Our Time in Andalucia, Spain
May 28th, 2009 by Cyrus

We have been living in a once Moorish town of Alhama de Granada, Andalucia, Spain for the past few weeks. Andelucia was once a Muslim country ruled by Moors, but it was taken over by the Christians in 1492. Alhama de Granada is a very nice mountain town and has a population of around 5,000 people. Alhama is a one hour drive away from Granada, the closest city. Spain has lots of nice people. Rat-tails are in style here and lots of young people have them. In Spain Jason, Angela, Cruz, Bella, uncle Spencer and I have been having fun eating tapas, hiking in the mountains, and playing on the Mediterranean beaches.

We live in a five story house in a town called Alhama de Granada. We have two English boys as our neighbors named Clement and Luca. Clement is three and Luca is five, so Cruz is right in between. The school hours here are nine a.m. to two p.m., so Luca gets home at two-fifteen. On weekends(when we aren’t doing something) Cruz plays from sun up to sun down. Superman (Clement) does also. Their parents are James and Lisa. They also have a gigantic dog named Sasan. Our house is about 15 yards away from the church so we can hear the church bells ringing every half hour. A few blocks away from our house is a nice park with a kids playground and a few restaurants close by. For some reason, old men wearing dress pants, long sleeved shirts, vests, dress shoes and hats sit there every day, even when it’s super hot outside. Bella likes to feed the dogs around the restaurants.

Spain is the number one producer of olive oil in the world. 80% of the olive oil in Spain comes from Andalucia (our “state”) and 80% of that is from very close to Alhama. That is a lot of olive oil! We went to a olive press in a town called Baena, where olive oil is made. You can buy their olive oil at Whole Foods, their name is “Nunez De Prado.” We had a tour given to us by the owner of the press. Compared to the olive press in Tunisia with a lopsided camel pulling a stone over a ton in a cave, it was much, much cleaner. It was run by electricity. The olives for this olive oil are hand picked, to avoid bruises in the olives. Bruises in olives create acidity in the olive oil. The less acidity, the better the oil. If you are driving around this part of Spain you will see millions of olive trees.

The Alhambra, a palace in Granada, is one of the most beautiful structures in the world and Alhama is only a one hour drive away. We went there a week ago. It was brilliant. This Arabic palace was built by the Moors then taken over by the Christians. The plaster moldings on the ceilings and walls were very intricate. They were made by first carving designs into wood, and then pouring plaster into it to make a tessellating design. They would put the plaster pieces on the wall. There were fountains with water piped from miles uphill and in the pools were goldfish. There was a cat that was trying to catch a fish in the palace garden, but Bella scared it off when she tried to pet it. It would have been a great photo. We had to get our tickets in advance because about 6,500 people go there each day!

We have been on quite a few hikes in Spain. On my favorite hike, near both the Mediterranean and the Sierra Nevadas, I saw a very small deer, many lizards, including a lizard with a green and black pattern on its back, birds and other wildlife. There was some sort of spiky plant that stung for about ten minutes if you brushed against it. Pretty soon, Cruz was looking at each plant to see what kind of plant it was. The Sierra Nevadas are the tallest mountain range in Spain and Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe. We have a deep canyon a few blocks from our house. Sometimes we go on hikes or walks with our neighbors and Sasan. The canyon has a small river with fish and lots of birds. It also has a trail called “the path of angels.” It is a great walk.

The food in Spain is very good. There are snacks called tapas, which means “lids”. This comes from when the King came to a town in Southern Spain. A villager was afraid that some dust would get in the King’s wine, so he put a slice of cheese and ham over it to block the dust. After that the King asked for another glass of wine and another tapa. The Tapas are lots of small snacks that can be put together into one big meal. Tapas can range from a slice of cheese to grilled asparagus wrapped in ham. Olive oil is served with almost every meal, mostly with bread. The Spanish have a small breakfast, large lunch, and a small, late dinner.

Spain is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We played football on the Mediterranean beaches a few times. We also did in Tunisia, but without the football. The water here is cold, but in Brazil it is warmer and houses tropical fish which you will learn about in my next report.