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-##selamla()##-, and welcome to Ali's homepage!
Though 2020 and 2021 are rather different from all other years that I have known, with the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 having affected the global way of living, the summer luckily brought with it the opportunity for me to discover new places, their people and history. I hence would like to share with you some impressions from southern Spain...
The Iberian peninsula has been the home for very different cultures over centuries, which gives it quite a unique cultural and historical mix. The first place I would like to start with is the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex located in Granada. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in on the remains of ancient Roman fortifications, rebuilt starting from the mid-13th century by the Nasrids into a royal palace, and finally became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella (where Christopher Columbus received royal endorsement for his expedition). You feel both technical ingenuity when you visit it, in particular around cleverly they managed water all around this huge palace, and how the different cultures and styles of art built on top of each other, with beautifully detailed carvings extending from walls to ceilings. Perhaps the photos below give you some better impressions, as usual feel free to click on any of them to view it bigger and browse through the rest of the album:
As I mentioned Christopher Columbus, I would like to present Seville: founded as the Roman city of Hispalis, Seville was later ruled by the Muslim Almoravids and the Almohads until finally being incorporated into the Christian Kingdom of Castile. After the discovery of the Americas, Seville became one of the economic centres of the Spanish Empire as its port monopolised the trans-oceanic trade, opening a Golden Age of arts and literature. As a result of these centuries of different influences, Seville contains three UNESCO World Heritage Sites and more operas have been set in Seville than in any other city of Europe.
Finally, from human-made beauty to natural beauty: the beautiful city of Estepona. As one walks in the old town the different flowers embelish the sides of the streets, and what I appreciated most is the Orchid House, with hundreds of different types of orchids and other natural beauties. Obviously, what you will see will depend on when you go: one of the species only flowers 12 hours a year!
With these updates and good wishes shared, I'll let you enjoy your visit of my site. As usual, while doing so please make good use of the Facebook "like" button in the bottom and don't hesitate to contact me for all your comments, recommendations, ideas, wishes (eg. for the MusicBox), and so on, and so forth... Or even, to simply say "hello"!! (look -> the "Contact me" section, i.e. the one with a typewriter icon)