We have arrived in Gaucin, Andalucia. We have rented a small 2 bedroom house for the month of October.  Casa Muneca...  the Doll's House, in English.  The village, of about 2400 inhabitants, is located on the edge the Serrano de Ronda, close to the eastern edge of Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema.  This area was inhabited by the Moors during the middle ages, so there is a strong Arab influence, evident in the village layout and architecture. These villages are referred to as "los pueblos blancos". White, being the predominant (actually, only) colour.

The location of Gaucin is indicated by the house icon photo centre.

 We arrived in Gaucin yesterday after spending the previous night in Cordoba. When we arrived in town I phoned Agustina, the caretaker of Casa Muneca, in order to pickup the key. When I identified myself, she replied "Ah yes, you are the guests who are arriving tomorrow".   Tomorrow???  I had to look at the calendar to see what day it was.  Yep, we were a day early!   We had lost track of time, but it all worked out OK. We offered to find a hotel for the night but as luck would have it the previous guests left the day before and the house was almost ready. We met Agustina at Casa Muneca and moved in a day early.  

We are very happy with the house. It is small, by North American standards,  but perfect for us.  Both bedrooms are small so we are using the second one as our closet, since there is only one other closet in the whole house.  We are located quite high up the village slope so we have a nice view from the patio.  We can see Gibraltar in the distance.


Now to back-up for a day.....

On Thursday and Friday we spent an afternoon and the next morning in the city of Cordoba. Cordoba is located on the plains of northern Andalucia, about 200K north of Gaucin. It was captured by invading Muslim armies in the 8th Century and was thought to be the largest city in the world in the 10 Century.  It is the hottest city in Spain, with average high temperatures in July of 36.9C. The record high July temperature is 46.9C.   When we were there the afternoon temperature was in the high 20s.

It is large city and the streets in the old city are barely wide enough for a car.   Adding to the difficulty of finding our hotel was road construction. The GPS was of little help because it kept trying to send the wrong way on one way streets or though the closed construction areas.  Thanks to Galileo (a map app) that allows one to freely download excellent maps, pretty much for any part of the world, we were able to navigate the maze and get to a parking spot only half a block from the hotel. We arrived hot, sweaty and more than a little stressed (not to mention cranky), but happy to be there, never the less.

It is hard to find your way because you have no "big picture" reference.  It is hard to know which way you are going.  Once again the "Galileo" app was a saviour. Much better detail than google maps and you don't need a connection.

Here you have to fold the mirrors in just to navigate the streets!

 There were a lot of tourists in Cordoba. Most come to see La Mezquita, otherwise known as the  Great Mosque of Cordoba.  The mosque was once a Catholic church, overtaken by the Moors and then later recaptured by the Christians.  Each culture added to it so that is now both a mosque and a Catholic Cathedral.

It was interesting to see. It is huge, opulent, extravagant.  A testament to power and money. Yes, the architecture, the engineering and the artwork are superb. It is a beauty to behold. But as I walked through it I couldn't but help think of where the money came from to create such a grandiose structure. What price was paid by the peasants of the time?  Undoubtedly thousands of people were beneficially employed in the construction, additions and renovations.  Their work is here, so many years later,  to be admired and appreciated. It is worth the visit.



Here are a few photos of La Mezquita. It is the large building across the river in this photo.

  More about Gaucin in the next posting....