The Iberian Peninsula
An architectural and cultural wonderland
From Goya to Gaudi, it’s been an art and architecture bender. Our 15-day Insight Vacations coach tour of Spain and Portugal hasn’t been restricted to arty matters – far from it – but they have been a fascinating feature. Oh sure, some of our party have suffered the occasional bout of no-more-cathedrals-please but nothing’s compulsory as long as you tell the tour director where you are going.
The overall feeling, though, is one of awe. The style of the churches, palaces and fortresses are representative of the twists of history that Spain and Portugal have experienced.
A common theme, particularly in Spain, is the mingling of the influences of Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the architecture. Sometimes, all three peacefully co-existed. At other times, churches, palaces and fortresses were demolished during uprisings in the name of religion.
At the end of our tour we get the biggest contrast from the traditional styles with Antoni Gaudi’s bizarre, vertigo-inducing Sagrada Familia, still unfinished just eight years from the centenary of his death.
A big advantage of our tour package is that we get to see famous art works, cathedrals and palaces without having to stand in queues, but with the benefit of clued-up guides.
We had plenty of cultural highlights, but here are some of the stunners.
Toledo
Once the capital of Spain, Toledo is a dramatic city that bleeds history. It’s a Unesco World Heritage Site and a real charmer. Views are spectacular, with the old city on a mountain top and the Tagus River bending through it.
It has often been called the City of the Three Cultures, because of the impact of Christianity, Islam and Judaism on it over the centuries.
If it’s history, art and architecture you are after, the main cathedral, Catedral de Toledo, is a must. It stands out with its Gothic architecture, impressive pointed arches and rose windows. The gems are in its sacristy, precious works of art by the likes of Titian, Velazquez, Caravaggio and El Greco.
Our tour guide, Sergio, points to The Disrobing of Christ, a controversial painting by El Greco, not liked by the cardinals of the time because, among
other points, the head of Jesus was in the centre of the painting and not at the top as was conventional.
There’s also the Alcazar and the Jewish synagogue, Sinagoga del Transito. The Alacazar, built at the city’s highest point, was a fortress that took a pounding during the Spanish Civil War. It is now a military museum. The synagogue is also a museum, paying homage to the Sephardic division of the faith.
Toledo is an hour’s drive from Madrid, where more art treasures await at the Prado Museum, including works by El Greco, Goya, Velazquez and Rubens.
Mezquita
This is a mosque-cathedral because there is a Catholic cathedral in the middle of the mosque in the charming town of Cordoba, not far from Seville. It’s a stunning example of Moorish architecture housing an ornate Catholic cathedral – and it’s the biggest mosque in the Western world.
It stretches more than 24,000 square metres, and you risk neck strain admiring the red and white arches supported by 856 columns made from marble, granite and jasper in the main mosque hall that were the remnants of a Roman temple originally on the site. Building on the mosque began in 785AD, with three major expansions in the next 200 years. When King Ferdinand III overthrew Moorish rule in Cordoba in 1236, the mosque was used as a church. Fast forward
300 years and the Renaissance-style cathedral started to be built inside the mosque.
It’s a strange alliance of styles – one minute you are taking in the mosaics and stylised plant motifs in the mosque’s mihrab, and the next it is the huge silver monstrance, which houses the consecrated host, but it seems to work.
You can also relax in the large courtyard, the Patio de Los Naranjos (The Court of Oranges).
Sagrada Familia
It’s simply breathtaking and very weird. It also gives new meaning to the phrase ‘‘work in progress’’. In 1883, architect Antoni Gaudi took over the design of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, now the most recognisable building in Barcelona, if not Spain.
He worked for 43 years on the Catholic temple, until his death when he was hit by a tram. It is still incomplete – but the plan is for it to be finished by 2026, 100 years after his death.
So far 70 per cent of the basilica is completed as work continues apace on the six central towers. The tallest will be the Tower of Jesus Christ, at 172.5 metres. The basilica, consecrated by Pope Benedict in 2010, is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of Barcelona’s most visited monuments. It attracts about 20 million visitors a year, so queueing can be a two-hour long pain.
If you’re into Gaudi, Park Guell is the second most popular tourist attraction in Barcelona. He was commissioned to create many of the features there for a benefactor who wanted to create a stylish park.
A terraced area in the park, which features coloured tiled mosaic seats, offers a splendid view of the city. There are two famous Gaudi buildings in the central city, the Casa Batllo and La Pedrera. They too are bizarre but captivating.
The Alhambra
The Alhambra is one of those places that makes you feel at peace with the world, despite its violent past and modern popularity, which attracts 8500 tourists a day. You can marvel as you wander through the palace grounds about the history of the place and the cleverness of the design by the Moors of the reddish-walled fortress and palaces.
Our tour guide, Christina, shows us through the harem, one of the parts of the royal complex, which housed the wives and mistresses of the sultans.
‘‘The sultan could have four legal wives and all the concubines he could afford,’’ she says.
The palace gardens are stunning, featuring a kaleidoscope of colourful flowers.
The gardens were designed with water and shade as themes, which patrons will no doubt appreciate when the mercury reaches more than 40 degrees Celsius at the height of the northern summer.
You can admire the water theme in the Court of the Myrtles, which has myrtle bushes around a central pond, fed by fountains at each end.
If you are going to Spain, you have to visit the Alhambra and Generalife Gardens.
Age of the discoveries
Like our Spanish highlights, the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon is a Unesco World Heritage Site. If you are keen on finding out about the great explorer, Vasco da Gama, his tomb is in the former monastery, which was run by monks from the Order of Saint Jerome in Belem, in southwest Lisbon. Their duties included giving spiritual support to sailors.
Before Da Gama set off on his famous voyage to India he is believed to have spent his last night at the site of the monastery when it was a hermitage. Da Gama was the first European to reach India.
Another of the tombs is that of Luis de Camoes, the 16th-century poet who is a celebrated figure in Portugal and whose most famous work, Os
Lusiadas, preserved in poetry da Gama’s feat in navigating the sea route to India.
Da Gama and de Camoes also feature on Portugal’s famous Monument to the Discoveries, on the north bank of the Tagus River and a short walk from the Jeronimos Monastery.
The 52m monument features Henry the Navigator at the prow of a Portuguese sailing boat, with 32 other figures from the Age of Discovery, in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Also included are Cabral, who discovered Brazil, and Magellan, who was first to circumnavigate the world.
Cute fact: Lisa Stansfield walked up and down the ledge of the monument in the video for her single, Change.
The writer travelled to Spain and Portugal courtesy of Insight Vacations.