Metonimia

Cristina Iglesias is one of Spain's most important sculptors - after visiting Metonimia, the Museo Reina Sofía's recent retrospective of her work, I noticed that even the meeting rooms in my office are adorned with photos of her famous hanging corridors.

Corredor suspendido I (Suspended Corridor I), 2006

Metonimia is Spanish for metonymy, when the name of one object or concept is used to describe a related one.  The exhibition's blurb says that Iglesias thinks of sculpture as a way to question the relationship between architecture and space - what is physical defining what is not.

Sin título (Pasillo vegetal III) (Untitled (Vegetation Corridor III)), 2008

Her sculptures integrate with the space around them, like enormous, isolated fragments of buildings.

My favourites were her suspended ceilings and hanging corridors.  There's something about an enclosed space that's irresistible - the corridors of intricately woven bronze invited you to explore inside and view them from all angles.

Corredor suspendido II (Suspended corridor II), 2006

Corredor suspendido III (Suspended Corridor III), 2006

The walled pavilions were arranged in a deliciously frustrating order - the first is a closed space, leaving you inexplicably desperate to get inside, and the increasingly expansive mazes of walls become more and more open and complex, until you can get lost in them.

Impressions d'Afrique II (Impressions of Africa), 2002

A beautiful exhibition to lose yourself in, quite literally.

http://cristinaiglesias.com/
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/exhibitions/cristina-iglesias-metonymy

Córdoba

I left the girls lazing in Granada and spent a sunny day in Córdoba on the way back home to Madrid.  After countless visits to Granada and Sevilla over many years, I hadn't realised how much I was missing out on in Córdoba, the third jewel of Andalucía.

I was there during Cruz de Mayo, or the Fiesta de las Cruces (Festival of the Crosses), when churches compete over the best-dressed cross, covered in flowers, and little beer stalls pop up in the street, blaring out flamenco.

The winding streets of the beautiful old town are surrounded by Roman walls.  Terrace bars cluster around the three remaining original gates, where I lounged in the sunshine with a glass of wine and a bowl of salmorejo cordobés, a traditional Cordoban cold tomato soup similar to gazpacho.

The symbol of the city, the Mezquita de Córdoba is an architectural melting-pot of Islamic and Catholic styles.

Built in the eight century as a gigantic mosque, it was converted into a cathedral nearly 500 years later after the Catholic monarchy recaptured the city.

The original mosque is an enormous forest of pillars and striped archways.  In the sixteenth century the Catholics tore out the centre of the building and added an ornate nave; the contrast between the two styles is stunning.

Inside the walls of the Mezquita is the calm and shady Patio de los Naranjos (Courtyard of the Orange Trees), where tourists huddle under the trees to escape the hot sun.

On the meander back to the train station, I dropped in to Mercado Victoria, a gastro market not unlike the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, where you can pick and choose from the fresh food stalls and take your goodies outside to the sun terrace.  The market's set in a restored 19th century wrought-iron pavilion, once used for exhibitions.

After a few glasses of cava and a stroll up the tree-lined Paseo de la Victoria, I was on a train and back in Madrid in a couple of hours.

http://www.mezquitadecordoba.org/en/

http://www.mercadovictoria.com/

The Alhambra: a photo essay

Photographs from May 2013 and January 2011

http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/

Granada

Off to Granada for the long May bank holiday, a sleepy bus ride after the previous night's excess.  Granada is one of my favourite cities in Europe, Andalucía's youngest-feeling city, an exciting blend of the Spanish and the Islamic.

The Alhambra seen from the Mirador de San Nicolás

Photo from a sunnier day back in 2011

In need of some R&R, our first stop was the luxurious Generalife gardens of the Alhambra.

The Islamic palace and fortress, over a thousand years old, is the most-visited attraction in the country, and dominates the city from high above.  We avoided the crowds and soaked up the spring sunshine in the peaceful stillness of the rose garden.  (A separate Alhambra photo essay is on its way.)

El Albayzín, the old Islamic quarter, is a fascinating maze of cobbled streets, narrow alleys and crumbling whitewashed buildings, and a great place to get lost for a few hours.

After our first night out bar-crawling down Calle Navas, the best strip of tapas bars in the city, the following evening we were looking for something a bit different.

Restaurant Arrayanes is widely said to be the best Moroccan restaurant in Granada.  We feasted on home-made tzatziki and rich hummus, and my pastela pollo (chicken pastille: a sweet, cinnamon-pastry encased parcel of meat, honey and nuts) was as good as any I've had in Morocco.

Pastela pollo

Feeling full and sleepy, we drifted off to Hammam Al-Andalus, an opulent Arabic bathhouse.  The heated plunge pools and steam room are intricately decorated like an Islamic palace, and we spent the night floating from pool to pool, sipping mint tea and feeling increasingly dozy.  The hammam also has a Madrid branch; I've got a feeling I'll be spending a fair amount of time there in the months to come.

Feeling healthy and virtuous, we sank down into the plush sofas of one of Granada's many Arabic teahouses (teterías), sipped sweet, spicy teas and puffed out shisha smoke until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.

http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/

http://www.rest-arrayanes.com/

http://granada.hammamalandalus.com/