Hello, Blogonauts!

Friday we ogled the unique architecture that help define Andalusian life. Particularly in Seville there exists a virtual kaleidoscope of ceramic tiles. Creators of these colorful showpieces improvised on the Islamic decorative themes left by centuries of Moorish rule. They incorporated the geometric patterns that can be found in their carpets, carvings, and tapestries. Other artists combine the ceramic squares to create larger works of representational art, either original or in reproduction.

The ubiquity of these pieces challenges both artists and patrons to stretch their creativity. Most of the Seville's old city buildings use ceramic tile as wainscoting in their vestibules, which are often left open to the weather. All of the street names are labeled via tiles inlaid into building walls. And ceramics have long adorned architectural highlights, window boxes, stair risers, park benches, and perhaps most spectacularly, the various balusters, lampposts, and niches of the Seville's Plaza de España.

This large and ornate building situated in the midst of an expansive urban park now houses offices for the regional and national government. But originally it was built in 1927 for an anticipated world's fair (an extravaganza that was sadly thwarted by the onset of the worldwide recession in 1929). Each of Spain's provinces was allocated a niche where they

Plaza de España was our first destination on Friday morning. But we quickly followed 20th century splendor with the much more spectacular with decorative art from the Moorish period: Seville's Reál Alcázar.

This royal palace was built to house and defend Moorish royalty, but after the Christian Spaniards conquered and expelled the Moors in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella commandeered the Alcázar to become the Royal Palace. Even Generalissimo Franco used the Alcázar as his residence whenever official business took him to Seville.

The minutely detailed interior carvings are exquisite, and the gardens to this day remain ornately groomed. But once the Catholic Spaniards recaptured southern Spain, Christian art and European-styled architecture was superimposed over the Islamic backdrop. This leaves a strong impression of, over centuries, how strongly these cultures clashed throughout the Iberian peninsula.

So on Saturday, we drive to Cádiz, on Spain's Atlantic coast.

Stay tuned!