This site says that the Muslims founded Madrid proper. See ://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/2000/teams/cybertour/madridhistory.htmlThe full name is listed because we want to know what each part means - a lineage, a tribute?

Liberated 11th Century.

PLAZA MAYOR.
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Here is the great Plaza Major or Plaza Mayor - a huge space, cafes, and in the early evening the tapas gets going, with later evening (dinner starts about 11:00 PM) busy with crowds. Enter from a regular city street, up a staircase, through an arch and suddenly there it is - wide open. Wonderful.

Madrid became the capital and seat of the Royal Family in the 16th Century.

Many monuments to explorers, kings.

Memorial to King Charles III?, 18th Century.

He also ruled Naples and Sicily - we often forget how fluid national boundaries were then. Find out after we get back. Reforms in sanitation, no more slops out windows, liked French dress, overall did well, says ://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Charles_III_of_Spain.

THE ROYAL PALACE.
.

This is no longer used as a residence. Meet the Royal Family at ://personales.ya.com/fororeal/infresp.htm.
King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia, and children.

DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO PANZA

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

This memorial is so tall that it took two photos to get it all in. See Dan at the bottom for scale. Is is as high as Trafalgar Square? There is a tradition that Cristoforo Colombo was a child out of wedlock, his childhood unknown, but piece together the stories and such support for it as you may choose to weigh, at Bogomilia, Shadow Children.

THE PRADO MUSEUM

If you arrive in Madrid on a Sunday and expect to see the Prado on a Monday, you will have to go elsewhere - and there are many alternative museums. Prado closes Mondays. Another choice is to hop one of the many sight-seeing buses where you get on and off all day, taking any of the many routes offered - just go all over for the price of one ticket. Great.

Pamplona - The Bulls

2008-02-12T12:30:00.004-05:00

Pamplona, Spain. Dawn by the Corral

Bull Runnings

Bullfighting has a long history, and worth learning about before going. See www.andalucia.com/bullfight/home.

Here is The Drill for watching a bull run at Pamplona. And a guide: ://www.spainguides.com/pamplona.html.

Walk down the evening before also to see the bulls arrive at the corrals. I tried not to think too much about it. An overview of the daily events for the week's Festival of St. Fermin, Pamplona's first bishop, says this reputable site, http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-521104/Fiesta-de-San-Fermina. We had been told that he was a martyr, killed by bull-dragging or trampling, have to check now. Here we go: first a bishop, then the martyr in the 1st Century AD, but in Amiens France, see ://www.pptravel.com/eventhistory.asp?EventID=SF; but Wikipedia says the year traditionally was 257 AD (makes more sense) and it was by tying him to a bull and the dragging. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Fermin.

See a daiy roster of events at www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/europe/spain/pamplona_bull_run.php.

Get up at 5 AM to walk walk walk from wherever you found a room to claim the spot for viewing. We had checked out where to go the night before, aiming to see the bulls safely, and we found a high spot at the starting section, at the top of a flight of stone steps leading to a square. We were at the beginning of the run.

Grab a coffee and bun as you go, watch people with the fire hoses washing down the streets, and washing the el inebriatos out of the doorways. Once you get your place, hold it - if you shift an inch, someone will slither in front of you - Viva Yo - and you lose. Or a big arm with an alien camera will suddenly block your view. Plan for it. That' s life.

Pamplona, Spain. The Runners Amass

Look down and see everybody in the red and white customary attire - includes women these days. Hear the runners sing their Prayer to St. Fermin - that is a chanty singsong in honor of that St. Fermin who was martyred by bulls in centuries past.

Pamplona, Spain. The Rocket's Result. Bull Run. And a few oxen.

There goes the rocket.

Out come the bulls and up the street below.

Pamplona, Spain. The Great Scatter at the Bull Running

Everybody run.

Bulls and people tend to slip at the curves, on the cobbles; and are totally confused and panicked at the end of the run, to the tunnel into the ring.

Several oxen run with bulls in an effort to keep them calmer, but it is dangerous.

We heard many sirens, off an on, all during the run. At least in the tunnel, there are roll slots you can roll into and out of the way, or leap into cut-outs in the wall.

Meanwhile, in the ring, people have been entertaining the crows by clowning with calves, or female cattle that will not then be used in the ring, I think. The animals are smart and learn what to do fast. They don't get used or exposed to the ring twice, I hear.

The bullfights are on TV all the time, and to this outsider, there is nothing glorious and epic about the encounters I saw between man and brute forces that Michener wrote about in the old "Iberia." Capitalism took over. Advantage: to the people. Seldom not messy. But that is an outsider speaking. Limited. But there is a lot to learn about the tradition behind it, so do read and respect www.passports.com/trips/cityfact/cityfact.asp?city=The%20Spanish%20Bullfight.

Pamplona, Spain. Mounted Police, in Feathers. End of Day.

Expect inebriation. Everywhere. You will also get wet. Very wet. Wine and beer are poured and sprinkled about at the end of the day. Set a meeting place in case you get separated. Practice locking arms. If the crowd squeezes and you can't move, then you can stay together.

Police on horseback to control everything.

Read Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" for a fine literary lookback. Here is an excerpt: at ://www.literarytraveler.com/authors/hemingway_pamplona_spain.aspx

Pamplona - Getting Older; and History

2008-02-12T11:56:00.002-05:00

Festival of St. Fermin - Bull Running Agenda

For the July bull-running festival, there are parades during the day for the - large puppets over head. If you arrive in the middle of one, however, expecting to see macho, athletic young men flexing all over the place, think again.
Pamplona, Parade, Spain
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This has become family reunion time. All the strollers and spouses. There are plenty of young people, sleeping in the park like old Woodstock or something, and the partying goes on all night. Still, the impression is of middle aged people coming back to relive what they did or wished they did, or made up that they did, this time with the kids. All is red and white. For all ages and shapes. No place to go, so just turn off the ignition and let the parades flow around you. Get out and join in.

History: Plenty to do after the run. Pamplona was a Roman town 75 BC - near the Basque area and town of Iruna. It does not subdue - as the Visigoths and Moors found. Even Charlemagne and his Franks were stopped by the Basques at Roncesvalles nearby. In medieval times, there were three towns at that basic spot, with differing populations - Basque, French (see how close to the Pyrenees) and a mix of others. The French tried to take it definitively in 1521, lost, and Ignatius Loyola - who fought there - was wounded and later founded the Jesuits. For a long time, Pamplona was frontier. Walls, fort.

Listen. The Song of Roland at ://omacl.org/Roland/. Here is an online translation of this old French poem, about the son of Charlemagne and his death at Roncesvalles. At ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/roland-ohag.html.

Muslim Spain - Contributions. Saracens. Fatimids. Granada.

2008-02-11T17:22:00.004-05:00

Vast architectural structures. Islamic influence in so many places.

I believe this is in the town of Granada, not the palace, Alhambra, there. See where a later Christian influence (the Christians liked rigid squares and rectangles; or Gothic pointed arches) changed the original fluid, arched Moorish windows.

They made them look more Gothic, except for a few on the right that remained Moorish, with an Arab look if you scrunch up your eyes- see the flaring just at the arch, the scimitar shapes?

At this site, click on the main Islamic cities in Spain during the Muslim Occupation, and get overviews that help put the era into perspective - at ://lexicorient.com/spain/index.htm.. The main cities were Seville, Cordoba, Jaen, and Granada.

But who were the Saracens? The same as the Islamic conquerors of Spain? This site says the term was used generally for Muslims in the Middle Ages - see ://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9065721/Saracen.

Same as Fatimids?

No, the Fatimids were Shi'a, and this site has a fine, short history ://i-cias.com/e.o/fatimids.htm/ This is of interest because we learn of the Shiites in Iraq.

Note the focus of their history there, apparently in Egypt.

For a review of the Sunni - Shi'a divisions, see ://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm.

Looked up Catholic - Protestant in the same vein - and found a confusion of quasi-dogma and big words that would mean nothing to an outsider without a glossary and authority to support, at ://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/catholic_protestant.htm.

Presenting another culture's beliefs. Trouble.

Perhaps Muslims feel the same way about how their divisions are represented. This historical view, from the Tudor period, was far more informative. Take a look at ://www.historyonthenet.com/Tudors/protestant_catholic.htm.

Remember, that is from the Tudor period, 1500-1700 or so, but deep roots are there.

Here is a map of the Fatimids, and Wikipedia's note that information needs brush-ups, at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatimid.The Fatimids were Shi'a, of an Ismaili branch (?). Wikipedia notes a high degree of religious tolerance to non-Ismaili, Coptic Christian, Jew, or other Islamic persons.

Malaga - The Costa del Sol, The Sun Coast

2008-02-11T16:39:00.001-05:00

Malaga, Alcazabe, Spain. Sun Coast.
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The Sun Coast, Malaga and great Islamic fortress dating to 1065, the "Alcazabe," on the side of the hill. At the top is another, older Muslim fortress, the Gibralfaro. See ://www.travelinginspain.com/testweb.html. Malaga is on the way from Gibraltar to Ronda, a town on a deep gorge in the mountains.

Malaga is a vacation destination, highrises at the beach, near the ritzy Costa Del Sol. Many flights (inexpensive?) from UK, Germany, Scandinavia. Signs in many languages. And has large enclaves of expatriates not just vacationing, but retiring there, at least for a while.

Alcazabe, Malaga, Spain. Wall View.

This is Picasso's birth town, see ://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/home.htm.
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History: Originally founded by Phoenicians, an ancient, sea-faring, trading people 1200-800 BC or so, originating near Palestine, main cities there were Tyre and Sidon, see ://home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizations/Middle_East_Civilizations/Phoenicians/phoenicians.html.

.Phoenicians are also known as the "Canaanite Phoenicians," see http://phoenicia.org/. Their alphabet formed the basis for the first transliteration of the Hebrew collections of stories over thousands of years that, in about 550-600 became a proto-Old Testament. Phoenicians - deserve great credit, often forgotten.
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Even the old name "Malaka" is from the Phoenician for "salt" - for salting the fish there. In Arabic, it is Malaqah, from the Islamic Occupation. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1laga. The musical work, "Malaguena," by Ernesto Lecuona, refers to the Gypsies of Malaga, all you pianists.

During the Muslim Occupation, this town of Malage grew as a "taifa" kingdom, and was formed as many did when the great Caliphate broke up (at Cordoba?) in the 11th Century. Supporting art and architecture was a way to show wealth - conspicuous visualization? see ://www.nyu.edu/gsas/program/neareast/andalusia/1_p11_text.html

Driving, always look up. At most substantial-sized and small towns there will be a castle on a hill, an Old Town below. Aim for either, then both.

Festivals, holidays, days for closings

2008-02-11T16:35:00.001-05:00

We try to plan a trip when there will be a festival. Here is a website for Spain events: www.spain-info.com/Culture/festivals.

The usual festivals center on Seville at Easter, Pamplona in July for the bull runs, and there is a tomato throwing festival somewhere also that we missed. Crushing.

Bilbao, Museum of Modern Art, Spider on the Side

Mondays are often closing days for museums. Check so that you are not at Bilbao for the Museum of Art, or only have a Monday left in Madrid, for the Prado. If you are in a city on a Monday, take the day on a bus hop-on-hop-off all day ticket - many routes usually color coded so you can see where each route goes, stay as long as you like, shift routes, all day, see everything but the inside. Many also have talking tour boxes and ear phones at each seat.

Granada, Alhambra Palace

2008-02-06T13:33:00.001-05:00

Granada, where the Sultan's Palace, the Alhambra, is located - see lexicorient.com/spain/alhambra.

Granada, Spain. Alhambra garden courtyard
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The guidebook may say that you have to have advance tickets to do the Alhambra palace. Not so. If you get there later in the afternoon, you can see it all, and avoid the tour buses. We spent the night in town, and went back the next day to fill in anything we missed.

Alhambra, Granada, Spain, Lion Fountain

This is the lion fountain. While the Moors ruled, there was an extensive flowering of architecture, culture, mathematics, architecture, etc. See home.att.net/%7Ea.f.aly/renaissance; and www.andalucia.com/cities/granada.

Albaicin, Arab Quarter, Old Grenada, Spain (view from the Alhambra)

The view to old Granada, the Arab Quarter, the Albaicin - where the Christians, upon retaking Granada in 1492, forced the Arab Muslims to live, on a steep hillside, now the Old City. See ://www.vivagranada.com/, fine photos and notes by Lorenzo Bohm. Details for tourists at ://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada/albaicin.htm. Take time at the spice market in the Albaicin, heaps of turmuric, others, and take time to wander and get totally lost. You will find your way back.

In the cathedral here are Ferdinand and Isabella, and our favorite, Juana la Loca, see this site and read every word, at ://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/juana/juana_bio.htm. There she is, in stone, with her fingers lightly tented over her chest, moving ever so slightly, and her head turned just a tad away from her husband, Philip (handsome but....) beside her, as her mind still wanders. Or doesn't, or never did.

Read her story in James Michener's "Iberia" - see ://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/1804/mcms.html. We are looking for the pages about Juana now. La la la. But not all is necessarily as it seems....

Islamic Studies, Orientalism, Resources

2008-02-02T19:50:00.002-05:00

Some names, since Spain was under Islamic rule for 400-500 years, this is pertinent to its history and Europe's - and the world now. Our own filing place for further reading.

1. Hamilton Gibb, "Essays on the History of Islam," - British Empire origins, but a world of esoterica, Arab history - in process of getting feet wet here. More neutral, older.

2. Bernard Lewis, a neo-conservative spokesman for Arab-Islamic scholarship, Princeton?
vs.

3. Edward Said and "Orientalism," a broader concept than the too-stereotyped "Islamic" cubbies used in the West.

Burgos - Way of St. James, Pilgrimage Point, Cathedral

2008-02-02T19:45:00.003-05:00

Burgos, Cathedral, Spain

The Romans took possession of this area around Burgos, while it was "Celtiberian" - the Celts were all over Europe, with first roots perhaps in Eastern Europe. See ://www.watson.org/~leigh/celts.html

Founded as a town in 884, as part of an effort to consolidate where Christians lived, it was part of the Arab Muslim empire for a short time (Arabs held all of Castile, "land of castles," built for the defense of Christians).

There is a beautiful Gothic cathedral, begun in 1221, and work on it continued for 300 years. But Burgos is not the birthplace of El Cid, despite Burgos' tourist claims in attention-getting headers. Even in the fine print of this site you read that El Cid was born in Vivar, a/k/a Bivar, or Bevar.

We had made a special trip over to Bivar before coming to Burgos, and it is a tiny town between Segovia and Burgos. There is a statue there and memorial tower. See post at Spain Road Ways, El Cid at Bivar. See://www.spanish-living.com/regional/Castilla_Leon_Burgos.php. Read about El Cid at ://www.kellscraft.com/elcid.html. Read about Burgos development, wars, alliances and breakups with Navarre and Leon and Aragon, and other major events at ://www.geocities.com/burgosweb/ancient.htm; but remember two things:

1. Time your arrival before 1PM or after 2PM, sometimes 3PM.

Long lunch period, for the main meal of the day and a rest and all is closed; and this is so in many places. Change your eating habits, check the guidebook for times, and enjoy the plaza; and

2. Write down where you park.

Better yet, take a picture of the nearest cross streets and your car if you have a digital camera. By the time you find a space, and walk back through the wonderful, twisty streets, you are among the truly, truly lost. The irritation is just in the time spent - but change your perspective on time, and enjoy where you find yourself.

Burgos is also on the famous pilgrimage route, The Way of Saint James, to Santiago de Compostela - see ://www.thewayof-stjames.com/camino-frances-pyrenees-to-santiago/burgos---leon.html. Pilgrims were given special safe passage, at least that was the idea, and carried or wore a scallop shell to identify them. See pilgrimages and scallops at ://www.stjamesirl.com/html/pilgrimage_shell.htm.

Cordoba - the Roman City

2008-02-02T17:31:00.003-05:00

Cordoba, Roman Temple, Claudius Marcellus

Explore the remains of the Temple constructed by Claudius Marcellus, at Claudio Calle Marcelo, about a mile from the Mezquita, the Mosque, now Roman Catholic Cathedral, see other post.*

See the temple as imagined at //www.spanisharts.com/arquitectura/imagenes/roma/i_cordoba_claudio.html.

And the long bridge over the River Guadalquivir, to the Mosque and Cathedral, at Cordoba, Roman Bridge.

Do not underestimate Cordoba. There were more cultural buildings in Cordoba under the Romans than in Rome itself, says ://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/cordoba-history.htm.

Cordoba, Spain. RomanTemple setting, on street, Claudia Calle Marcelo

Today, back up a little bit from the cropped picture to see how the ruins are integrated in modern times.

Those are original old walls, and the building adjoins. Several hotels tout their location over Roman ruins, some, apparently, with glass in the hotel floors so people can look down.

Cordoba, Christian and Muslim and Jewish

2008-02-01T12:29:00.001-05:00

Cordoba, Roman Bridge
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Beautiful Cordoba, city of Romans, see Roman Cordoba, Visigothic Christians, Muslims, Catholic Christians. The lovely Guadalquivir River, now much silted in. But the old grandeur is all around.

Look at that distance to the Mosque-Cathedral, from the perspective of people like us, who drive, and who have to park on the far side of the Puente Romana, the Roman Bridge, and walk, leaving luggage behind. There is always the hovering concern that oops, on the return, empty car.

That's me looking back fitfully, in great hopes of seeing it all again when we returned. Cordoba, Puente Romana

We are hugely vulnerable to evildoers - any around would know there will be several hours before we walk back. So what.

Go anyway.

We've only been burglarized once - in the Blarney Castle parking lot, in Ireland - see Ireland Road Ways, Blarney post. Lost it all, including passport and ticket, so what more can happen. Spain was great.

We often do pay someone who happens to be standing nearby, and ask the impossible - could they watch the car, no way of enforcing that, but it is a human connection only. They could be the first to barge into it, knowing we were walkers and not coming back soon.

No problem. So what if it all disappeared? Health counts, the second pair of jeans doesn't.

On the other side of the river is, the old Mezquita (Mosque) that was later, after the Muslims were defeated in 1492, included in a vast Roman Catholic Cathedral.

Cordoba, Cathedral incorporating the Mosque
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Cordoba was governed by the Muslims 929-1031 AD, and was a foremost intellectual center in Spain and (this site says) in all of Europe. See ://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sumay/hd_sumay.htm. There was a large Jewish Quarter, that now is a destination in itself, and the walk on the way to the Roman ruins, see next post, but the Jews were all expelled by the Christian (?) Ferdinand and Isabella by edict in 1492.

Some background: Spain, a Visigothic Christian kingdom mostly, was invaded by Muslims in 711, and ruled by them from overall about 711 to 1492. The Muslims were defeated by the Christian King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. Thus, Spain was an Islamic territory and until 1031, was "administered by a provincial government established in the name of the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus and centered in Cordoba." See discussion and photographs at ://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sumay/hd_sumay.htm.
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Cordoba, Guadalquivir River
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The bridge walk back - and the car was just fine.
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Thank you, Spain.

For a discussion of the concept of Caliphate as serving in direct line (the "rightful caliphs"), see ://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/politics/firstfourcaliphs.html/
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The phrase apparently means, Successor to the Messenger of God, the Holy Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him). See also ://www.sispain.org/english/history/muslim.html.

Cordoba

2008-02-01T09:01:00.001-05:00

Roman Bridge, Cordoba, Spain
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Roman bridges are still in use - that is the one at Cordoba.

I understand that the Moors had conquered Spain by 711, except for some mountain regions. They ruled for 800 years , and, unlike the Christian areas, welcomed Jews in administration, ambassadorships and finance. Cordoba was the seat of the Umayyad caliphat, its peak in the 10th Century. See original source material at ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conqspain.html

Cathedral, Cordoba, Spain
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Building encompassing building.

The Cathedral at Cordoba contains within it the huge Mosque originally there - they just built around and over. Huge. The Christians finished their reconquest in the 1490's. See www.red2000.com/spain/cordoba/index.

With the reconquest, however, came the Spanish Inquisition, see www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Inquisition; and www.spanish-fiestas.com/history/inquisition; and the expulsion and death of any who opposed the form of Catholicism of Ferdinand and Isabella.

II. Pursuing "dhimmitude" 1492 -- in Christian Spain, the Reconquest and Re-taking from the Muslims

2008-01-30T19:49:00.002-05:00

The Jewish Expulsion

Part II of a look at Muslim expansion in Spain; and its aftermath -
Christian Rule and Expulsion of the Jews.

This, after centuries, of living together under the Muslims

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This follows up the earlier post on the status of dhimmi for subject Jews and Christians under Muslim rule, at Spain Road Ways, Pursuing "dhimmitude" to 1492.

Jews were expelled from Spain in about 1492. From there, many ended up in Eastern and Central Europe. This is the second part of our look at "dhimmitude" -- the condition or status of non-Muslims under Muslim rule.

Spanish Synagogue, Prague, CZ

II. Jewish life at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

What happened then?

Here is the "Spanish Synagogue" in Prague, the Czech Republic, see Czech Republic Road Ways, Prague, Jewish Quarter.

Whoever built this clearly valued a heritage from and in Spain. How did this get to Prague.

History here focuses on an old event, and a recent one:

Edict of Expulsion. The old event. This is the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by formal Edict of Expulsion in 1492. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella's Christian armies had defeated the Muslims who ruled Spain from the 8th Century until 1492. This is called the "Reconquest" of Spain, from the Muslim conquering of the Visigothic Kings and others, the first invasion being in 711. The expelled Jews went wherever they could find homes, out of Spain. You can still see the empty Jewish Quarters, especially in Seville, where the occupiers now are Christians, clubs, very scenic and old, but no longer Jewish.

The Spanish Jews, ending up in Turkey, Italy, North Africa and elsewhere, became known as the Sephardim.

A loss to Spain - Spain caused its own brain drain.

The Spanish Christian response was not a new angle. Earlier Christians, the Visigoths, ruling before the Muslims, also forced conversion or expulsion, see ://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8636/History.html.

Petr Ginz. The recent event: Some Jews ended up in Central and Eastern Europe. Read "The diary of Petr Ginz," by Chava Pressburger, his sister, about his life in World War II in Prague. His whose grandmother attended this synagogue, also known as the Dusni Synagogue - -see Places of Petr Ginz. The conditions under which the Jews were expelled, and where some of them ended up.

The persistence of ethnic memory in all of us.

Dhimmi Status - after Muslims are Gone.

1. Most sites address how bad it was or must have been. With that background, see the numerous sites decrying the treatment of Christians and Jews under Muslim rule, see for example, ://www.jewishmag.com/57mag/dhimmi/dhimmi.htm. No doubt atrocities happened - but the essence of the "dhimmi" status under the Muslims, the subservient legal status afforded Christians and Jews in Muslim lands, was essentially economic, political, religious, social - behavior and privilege oriented. We have been looking around our Koran, and see no requirement or advisement for atrocities on top.

2. Does applying a separate type of "dhimmi" legal status, even temporarily, offer some constructive way to meet our own issues with different populations.

See the dabblings with a plank on dealing with immigrants without documentation here now, and until further study can be made. How to suspend ferocities until after an election, so we all can stop and think.

See Pose Juxta: Plank, Lawful Temporary Residence Permit (Red Card).

If "Dhimmi" as a theory or legal status was indeed intended as an administrative, functional - even if clearly unequal - legal status, the inequality was part of the overall social - religious structure and in their time made sense.

I do not yet see that a cruel or humiliating enforcement or implementation was required - that looks like the normal variations among rulers. Is it worth exploring. Yes. See exploration discussion of possible uses of this legal status approach for us in transitional immigration issues at Hello, Fodder, Dhimmi Status; and Joy of Equivocating, Dhimmi fact-finding.

2. With the "dhimmi" status in mind as to how Muslims did it, then look at the "dhimmi" status imposed by Christians over Jews in Christian lands. The Spanish Inquisition killed Jews who would not convert, and committed terrible atrocities in order to obtain confessions and conversions. Ferdinand and Isabella than expelled them all - the Edict of Expulsionn in 1492. Liquidate property, throw them out.

See ://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/expulsion.

3. Compare: Muslim dhimmi laws that permit ongoing life, even protect it, but impose restrictions - harsh ones, but so far no advocacy for atrocities against compliant "dhimmis." Is this accurate?

Christian dhimmi laws - the Edicts of Expulsions in Spain and other countries- that permit no "dhimmis" to live there at all, and certainly not in the country they had populated for centuries, living with Muslims and Christians alike. Kill and expel. Or torture, and persecute, as in Inquisitions.

A hope for future co-existence: Can we as people recognize that the abusive form, that a religion takes in its interactions with others from time to time, is a function of the leaders' agendas and interpretations, and not necessarily at all what the scriptural basis of the religion may have intended.

How does any religion change depending on the interpretations of authorities.

Here, on this little island, let's say, is the founding place of a major religion. All that we have of the life and teachings of the founder now is two chimneys, one at each end.

For Christians, this is an apt analogy. So much was never written down, until it became other people's differing recollection, or hearsay filling in, all the rest did not survive, or is still in desert jars, for some reasons intentional, others not.

For Jews, or Muslims, let them interpret as they will.

For all of us, what was originally intended may well be in the mists, after all the intervening "inspired" interpreters filling in the gaps between the chimneys to suit them. Everybody dhimmis everybody, so we all need help from somewhere and that 's the truth. Bhlpppthpt.

Who is the pot calling which other kettle black?://www.bartleby.com/59/4/potcallingth.html. Or six of one, half dozen of the other, etc. See ://www.goenglish.com/SixOfOneAHalfDozenOfTheOther.asp. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the .....

I. Pursuing "dhimmitude" in Arab-Berber - Muslim Spain 750-1492 C.E.

2008-01-29T20:15:00.004-05:00

This is part I of a look at Muslim expansion into Spain: to 1492.
The Status of Dhimmitude - the Infidel in a Muslim Society

For part II, after 1492,
see Spain Road Ways, Pursuing dhimmitude 1492 - in Christian Spain, the Reconquest

Christians retake Spain.

Here:

Part I. Islamic Expansion in Spain through the centuries - Arab, Berber in Spain.

This looks at the Muslim invasions and occupation of Spain 711-1492 CE. The Visigoths had taken over in the 5th Century in Spain, following the fall of Rome. See ://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml. Note that the Ottomans, out of Turkey, came much later - in 1369 with the Ottomans invading Bulgaria and heading north.

Note there were not Ottomans in Spain. The Ottoman Empire spread out of Turkey into Central Europe and Europe later.

1. Arab. Berber.

Muslims in Spain were Arabs and Berbers. See this Fordham University site for Islamic history - at ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook.html. And here are a series of maps showing Islamic conquests from time to time, including in Spain, at this University of Pennsylvania site ://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs143/map2.jpg. More maps at ://www.al-bab.com/arab/maps/maps2.htm.

Gibraltar, Mosque

The invaders were also known as "Moors," and included Arab, Berber and African persons, with the largest genetic group now being identified as Berber, from North Africa - see ://sjohn30.tripod.com/id4.html. For Berber history, see ://www.adrum.com/history.htm. Their language was spoken from the Canary Islands to Egypt, now mostly in the mountains of Algeria. Fierce fighters.

2. Ottomans. These are not the same.

The Ottomans were a a different Muslim Empire from the one that conquered Spain. Spain's conquerors were Arab-Berber Muslims, not Ottoman. Ottoman means the Turkish Muslims of a later era, that began their expansion out of Turkey in about 1300. See map at ://www.naqshbandi.org/ottomans/maps/default.htm.

The Ottomans do appear to have taken areas around Algiers. by its greatest extent in about 1699, but they then stopped. That map site also shows the extent of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, leaving only Turkey itself by 1924. Scroll down.

3. The status of Dhimmi. Dhimmitude. Dhimmis.

Regardless of which group or branch is Islam is the topic, our understanding is that each imposed a particular status on Christians and Jews after conquest by Muslims. From Arab- Berber entry at Spain, probably near Gibraltar, and then extending briefly to Poitiers, France; to the Ottomans from Turkey later knocking on the doors of Vienna, the Balkans, Asia, Central Europe.

The meaning of Islam has not been a focus of our education of ourselves or our children, to our demonstrated peril in terms of decisions we make and conclusions we draw in a vacuum as to that heritage. So, we look here at Dhimmitude.

Hot topic. Search for "dhimmi" or "dhimmitude" and you will find invective as well as objective assessment. See Hello, Fodder - Dhimmi status posts; or Europe Road Ways Themes - Kosovo I and II posts. And Joy of Equivocating, Fear of Fog, Facts before Conclusions.

4. Jewish History in the Islamic Empires.

Go here for a timeline on Jewish topics from their history in Spain. ://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8636/History.html.

What was life for a Jew or Christian in the Spain experience, who chose not to convert to Islam in Spain in those years, we will let you know. So far, we see a kind of "chastened subservience" applied, see see ://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/. A legal status with overtones of humiliation? And, the element of forbidding arms to be used against Muslims - see ://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1022035. Need to see all the cites. Still looking. Complex area.

Christian retribution against Jews after the Christian reconquest.

Dhimmi status looks benign compared to the fate of the Jews in 1492- the Reconquest, when the Christians finally drove out the Muslims, from Granada at that late date. The Christians expelled the Jews - no-one could remain who would not convert. See the Edict of Expulsion itself at ://www.sephardicstudies.org/decree.html.

So any discussion of dhimmitude, stay with restrictions; has to be seen against its Christian counterpart - get out. This sourcebook from Fordham University lets you read all about it, from original texts: ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1492-jews-spain1.html.

The invective sites in looking up Islamic law that you will find, may or may not be found to be supported by history. You need to check up on each site you find. Please do not rely on conclusions from talking heads or neighbors at the coffee shop without finding facts. Good idea.

We should criticize others, when our own Crusades were holy wars, and offensive, not just defensive, see overview of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the rationales at Spain Road Ways, Castles, Crusades.

5. The meaning of the Koran.

Where did dhimmi come from. Is it written. For those of us with an interest in what the Qur'an says, note that it cannot be translated - all is phrased as interpretation or meaning. I understand that these versions are among the best,

"The Meaning of the Glorious Koran," 1930, by Marmaduke Pickthall, see ://www.al-sunnah.com/call_to_islam/quran/pickthall/; and
"The Koran Interpreted," by A. J. Arberry ://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/koran/koran-arberry10.html.

Arberry looks more poetic, as the Christian King James version reads more poetically than later versions. Pickthall may be easier to understand.

Status of research so far:

It looks like the conditions of dhimmitude for the conquered - second class status, no political say, no ownership of land, deference to Muslims, and pay a special tax (reducing income available) is nothing more than what good Christian men rejoiced in doing to their Christian women for several thousand years.

See next section, looking at after 1492's Edict of Expulsion of the Jews, at Spain Road Ways, Pursuing dhimmitude 1492 - in Christian Spain, the Reconquest.

Segovia - The Alcazar

2008-01-29T16:54:00.000-05:00

Alcazar, Segovia, Spain

Fortress, castle, military academy, parts used as a prison, origins of the word "Alcazar" in Arabic, probably from the 11th Century. See http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/segovia/alcazar/alcazar.html. This is the perfect first stop after arriving in Spain - an easy drive from the airport, a few wrong turns on motorways, but good signs. Inside is a hall of armor, mounted knights, knights in corners, knights around corners, in centers, off to sides. Spears, weapons. Then, in town, a huge aqueduct - Roman.

Segovia - Cochinillo Asado; not Andres Segovia

2008-01-29T12:21:00.001-05:00

Aqueduct, Segovia (or is this one Greece, at Kavala? The file drawer! The file drawer!)

We started in Madrid, went to Segovia, see Segovia , and then north east toward Bilbao.

Segovia, the town, is not the birthplace of the famous classical guitarist, Andres Segovia, and is not near it - Segovia was born in Linares, in the south, see ://www.travelpost.com/EU/Spain/Andalucia/Linares/map/1911452.

Here in Segovia, not far from Madrid, is a beautiful palace with an exhibit of medieval armor and weaponry. Near the aqueduct is a cluster of find cafes. See Segovia at ://goeurope.about.com/cs/segovia/a/segovia_spain.htm. And here is the late Andres Segovia, 1893-1987://www.classicalguitar.net/artists/segovia/. This advertises free music downloads: ://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,514488,00.html
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Big roast pig. Do not confuse with the delicate roast suckling pig, cochinillo asado, Spain
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Cochinillo Asado - roast suckling pig - this site says the piglet is 21 days old and has had nothing but mother pig's milk. See ://oneforkonespoon.blogspot.com/2007/10/roast-suckling-pig-in-segovia.html. Find a recipe here - you did good if you can cut it with a plate.

Don Quixote Figures - Undoers of Injustice - Many Cultures

2008-01-28T21:42:00.001-05:00

This is a look-back to our trip, spurred onwards by some considerations of today's (2010) American politics - The puzzle and even the inspiration of an Alvin Greene who won a substantial primary election seemingly out of nowhere, and is staying in the race for the duration, against the Biggies. Go, Alvin.

SPAIN'S MAN OF LA MANCHA;
MEET AMERICA'S MAN OF THE PEOPLE

Cultures and empires and religions are built upon wrongs. Periodically, people arise to right them, with varying results. Who pans out. Who is the actor, who the genuine.

In Spain, think of Don Quixote: the righter of wrongs, the undoer of injustice - see ://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Let Sancho Panza himself introduce him, in straightening out which is which to those who did not know:

"And the real Don Quixote, of La Mancha, the famous, the valiant, the wise, the lover, the righter of wrongs, the guardian of minors and orphans, the protector of widows, the killer of damsels, he who has as his sole mistress the peerless Dulcinea Del Toboso, is this gentleman before you, my Master, all other Don Quixotes and all other Sancho Panzas are dreams and mockeries."

Read the book - start here: at page 197, at ://books.google.com/books?id=UzsMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197&dq=righter+of+wrongs&source=bl&ots=jKSn4bH-DW&sig=snEL23icA2JSuXsPQ_OXND6zb7o&hl=en&ei=92U_TM2GLoaglAfhgL39Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=righter%20of%20wrongs&f=false/

A Righter; one who sets out to fix.

Saint Nicholas was a Righter. when he was Bishop Nicholas, did that at Myra in intervening in the imminent execution of three innocent men, and securing their release, see ://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=59/. But Don Quixote holds our attention most, because he was dedicated to that principle. Read an okay summary at ://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/Best/RaleighQuixote.htm/ Best to read the book.

Who is like unto Don Quixote?

Shall we try America's Alvin Greene, who, by fluke or fate, won the Democratic party nomination primary for candidate to the United States Ssenate, and noone yet has found trickery or fraud or exploitation. It may still happen, still, enjoy the ride.

Is he a fraud or genuinely disingenuous. A plain man, with education but few skills in presenting himself, awards in the military, and erroneous roads taken in his life, little stellar about him from information to date, but still he seeks to fix the things that went wrong in his life, the institutions that did not recognize him, the jobs that did not come about, etc. See the amazement at The Fey in Religion and Politics.

Spain has many legacies, but the Don Quixote story of human connection, endeavor, effort directed at windmills, is worth our best attention. See America Road Ways, Washington DC

Puerto La Pice, El Toboso - Don Quixote in La Mancha

2008-01-28T15:59:00.001-05:00

The La Mancha area is south of Madrid, a broad area of reference points that people have tied together loosely, as having stimulated the imagination of Cervantes in creating the fictional Don Quixote. See quixote.mse.jhu.edu/.

I. PUERTO LAPICE, SPAIN - LA MANCHA

Puerto LaPice, Spain, Street scene

Puerto LaPice is a small town, see Don Quixote on the stucco on the side of the building - its favorite fictional son. It is hard to time your visit so the recycling bins are out of sight, so enjoy.

We forget over here what it is like without most everyone owning some kind of car - note there is no traffic at all.

Don Quixote, Puerto LaPice, Spain. Trough.

The Don Quixote country - the book "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616, at ://www.online-literature.com/cervantes/- remember that he is a fictional character, but there are towns associated with his adventures, and those of Sancho Panza, his companion; and Dulcinea, his heart's desire.

Here is the statue of Don Quixote at Puerto La Pice, where someone has set up a commercial enterprise to serve you lunch, a reconstructed sample Inn of the period, but clearly geared to provide the buses with a stop point: the Venta del Quijote.

Do go to the gift shop - really. Some people are gifted at selecting good goods to sell. They are here. Skilled entrepreneurs without borders.

We are not shoppers, but the black silhouette of Don Quixote and the head-down horse on a plain white thin mug was worth the buy. This commercialism is not a negative - the area does not offer many focal points, and we do enjoy lunch. Go anyway. There is a map at this site to get you oriented - .karenbrown.com/City/Spain/STATE/Puerto_L%C3%A1pice/000000000000085.php. Dulcinea's home, at El Toboso, is not far. These are not well marked, so enjoy the roads.

EL TOBOSO

Here is Don Quixote in the town of El Toboso. See www.answers.com/topic/alcazar-1.
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Don Quixote and Dulcinea, El Toboso, Spain

There is also a very fine art/gift shop in El Toboso where you can dress up as Don Quixote and Dulcinea and have your picture taken. Everybody needs good kitsch.

Other spots are Campo del Criptana with its windmills, for the rest of the Don Quixote circuit. If this is new to you, do see Man of La Mancha, 1972 film and later Broadway musical, at ://broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/mancha.htm; and sing "The Impossible Dream."

Cadiz - 1100. Phoenicians BC, to Rome, to Moors, to Now

2008-01-28T15:49:00.003-05:00

Cadiz, Spain

Cadiz is an old port city, on a peninsula, and nearly surrounded by water. It has been settled since 3000 B.C. and is the oldest city in Europe.

The James Bond film, "Die Another Day," was filmed here - looking so much like Havana. See ://cadiz.costasur.com/en/index.html/ The old town has close ties with Cuba.

Phoenicians first settled here, says ://www.andalucia.com/cities/cadiz/history.htm. That would have been in about 1100 BC.

Their range for trade was broad -- amber from the Baltic, British tin, Spanish silver.

Romans kept a navy base here, Moors constructed an extensive town, see ://www.andalucia.com/cities/cadiz.htm, but its commercial success waned. Palm trees, tropical (is this Florida?)

Columbus was brought back here when he fell in disfavor, and used this location to contact Queen Isabella for reinstatement in the good graces, see story at ://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/columbus-day/true-story/chapter11.html/

After walking the streets and squares and mosques, enjoy the beach. There are several, many near the hotels and commercial area, full of tourists, this one just as we left the peninsula.

Salamanca - The Cathedral Facade (Moorish(, Shell House, Order of St. JamesOrder

2008-01-27T20:15:00.002-05:00

Salamanca, Spain, Cathedral facade

Spain was controlled for five hundred years or so by the Moors - the architectural and other influences are everywhere.

Here is another kind of influence - individuality. The shell shapes affixed to the side of this house cast different shadows as the day moves on.

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Salamanca, Spain, Shell House

See it at //www.travelinginspain.com/salamanca/salamanca2.htm/ Casa de las Conchas. It was built in the 1500's and is now a library, but once was the palace of Rodrigo Maldonado. He was a knight, of the St. James Order (is that part of what much later was named the New Orleans St. James' Infirmary in our culture? I went down to the St. James' Infirmary.... blues - hear this New Orleans traditional at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-atDxmfnIrI&feature=related).

The Order of St. James was formed in the 12th Century, see The Ancient Military Order of St. James of the Sword at ://jvarnoso.com/orders/stjamesrev.html/ It was part of the First Crusade, and upon return, its members continued on the Iberian Peninsula, gathering recruits. It also aided the Iberian kings in the reconquest from the Muslims. See its full history at the site.

The shell is the insignia of the Order. It also is the sign carried by many pilgrims on their pilgrimages - the scallop shell.

St. James' Way is the name of the Pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela - the pilgrims carried scallop shells to show their status as Pilgrims, not carrying much, so please do not rob. See a German pilgrim represented as leaving for Santiago de Compostela, at Speyer,Germany - see Germany Road Ways, Heidelburg, and Speyer and Pilgrims Meet Jakob Spilgar there.

Salamanca - Plaza Mayor, Performances

2008-01-27T08:21:00.001-05:00

Salamanca, Spain, Plaza Mayor

Salamanca dates from before Roman times, came under the Visigothic Kings, then the Arabs, and back and forth until the reconquest. It is particularly known for its university, famous in Medieval Spain and Europe. In 1254, the university was deemed to be one of the four leading lights of the world, by Pope Alexander IV. What were the other three? See ://www.aboutsalamanca.com/salamanca/history.asp

There is never a shortage of things to do at the end of the day. Find the main square, the "Plaza Major" - stroll, spectate, eat etc. Eat more.

Salamanca, Spain, Plaza Major, Performers

Here were jugglers.

Salamanca, Spain, Musicians

As it gets darker, go inside to eat some more, and for the musicians. Plaza Major - no end to the variety of street and eatery performances. Jugglers, music, clowns, mimes.

Salamanca houses one of Europe's earliest and finest Universities. It is northeast from Madrid. See www.red2000.com/spain/salaman.

Merida - and Rome. Estremadura Theater, Circus, Amphitheater, Bridge

2008-01-26T20:05:00.001-05:00

Merida, Spain

Merida - this city dates from 25 BC. It is a World Heritage site. See ://worldheritage.heindorffhus.dk/frame-SpainMerida.htm. It was a provincial capital for Rome.

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See what the Romans left. A fine theater, now being renovated, that could seat 6000 spectators.
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Theater, Merida, Spain

The Roman bridge over the Gaudiana River is still standing - all spans of it, now a footbridge.
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Bridge, Gaudiana River, Merida, Spain

The Super Tank.

There is also a huge circus structure that could seat 30,000 for chariot-racing, and, we were told by a guide, they used to flood it to do mock naval battles.
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Amphitheater, Merida, Spain; including water tank facility for reenactments, naval spectacles
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The Extremadura or Estremadura section of Spain was home to the conquistatores, and is now considered remote, toward Portugal. But worth it. Find it at ://goeurope.about.com/cs/spain/a/merida_guide.htm

History Chronology - Old Spain, and Muslim Spain - Granada, Arago, Castille and Leon, Navarre: And Portugal

2008-01-25T12:04:00.000-05:00

Maps as anchor. To make Spain's history more immediately understandable: Find a map to locate the old boundaries - references to them recur throughout Spain's history and tour books. This is from a simple Images search - ://catavino.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/castillaleon_1360.jpg.

This map shows no "Ottoman Empire" incursion into Spain (Turkish roots), but apparently Arab-Berber. See ://www.dartmouth.edu/~gov46/ottoman-empire-1580.gif

Chronology of Muslim Rule. For an overview of Muslim rule, and further maps of that influence and expansion, go to ://www.raqs.co.nz/me/islam_history.html

Timelines understood so far. These to be filled in as to impact on pre-Christian, Christian, Jew, unaffiliated, and Muslim, as we go. Dates are from the islam_history site. Will also use this site - a medieval history source, from Fordham University ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1d.html.

For a timeline on Jewish history, see ://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8636/History.html

MUSLIM TIME LINE, ESPECIALLY AS IT PERTAINS TO SPAIN; OTHER CULTURES IN SPAIN

1. Pre-Roman times

2. Roman

3. Post-Roman

Visigoths

570 CE (Christian Era used here) Birth of the Prophet Mohammed in Mecca
632 CE Death of Mohammed. Islam had spread in that short time to most of Arabia in the west and central sections

642 CE Muslims control Egypt; and by 656, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Iran;

661 CE Death of the fourth caliph, 'Ali - succession issues led over time to a split between the Sunnis and the Shi'a. By this time, the spread was this:

"Arab Empire west to Tripoli (Libya), north to Taurus [did you know the origin of Ford's model car?] and Caucasus mountains (Turkey and Georgia) and east to Pakistan." See www. raqs.co.nz/me/islam_history.html;.

4. Muslims and Spain (mostly)
711 CE - Arab Muslims enter Spain through North Africa;
732 CE - Arab Muslims cross the Indus River into India. They also got as far as Tours [tours de France? please take a joke] in France, from their earlier entry into Spain. That was as far into Europe as the Muslim expansion extended. - France to India.

Were they Sunni or Shi'a?

Do we know where they came in? What the ships looked like? When did families follow armies, or did all come at once? Where was the central authority - still back in Arab lands or independent in Spain?

What were Christians doing in the 8th Century? What beliefs, what divisions.

756-1037 CE- The "Umayyad Dynasty" - in Spain

874-999 CE - The Umayyad Dynasty was in Cordoba, Spain

1037-1492 - Fatimid dynasty in northern Africa and Syria, based on Cairo

1254-1517 CE - Moorish Muslims are in Spain (is this Turk rather than Arab, and when and how did the transition happen?) - note the Reconquest in 1492 - it must have taken additional years to complete the process?

1453 - Meanwhile, back at the European Crusades, the Crusaders capture Jerusalem

1492 - Christian Constantinople fell to the Turks; the Mamluks rule in Egypt.

In Spain, Granada falls to the Christians, ending Arab rule (but I thought Moors were there by then?)

THE EDICT OF EXPULSION AGAINST THE JEWS. And, in Spain, the Christians expel the Jews completely - everybody out who will not convert. See ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1492-jews-spain1.html. Compare that to the legal status of dhimmi applied to non-muslims in muslim lands - they could stay under restricted economic and political conditions, but they could stay and practice their own religion.

1566 - The Ottoman Empire [did the Turkish branch break away from the Arab?] Ottomans "Turkic people from Central Asia - but continued to spread Islam", see www.raqs.co.nz/me/islam_history.html.

See map here - no Ottomans in Spain apparently. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gov46/ottoman-empire-1580.gif

1858 - end of Mughal (Muslim) rule, India
1922 - Ataturk deposes last Ottoman* sultan
1947 - Pakistan was founded as Islamic state
1979 - Islamic regime, Khumeni; also al-Qadafi (Libya?)
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Definitions:
*Ottomans: Turkic people from Central Asia, but they also spread Islam
Stats from 2005 - Muslims 26% of world population. Majority in Middle East, North Africa, 100 million in rest of Africa, over 500 million in rest of Asia, 90% of India and Pakistan are Muslim, Islam has spread to 184 countries at least. See again this recurrent site, see www.raqs.co.nz/me/islam_history.html.

5. The Reconquest 1492

6. Single Monarchy

7. Today

Why do all this? Spain's history is a different trajectory than the rest of Europe because of the Muslim rule for some 400 years. And relevant to our understanding of Muslim ways - what was the experience of Christians, Jews, the "unaffiliated," under the Muslims of that period. Who was extreme on any side, and who tolerated. What was life like under the Muslims, and how did their governing and belief system differ from contemporary Muslims, whether (like us) extremist, conservative, liberal, whatever.

Our interest here is in the chronology of the evolution of Spain through various very different kinds of rulers: and where they ruled, and when. Also the populations: Pre-Christian, Christian, Roman Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and especially the Dhimmi (Jews and Christians conquered by the Muslims, and living under economic, social and political restrictions known as "dhimmitude" until they converted, if they chose to so convert. Who was where, when, who kicked out whom, why.

Cuenca - The Square; Benefactor Zobel

2008-01-24T13:17:00.002-05:00

Cuenca, Spain, Plaza Mayor, main square
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The town square at Cuenca. There is our car, at the right. There is a lovely Cathedral dating from about 1170, see ://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-Cuenca,-Spain&id=619313

Look well at the hapless little car, because you will not see it again and neither did we until, the next morning, we got to the police impound lot (by taxi, thank you).

Know your street symbols for each country well. We did not interpret the sign we saw to mean no parking for any vehicles at all - it looked like it only forbad trucks. Learn your road signs!.

Also, do not use common sense.

You would think there would be some available short-term parking at the main square after hours, where the only parking lots are far, far away. The lots at Cuenca are at the top of a long hill, a twisting narrow road, like half a lane, and there is no sidewalk down, and the road goes right to the walls of the buildings and is a tight one-lane with cars going both ways.

No, you have to park up there and apparently walk down anyway, life in hands. Jam your bod against the stucco, walk with head swiveling to see which car is coming from where, wheeling around the curves like mad, pack into a doorway, close your eyes, and wait until you can dash to the next door. We did that as far as the hotel a short way down, but then went back up for the car. The risks I want to take with Dan are zero, and that was a hazard. So we drove back down to the square, and you know the rest.
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Daniel Widing conversing Fernando Zobel, we think, Cuenca, Spain

While we were eating, off slipped the car, chained behind the gendarmes in theirs.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed ourselves, in our ignorance.

There is Dan, at the cafe, a little inside open courtyard late afternoon, with who we believe to be Fernando Zobel, 1924-1984, founder of the Museum of Abstract Art, professional painter and member of a prominent philanthropic family - spent much time in the Philippines, came back to Spain and Cuenca.

See more about Fernando Zobel and his family at ://www.march.es/arte/ingles/cuenca/coleccion/abstracto/abstracto.asp; and ://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=381209.

Cuenca is known for its art museums, galleries. It dates from the Iron Age, through the Romans, the Visigoths, the Muslims, the reconquest.

Cuenca - The Gorge, The Monastery, Brother Martin

2008-01-24T12:39:00.001-05:00

Cuenca, Brother Martin de Carrascosa y Cabrejas, Monastery

Cuenca - part of Castilla La Mancha - walled city, here on the map://www.donquijote.org/destinations/spanish-cuenca.asp. The medieval houses cling to cliffs. See ://www.spainview.com/cruzquijote.html. There are two deep river gorges - the town was highly defensible. Up a long winding road.

Here is Brother Martin de Carrascosa y Cabrejas - miraculous healing powers. He died 1603. He was a candidate for sainthood, thus there was a dispute who would get the body - the monastery here, or outside town, at Tebar, where he died. See ://libro.uca.edu/nalle/gmc5.htm. There was finally, after many disinterments, a resolution. We believe this is his statue, but the inscription is unreadable. It is at the monastery.

Cuenca, top of hill town

Parking is up here. Long walks from the top, where the monastery is, and parking lots, down the narrow streets to the square.

Here are some of the surrounding cliffs.
Cuenca, gorge, cliffs

And the lake down the gorge - Laguna de la Cruz.
Cuenca, Laguna de la Cruz, lake

Cuenca - cliff houses, art, police system

2008-01-23T19:35:00.001-05:00

Dan philosophizing. This is an the inner courtyard at this pub in Cuenca.

Dan also enjoyed sitting with James Joyce. See Croatia Road Ways, Pula post.

Cuenca, Spain, cliffside houses

Cuenca is south of Madrid, heading into the La Mancha area.

It is an arts center, known for its houses clinging to the cliffs. Be prepared to walk. The only parking area is at top of high hill area, with narrow roads back down to the square. See NYT travel section 7/23/06 s.5 p.10. The Times recommends the Parador here (see post on Paradors), the national system of fine hotels reasonably priced, but we liked our little place.

Cuenca is on a clifftop itself -- see www.idealspain.com/Pages/Places/cuenca. Fine art museums, monastery, twisty streets.

Warning for handicapped. If you are handicapped, this is a difficult stop because parking is at the top of the old town, and you have to walk down to the square, pinning yourself against the walls on far-too-narrow walkways, if someone is going up or down in cars too fast. The police station is in the square, so stop there first if you must park in the square, and ask for permission. Most big squares are off-limits to any parking.

Police. They are not greeted as the people's friend. Do not expect helpfulness, just enforcement. Here is an explanatory site on the different groups: www.andalucia.com/spain/police/home.htm. See also www.photius.com/countries/spain/national_security/spain_national_security_the_police_system.

James Michener says in his book, "Iberia," somewhere that there are three powers in Spain - the police, the church, and the landed. And with an independent-minded collection of people of differing historical backgrounds, the stress is on law and order.

Toledo - Ancient Capital, Inquisition, Grand Inquisitors

2008-01-18T13:41:00.002-05:00

Toledo, Spain. Street scene

Toledo, on the hilltop, with river below. It was the ancient capital of Visigothic Spain, preceding the Moorish Empire. The Moors invaded in the 8th Century. It became the capital of an independent Moorish kingdom 1031-1085, see ://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/toledo_city_spain.jsp/ and remains the capital of the province of Toledo.

Toledo remained the capital of Spain after the expulsion of the Moors and until 1560. See ://www.red2000.com/spain/toledo/.

At that time, its influence waned when Phillip II moved his capital to Madrid. See ://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Toledo/. Read this old book account, not clear about the Flemish connection yet, at this New York Times archive piece, "Toledo, The Story of the Ancient and Picturesque City of Spain," November 4, 1899, at ://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F00E0DC1530E132A25757C0A9679D94689ED7CF

The Questia site, above, also notes that Toledo was the seat of the Grand Inquisitors.

To learn more about them, read their handbook, the 1486 Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches, at ://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/. A good index and summary is at ://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/

Read about the Inquisition, from the perspective that includes its impact on the Jews, at ://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Inquisition.html/ In 1242, the Inquisition condemned the Talmud and bonfired thousands of books. The first killings of Jews, however, took place in France some time later. There, mass burnings at the stake.

The Spanish Inquisition superseded the earlier medieval Inquisition. See that Jewish Virtual Library Site. Do we forget our own history.

The Alcazar, or castle fortress, rebuilt many time, Visigothic days to present. See ://www.virtourist.com/europe/toledo/999.htm; and ://www.travelinginspain.com/toledo_alcazar.htm. Do an Images search to see it at the top of the city, at the top of the cliff.

See map at ://www.world-guides.com/images/spain/spain_map.jpg

You can drive into Toledo, but it is dicey. Find a fast spot to stay, anywhere (the distances are small). is no parking at all allowed on most streets - see the above. the lines are for walkers, deliveries only.

Toledo - Sephardic tradition; and the Visigoths. The Moors

2008-01-18T11:18:00.001-05:00

Toledo, Spain, city walls

Toledo is listed as a town as early as the 4th Century BC, as a Roman town, conquered by later "Alans" and Visigoths. It became the capital of the Visigoth kingdom., and was taken over by the Moors, or Muslims, in 711. Alfonso VI reconquered in 1085. , see ://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/quote3.html. History compressed.

The city is prominent in the heritage of the Sephardic Jewish tradition. See muweb.millersville.edu/%7Ecolumbus/data/art/TOLEDAN1.ART. With a car and Toledo, get out of it as fast as you can. Streets too narrow. We stayed at the first little hotel we found that offered parking - in the old Jewish quarter. Perfect location. A view, as here, of only the outer wall area is misleading - inside is a large city with tiny streets, twisting all over.

Cathedral, Toledo, Spain

Here is the Cathedral at the end of one of the little streets. Apparently, vistas of great buildings were not important from a distance.

The city is bounded by a bend in the river and cliffs. Jews, Christians, Muslims lived here peacefully for centuries. ://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Arte%20y%20Cultura/Conjuntos%20monumentales/G/TP/0/Ciudad%20Historica%20de%20Toledo.htm?Language=en

How Toledo fell to the Moors, a/k/a Muslims (are Moors the same as the Arabs and Berbers who initially conquered, or is there a difference with the Ottomans, and is "Moor" any number of those after all the intermarriages who were Muslim?)

. The Visigothic Count Julian had sent his daughter to the palace of the Visigothic King Roderick, where - the King had his way. Count Julian, in his anger, told the Moors who were attacking the city how to get up a hidden path to enter the city. They did, and the rest is history. muweb.millersville.edu/%7Ecolumbus/data/spc/RECON-MD.SPK. Revenge. Other versions have the daughter bathing and the King sees her, etc.

Toledo food: see www.red2000.com/spain/toledo/gastro. There is a fine Parador (government sponsored hotel - see post on Paradors) here, but we stayed in the old Jewish quarter instead in order to be right at street level.

Spanish place names (like Toledo, Ohio) in the US: For anyone with family origins in Spain, look at all the places named for Spain. For a listing of the United States place names from Spain: see factmonster.com/spot/spanishnames.

Columbus Day update - Seville, Colonialism, Christopher Columbus' bones, Cathedral

2007-10-08T10:09:00.002-04:00

Christopher Columbus' Bones

The New York Times says that DNA tests are proceeding to find CC's origins, with choices being many - see/www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/us/08columbus.htm. "Seeking Columbus' Origins - With a Swab."

Was the Columbus name Jewish, until the Inquisition forced his parents to convert. Or was he from Genoese weaver stock, or a Catalonian rebel, or a Portuguese prince's out-of-wedlock son. There had been earlier DNA tests that affirmed that the bones were indeed those of Christopher Columbus in the Seville Cathedral, see ://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12871458/

Do a search for bastardy Spain, find "The Close of the Middle Ages, 1273-1497," by Richard Lodge, and you will find (more sources in Google books as well) that note that inheritances still went in many cases to the child born of the wrong side of the sheets.
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Colonialism:

This topic addresses one group taking what they want from another group, on the other group's turf, and subjugating them in the process, in order to get what they want because they are more powerful and can.

Colonialism in the garden:

We also take what we want. At what point, if any, does the goal of yellowjackets in the garden, their need for food and life, become less important than my want to garden there under the deck, unstung, where they hive.

Envy Gandhi.

There are those who value life so highly that they avoid stepping on an ant. If these yellowjackets had stayed just a few, I could have lived with them. But they grew.

Immigration rights. What is the critical mass. What is the humane response, to make room? When it is really there?

History - Spanish-American War 1898

2007-09-12T15:31:00.000-04:00

Visit here for a review of all that gets forgotten once school is out: //www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/spanishwar. This site offers first-hand accounts of historical events, and this event led to the United States obtaining its old interest in the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam. Also, remember the Maine? This was the battleship that the US sent into Havana, Cuba to show the Spanish who was boss when an insurrection was going on there. Spain sank it. The US rallied public opinion at home (governments are good at that) and declared war.

A newspaper editor recounts his meeting with President McKinley....

Bullfights Barred - Live Coverage TV

2007-09-05T01:11:00.000-04:00

Since 1948, live bullfighting has been broadcast on Spanish TV, TV Espaniola. No mas. Tapes only. News August 24, 2007 - Hartford Courant page D5. Hundreds of bullfights are usually broadcast live March-October.

Those in favor: turning on TV should not mean having to see what bullfights do, especially when the matador is unskilled. Kids see enough violence.

Those against: for those who can't afford the ring (65 million can or do anyway), or watch cable (fees), at least keep this national cultural iconic pastime on the air.

Resolution: do tapes only, on late-night show.

This American bull approves, but is lobbying for a no-kill policy, as in Portugal. See .travelnet.co.il/PORTUGAL/09-Bullfight. The rodeo lobby supports PETA, see peta.org/campaign/army_rodeo, and adds to the platform, no cinching. The slaughterhouse lobby just says enough period. See .indopedia.org/Slaughterhouse.

El Cid, at Bivar (a/k/a Vivar, Bevar)

2007-01-13T20:18:00.000-05:00

El Cid, Vivar

Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. El Cid. El Campeador, or "The Champion." Still remembered, in this little, off-track town, fresh flowers right there.

"Cid" comes from the Arabic meaning "sir" or "lord," standard-bearer and commander under King Sancho II, heir to King Ferdinand I. He conducted an unauthorized raid into Toledo angered new King Alfonso, brother of Sancho (then deceased), was exiled, and began to serve the Muslim ruler of Saragossa (Zaragoza). Much back and forth between sides, then El Cid aimed for control of Valencia, for himself.

://historymedren.about.com/library/who/blwwcid.htm. 1043?-1099. 11th Century. Movie fame.1961 film at ://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054847/.

Read the El Cantar de Mio Cid, the epic poem, "The Lay of the Cid,"at //omacl.org/Cid/; and the Arab Alqamah's records of the conquest of Valencia by El Cid. See more on El Cid at ://www.gksdesign.com/atotos/cid/cidhistorical.htm; still trying to find an English Alqamah. Do a search.

In myth, a brave knight who fought the Muslims; in reality, probably a mercenary or "soldier of fortune" who was often in conflict with the Christian King. Still, talented, and as honorable as any other good knight of the time. See ://www.enotes.com/middle-ages-biographies/cid-el

And here is where he was born - at Bivar, or Vivar, or Bevar. See www.who2.com/elcid. Up some some back roads, and now a tiny village but a well-kept memorial with fine tower to climb up and see the countryside. See historymedren.about.com/library/who/blwwcid.

Some sites say he was born in Burgos, not far, www.azureva.com/gb/espagne/magazine/esmag8burgos.php3, but we found his monument here. Even a Burgos site that claims in one place to be the birthplace later states that Bivar is. See Spain Road Ways, Burgos.

Read about his life at this curriculum site - www.medievaltimes.com/images/Chapter1.pdf

Choose any destination off the beaten track and go there. Best way to learn some history as well. We fill in details at home.

For more on the legends surrounding El Cid, see legends.dm.net/paladins/cid. A paladin is a chivalric model, see http://www.thefreedictionary.com/paladin - and, that site says, the name given to any of the 12 peers of Charlemagne's court. Have honor (?) will travel. See ://www.thrillingdetective.com/paladin.html

Bilbao; safekeeping in parking lots; and Basques (including food)

2007-01-04T09:29:00.001-05:00

Bilbao Museum, Frank Gehry, back

This is the back of Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum of Art, design by Frank Gehry. See www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/ingles/home. There are surprises wherever you look.

In the front is a two-story huge puppy form, covered with live impatiens plants. We liked the spider.

The guidebook says to beware your belongings in any car left in the lot there, locked or not. Best to park elsewhere and walk, and always keep money, passport and tickets with you. If you lose stuff out of your car, just tell the police, buy more Right Guard and set up a time to meet with the airport people about your passport early, and enjoy the rest of your trip anyway. Happened to us at Blarney.
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Bilbao Museum, Frank Gehry, side
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Basques.The homes look alpine, as makes sense given the Pyrenees mountains; and the geography itself is very different from the rest of Spain.

I understand that the Basques were excellent navigators, and that genetically they match with Irish and Welsh Celts, see news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1256894. Other sources say they migrated from Eastern Europe. Their language is different, as are their customs.

Groups that do not absorb, retain their identity: salute. How to accommodate a drive for self that wants to live free of intrusion of others, when old territorial boundaries are disregarded. How to address the rights of those who annex land by invasion, long ago. Nationhood - a complex concept.

Basques and others that will not be subsumed: a long history to be checked out.
Coming closer!

For food: try www.buber.net/Basque/Food/Recipes/.

One of our best dinners, going all out with the tablecloths and all, was in Bilbao. Fine dining occasionally is a must, and the skills needed are useful anywhere - practice which fork, where and how to cope with a huge linen napkin. See planetrjl.tripod.com/LaFraughName/id9 - fine Basque menus.

Guadalupe - The Black Madonna

2006-12-31T08:56:00.000-05:00

In Guadalupe, in the Extremadura section toward the west, is a lovely old cathedral with a Black Madonna, very small in size and said to have been carved by St. Luke - found in 1325, buried. The explanation for the dark skin is the length of time buried, but many other black madonnas were not buried, not scorched, and still are black. See picture at www.solt3.org/guadalupespain.

The guidebook there does not mention the color, but internet sites tracking and mapping the black madonnas give more detail. Broad spectrum of approaches - see, for example, saxakali.com/suzar/madonna; and altreligion.about.com/library/bl_blackvirgins, and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Madonna. No pictures were permitted - we wish we had.

The figure is triangular, small head, stiff triangle shape robes. See her at your own Images search for Guadalupe Black Madonna, or at ://sacredsites.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=117. Read some background of the black madonnas at ://www.womenreligious.org/~education/Mariology3/Read/Readings_3/BlackMadonna.htm

Windmills

2006-12-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

Old windmills. Still many, but being preserved rather than fully depended upon.
These are in La Mancha.

Modern windmills were not as intrusive as we expected. These are on the road from Burgos toward Bilbao. Look closely. They make such sense, and are better than refineries. Issues remain about how to protect birds and the like, so we remain interested. See Netherlands Road Ways, windmills post.

For the variety of windmills in Europe, add the Polish style, many such windmills destroyed by the Nazis as part of systemic impoverishment, see post at Poland Road Ways, Windmills.l

Taking pictures in the countries we visit is haphazard - secondary to our having a good time and learning history.

Fill in the gaps we leave by visiting other people's photo spots. For example, for Spain, there is a fine photo gallery, an overview that we enjoyed - at www.pbase.com/bauer/spain.

More blogs about Spain Road Ways.

Avila - Teresa's Town

2006-12-20T11:29:00.000-05:00

Here are the walls surrounding Avila, the home of St. Teresa (died in the mid-1500's), see www.karmel.at/eng/teresa. St. Theresa is a favorite for those of us who like Bernini's 1652 sculpture of her swooning, with her shoe dangling off her bare foot. See www.stmarys-ca.edu/magazine/v26/4/teresa.

The town of Avila, www.cyberspain.com/ciudades-patrimonio/iavila, where she was from, has standing medieval walls, there were some 90 towers, and the museum is a fine display of her work.
She is especially dear because she had relationships, attractions, waffled in her faith, like Mother Teresa. See ://www.christianitytoday.com/history/special/131christians/avila.html. Nothing is certain, no matter how much we may want it to be. Is that right? Cheer on the searchers, and keep your own dishes washed. And, was she part Jewish? See ://www.mcs.drexel.edu/~gbrandal/Illum_html/Teresa.html. Pursue that if it is of interest to you. The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.

Links, posts, archives

2006-12-15T17:06:00.002-05:00

Third party website references are written out, for you to do your own search through your own browser. See issues raised at www.bitlaw.com about direct linkings. A pity to have to slow up like this, so will someone please work out a better way to provide reasonable protections. If you use a long site address (often needed to get to the right place), please also visit the home page so the counter can count you.

Posts. We are arranging posts in the order of the trip, so you can see how each actually unfolded.

Archives. With posts in the general order of arrival to departure, archives may well hold new posts. Do visit often, and check the archives. They complete the journey.

Technorati Profile

Castles, Crusades.

2006-12-14T13:44:00.000-05:00

Castles in Spain. Visible all over the country . Many are Crusader* castles. Some are Moorish, or for the later royalty. See www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture25b. Some were used by successive powers.

Look up Castle La Mota, for example, where Juana la Loca was imprisoned - this is not it, but it has resemblances. Do an images search for the real ones - there are several. Read about here at the paragraph on the Cathedral at Granada, where Juana la Loca is buried with her husband, Philip; and with Ferdinand and Isabella. Read the site for a view of life in one of these castles, involuntarily there. Spain Road Ways, Granada post.
...........................................................................
*The Crusader Mindset. Definitive for the Middle Ages.

And the West was trounced. Are we not over it yet?

The Crusader mentality: it is our own form of Jihad, is it not? Except that Jihad is, I believe, defensive, part of the submission required to be good - Jihad is to strive, a part of a process, see ://www.answers.com/topic/jihad; then read meanings of the Koran, try ://www.khayma.com/librarians/call2islaam/quran/pickthall/index.html.

Meanwhile, our Crusades: read it sentence by sentence - the separations here do that: How many evildoers can you find? Who loves that word?

"Neither dealing out death nor dying, when for Christ's sake, contains anything criminal but rather merits glorious reward.

"The soldier of Christ kills safely and dies the more safely.

"Not without cause does he bear the sword. He is the instrument of God for the punishment of evildoers and for the defense of the just.

"When he kills evildoers it is not homicide, but malicide, and he is considered Christ's legal executioner."

That is St. Bernard of Clairvaux drumming up the first Crusade, quoted at www.the-orb.net/encyclop/religion/monastic/bernard. Do a "find" for "evildoers" and come to the passage where killing an evildoer is not killing a man, so it is ok.

Here is a similar translation, a small fair-use quotation from that much larger whole. Bernard of Malvaux -- How is this different from the Jihad mindset? My understanding is that Jihad is, ultimately, the desire to do what is needed, and that which is seen as an ultimate good, but defensively - see ://www.submission.org/muhammed/jihad.html; whereas, the West loves the Offense. Which is worse?

"If he kills an evildoer, he is not a mankiller, but, if I may so put it, a killer of evil.

"He is evidently the avenger of Christ towards evildoers and he is rightly considered a defender of Christians.

"Should he be killed himself, we know that he has not perished, but has come safely into port.

"When he inflicts death it is to Christ's profit, and when he suffers death, it is for his own gain.

"The Christian glories in the death of the pagan, because Christ is glorified; while the death of the Christian gives occasion for the King to show his liberality in the rewarding of his knight."

The past offers perspective to the present.

Who's still on crusade, as somehow a viable solution to a problem? See ://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/gen.bush.terrorism/. Do your own search.

Tapas and food

2006-12-12T17:02:00.000-05:00

Any Plaza Major. Head for the main square. Eat outdoors and order at random. Point to unknowns, or to someone else's plate, and take what comes.Tapas. Bite-size. Eat until full.

Oreilles: You may think you are ordering little pasta ear-shells, and in will come braised pig's ears. A little salty, but cartilagenous and tasty. Recipes: oreja de oro at recipes.caribseek.com/Curacao/salted-pigs-ears. See also fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=21214.

Here is another write-up on tapas and food -Rick Steves (excellent travel guides) at www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/spain/tapas0008. For an overview of the individualized portions of many things - appetizers that can become an entire meal - see www.arrakis.es/%7Ejols/tapas/indexin.

Here is a site that talks about beef showing up on menus now, but this was not always the case. See the huge menu of environmental, climate and other nature items in Spain, materwww.iberianature.com. Scroll down the right menu to the food in Spain section, and then to beef.

Restaurants with tablecloths: beware, unless you plan to pay restaurant prices.

More blogs about Spain Road Ways.

Estremadura: Guadalupe, Trujllo - Conquistadors; Black Madonna

2006-12-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

This is Trujillo, pahoahi.tripod.com/spain/trujillo; and the statue of Pizarro who came from this town, and other conquistadores and those who went with conquistadores. The site is old - "Celts, Romans, Moors and Christians," notes Frommer at www.frommers.com/destinations/trujillospain/1144010001.html. Moorish castle, and fine palaces from the 16th and 17th Centuries, when the gold ran rich. This statue of Pizarro - an American work, by Mary Harriman and Charles Runse, says Frommer there. Go all that way and find the Yanks. Ok.

The Extremadura is a region in the west, see www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0818055, and many conquistadores came from the area - Balboa, Cortes and DeSoto, for example. A fine old Moorish palace overlooks the town. See www.trujilloespana.com/about.

Seville, Cadiz

2006-12-10T13:23:00.000-05:00

On the way to Seville, on a back road. Roman ruins, cattle wading beyond.

First, to Seville, www.andalucia.com/cities/sevilla, and Cadiz, www.alicante-spain.com/costa-del-sol/cadiz.

In Seville, when you go to a flamenco club, sit as far front as possible - the dancers may well spot your companion (Dan was spotted) and the gazes and smiles during the performances are worth a whole trip in itself.

Gibraltar (British) and Tailless Apes

2006-12-08T09:22:00.000-05:00

Gibraltar - its tailless apes. Look close over there.
Then see how close they come.

Gibraltar. So close, so go.

Also close is Morocco from there, but we saved that for another trip. Broke our ferry rule.

See overview of Gibraltar at www.gibnet.com/tourist/general. The rock is honeycombed with tunnels and military structures. See British history of military there at www.regiments.org/nations/europe/gibraltar. and there is a splendid rail car swinging you up to the top. The defense system of the Rock is proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. See whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/697/

The tailless apes: on Gibraltar a long time, and the British will be at Gibraltar as long as the apes remain. See www.dotcom.gi/map/sites/rockapes. The rock apes are getting tamer the more that people feed them, and the feeding by people is bad for their health and is interrupting their social structure.

Do not feed the apes. They will come up to you anyway and you can take your picture and do the usual jokes about which is which.

They can take a hint.

Ronda

2006-12-04T09:14:00.000-05:00

Ronda - in the mountains, on a deep gorge with a Roman bridge crossing. See www.travelinginspain.com/Ronda. The site also keys other major towns.

The old quarter is Moorish. We stayed at the Parador - one in the country-wide system of inns/ accommodations that can be new, or in monasteries, palaces or castles, and run by the state. They vary widely in cost, but are convenient and we splurged for the view below. Some are inexpensive - check post on Paradors here.

Lodging: Paradors; Michener 's Iberia, and Viva Yo

2006-11-30T19:58:00.000-05:00

1. Hotels. Paradors are 90 government hotels in converted convents, monasteries and castles, usually moderately priced by US standards (higher than the bargain places we usually used), but high quality and in the most convenient locations. The system began in 1928 (NYT 7/23/06 at s.5,p.10)Do check them out before going to a regular hotel. We made the mistake of assuming Paradoes were always too expensive. Here is a website for the upscale Cuenca Parador: paradores-spain.com/spain/pcuenca.Parador, . It was the Dominican Monastery de San Pablo, 16th C. 125 Euro per night in 2006. We stayed at the Parador in Ronda - excellent.

2. Reference books. "Iberia," by James Michener, from the 1950's. Take a copy along. Old, but fills in more than guidebooks can. Read the night before about the section of the country you are about to enter.

3. Concepts. Viva Yo. This roughly means long live me, as I understand it. See www.citybeat.com/2000-11-16/art. It was a favorite concept of Picasso, says the site. Michener also describes it as, "Good for me." It is a good-humored way to look at the situation when someone takes your seat because you stood up to see better. They did a good viva yo on you. The best response is a wry grin of sorts, give a flourish of quiet applause, at their success, then politely ask if they could make a little room so you also could sit.

Itinerary, reading

2006-11-28T15:52:00.000-05:00

Madrid, Seville, Valladolid, Burgos, Vivar del Cid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Cuenca, El Toboso, Campo De Criptana, Toledo, Salamanca, Caceres, Trujillo, Guadalupe, Merida, Sevilla, Cadiz, Algeciras, Gibraltar, Marbella, Ronda, Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, Ciudad Real, Madrid.

See also Europe Road Ways

Books: Platero and I(Platero y Yo),by Juan Ramon Jimenez, Eloise Roach translation, University of Texas. Check out later translations. This one is 1950's: www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/jimpla.

Gibraltar - Mosque

2006-02-08T16:02:00.000-05:00

The Muslims entered Spain in 711, the Berber Tarik. He arrived by way of North Africa, to Gibraltar, named then "Jabal (mount of) Tarik" - Gibraltar now. See the tip of the Rock of Gibraltar just behind the dome. It took only seven years to conquer the whole Iberian peninsula. They called Spain "Al Andalus" and was one of the centers of Muslim civilization.

In 1492, with the defeat of the Ottomans at Granada, many took refuge at Gibraltar, see ://www.sce.cornell.edu/cau/off_campus/courses.php?action=class&f=CLASSID&v=10506.