Assorted Doorways and Windows

I have always liked to take photos of doors and windows especially when there is something to see through the openings.  Here are some from our Spain trip in September.

Any of these catch your eye?

[These last two are the second oldest doorways we passed through.  The oldest was into the Pileta Cave.

But these doorways into dolmens date to 3750 BCE. ]

For more on dolmens see this article.

 

Random photos from our visit to Alhambra in September.

You have to look up to see the magnificence.

A Hermitage

 

In our travels along the main route to and from Priego de Cordoba where we stayed in Spain in September I kept seeing this sign.  One day as we set out for another small town and I knew we would pass this turn off, I told Dan let's investigate.

It was a very winding road up to a mountain top.

The site dates from 1260.

There were only two cars up there.  One from another visitor and the other belonging to Jose, the groundskeeper.  He spoke no English but with Dan's Spanish we learned that the  statue of the Virgin of the Sierra was in the town of Cabra for the month of September. The hermitage where the Virgin is kept for the other 11 months was not open for visiting.  The grounds were.

The scene below is one of the few vistas where olive groves were not the prominent sight.  Jose told us we were looking at horse country.

Below is a small version of the Virgin in a grotto.  Notice the half moon and star.  All the various versions we saw of the Virgin Mary had that symbol.

Jose said we were looking down here on Roman ruins.  Looks like an old bull ring to me.

I imagine the hermitage is maintained by all the leases it has with cell phone companies. The highest point was well sprouted with towers.

We enjoyed our unofficial tour with Jose.

Another Small Spanish Town

Carcabuey was a very short drive from where we were staying in Priego do Cordoba.  In fact when we drove west for other day trips we'd see the fortress or castle at Carcabuey high on its hill.

On this day we found street parking and headed up to check out the castle.

Below is looking back down to the main square.

We passed this tile picture of the Virgin Mary.  It was above a water fountain.

The pathway continued to climb.

This fortress is not in good repair we could tell as we approached.

A mosaic of stones in the pathway.

The only way in was through this gateway.

A sign showed what it must have been like.

Now there is a church dedicated to the Virgin inside the fort. It wasn't open and probably only opens on celebrations.

Looking back down to the gate.

Much of the area was roped off.

Interesting background on how the fort was built, but even more mysterious was why the English translations on all the signage were crossed out.

The town below.

Going back out through gate Dan spied this face above the gate.

We also spied this bull ring.

Back into the town the door to this church was open so we went in.

When we came back out we realized that a christening was going to be happening shortly as the baby dressed in white in the arms of a parent was waiting for the rest of the family to gather.