On The Road To Seville

After staying for two nights in Madrid, we reached its train station in the morning. The same train station which was reminded to us the day before by the city tour guide as the 2004 Al Qaida Bombing site, the latest imprint of Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula. 

AVE fast moving train takes 2 and a half hours for what one would spend more than five hours on road. It is around 330 miles. Cordoba is along the way, but we would be there later in the week. These train tickets are hot items and one has to book them three months in advance, You cannot book them before that and if one is too late one may not get the seats. That is what we were told, but when we traveled in August, it was rather empty. The ride is very comfortable, and we had a facing seat of two and two with a table in between. 

Travelling down south, I wondered this path had been taken by so many over the thousand years. First in the opposite direction, moving up north and then increasingly in the same direction as I was travelling ie south. In 711 they raced up all the way from Gibraltar to Toledo and modern day Madrid and beyond. Three centuries later, most of it was back in Christian control. After the fall of each city to La Reconquista or al-istirdad,    الاسترداد  families of Muslims traveled south to the remaining Muslim control areas, and ultimately back to North Africa. 

Within forty years of Tariq Bin Zayad's invasion of Spain, the internal conflicts of various warlords provided an opportunity for the fleeing Abdur Rahman I to gain power. He had escaped from the massacre of his family at the hands of Bani Abbas in Damascus. He found a new life and a new empire in Al Aldalus. Banu Ummayah ruled Spain for almost three centuries, first as Independent Emirate for almost two centuries. Later when the threat from the Fatimid in Tunisia grew, his namesake and descendant Abdur Rahman III proclaimed himself a Caliph, breaking all ties with the Abbassi caliphate in Baghdad. 

After the fall of this parallel Caliphate one century later, the whole Iberian peninsula was divided into many independent city states, called Taifa's طائفہ .,  In the long history which followed there were wars and wars. Many a time a coalition of a Muslim and Christian kingdoms were fighting a similar combination on the other side. Some of the Taifa kings, called their North African Muslim brothers for help against the onslaught of La Reconquista.

The new wave of Moroccan Berbers, al Murabitun,  also known as Almoravids, marched northbound. The most charismatic name of this dynasty to most of our generation thanks to Naseem Hijazi, is Yusuf bin Tashfin. This dynasty ruled a vast expanse of land, from deep in Mauritania (root for the word Moor) to the heart of Spain. They retained Cordoba as their Andalusian capital but the seat of the government was in Morocco. Their rule lasted till mid twelfth century.

Last to come were the really puritan, the Al Mowahids. Followers of a self proclaimed Mehdi, they uprooted Almurbitun in Marrakesh and later in Spain. They deemed the Almoravids and the Ummayads before them as heretic and tried to instill a puritan version of Islam. They moved capital from Qurtuba to Seville. Their Monumental legacy is the Giralda of the fallen mosque in Seville.

After their fall in early thirteenth century,  the story of Muslims rule was basically over for most of the Spain. The exception was Granada, where local Andalusian Moorish ruling family of Bani Nasir carved out their independence as a subject state of Ferdinand III of Castille in return for cooperating with him in the conquest of Seville. Granada, thus remained under Muslim control for another 250 years.

Moving down south on the fast moving train, I saw desert turned into green fields of orange trees and various crops. It would be a natural terrain for the desert loving Arabs and Berbers. They lived here for a long time. They turned this desert into an irrigated land. What ever they contributed and make this land their own, they were deemed as the other by the locals right from the beginning. War was the culture of the time, and this passage would have seen many battles over many centuries.
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Travelling south on the AVE train, I could imagine Tariq Bin Zayad galloping up north with supposedly burnt boats left behind, and centuries later could see Yusuf Bin Tashfin, his face covered below the eyes in the elusive Murtabin style, slowly riding back into the sunset of Marrakesh, a city he founded.

In essence, that is the story of Muslim presence in Spain.

More on Seville, later. 

Madrid

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There may be many stories about the name origin of the city or the time when it was found. Nobody denies that the river around the citadel was called al-majreet, ie source of water, This eventually let to the later name, Madrid. The citadel was built north of Toledo to protect it from Christian invaders. The ultimate fall of Toledo was preceded by the capture of Madrid citadel in 1085. Five centuries later it replaced Toledo as the capital of the country.

Today it is a modern city and rivals Barecelona in all what a city has to offer. We arrived in the middle of the day in a hot summer August. It was the day of the Eid. The hotel was in the middle of the city. Like many other cities we visited, the center of the city, or the old city, has many streets for pedestrian only. It allowed a lot of space to walk, and the stores are able to attract the shoppers in many ways. It was hot and many streets had covers, large sheets of canvas , connected to each other, and tight roped to the balconies of the second floor above.

STREETS OF MADRID:

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On the streets you see people from all over the world, whites, blacks browns, yellows every body. I was surprised to see many Far East Asians. Not many Pakistanis or Indians amongst visitors. There are many vendors from Africa. Many a times I saw them wrapping up their makeshift shop and running away into smaller streets, soon to see the cops following them. Reminded me of an oft repeated scene in the Biutiful, which features Javier Bardem and is a story of Barcelona. 

Street names in Spain are not on a street sign as we are accustomed to. They are written on the walls of the street, ie on private property of houses. Some of them have great artwork.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasirgondal/7903869794/in/set-72157631344553438

Most of the sightseeing places in Madrid are thus from the post Muslim era. Interestingly the biggest functional mosque in Spain is here in Madrid. It is a modern building and is in the modern part of the city, on the other side of Retiro Park. I was able to see it only from the outside which in a tour bus the next day.

THE CENTER OF SPAIN:

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One of the main plazas of the city, if not the foremost one, is Puerta del Sol, and our hotel was a five minute walk from that. It is the Kilometer Zero, ie the center of Spain. The centre of the square is always full of activity, day or late at night. Kind of Times Square of Madrid. Actors with still postures, charlatans, and skaters all line up.  You see a singer or a music instrument performer in every street or on every block of the city. I think the change adds up by the end of the day. Although we were warned about the pickpockets a lot, but there is no violent crime.  The entire sightseeing area of city can be accomplished on foot from this plaza.  Keeping it in the middle, Museum and the Retiro park are on east side and the Royal Palace on the West side. both around 20-30 minutes walk each.

RETIRO PARK:

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The first day we ventured out east on foot. Prado Museum was closed, by the time we reached, so could not see the most impressive piece of art in Spain, Picasso's Guernica.  Later we found out that many places change their visit times without giving out good notice and until you check it on the websites, you may be in for a surprise. We moved on the The Retiro Park. It is an interesting park. Once it was a royal park but a Charles III which in Spanish means Carlos III gave it away to the city. He is known as the best mayor the city had. It has a pond in the middle where we went for a roving boat ride in the lake opposite the monument of Alfonso XIII. Just like Central Park it has a festive attitude. Many vendors are there lining up to  sell their trinkets. many acrobats and dancers are there, so are musicians. Two buildings next to it, Palacio de Velazquez and Palacio de Cristal were showing exhibition "Collaborating Agents" of Spanish experimental artist Nacho Criado who died in 2010. 
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MODERN MADRID:

The next day, after coming back from a day trip to Toledo, we learned to our surprise that a half day bus tour of Madrid is included in our  package. We took advantage of it it took us to places we would not have thought of going. There is modern Madrid on the other side or Retiro Park which wide boulevards and Champs Elise like atmosphere on Paseo de la Castellana. Saw the mosque from the outside on the way, had a drink at Hard Rock Cafe and saw the biggest Spanish flag and Statue of Columbus facing south, not west towards Americas. Perhaps it suited the alignment of the road. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasirgondal/7903964078/in/set-72157631344553438/

PALACE REAL
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In the evening saw the Royal Palace. They claim to be the third greatest palace, after Versailles and Vienna's Schonbrunn. It is however still a working palace and the King conducts regular business here. The royal family however lives somewhere else. The famous Madrid Peace Conference, not so successful for Palestinians and hugely successful for Israel, was held here in 1991.

Late night was for shopping. Did not know that Desigual and Zara are Spanish outlets.

We are used to acknowledge the European and Arabic versions of the same names ie Ibn Rushd and Averroes, Moses and Musa, Jesus and Eisa etc. In Spain one comes to know yet another version of names, ie Spanish. Charles is Carlos, John is Diego, Christopher is Cristobal, Cordova is Cordoba, Seville is Sevilla and so on.

ON THE ROAD TO AL ANDALUS:
Spending two nights in Madrid, we were ready to move on to the Andalusia, or Andalucia' as Spaniards call it. 
Al Andalus, to which we Pakistanis have no genetic connection but grew up feeling nostalgic about it.

UNSOLICITED TRAVEL TIPS/Spain

GET A GOOD TOUR BOOK:

When we started to plan about our trip, Zoha rented a few videos and a book from the library. The book "Spain 2012" by Rick Steves went unread and was to be returned. Fortunately it got soaked with water in a home accident and the librarian refused to take it back. We had to buy it. That turned out one of the good things. Close to the trip we read it and realized its worth. Later I found he has a big website and arranges tour of his own. It is a real companion book which is handy and one can take it with oneself where ever you go. It gives you suggested routes of walking and road trips, hotels, restaurants and detailed account of sites with the historical backdrops. Much more than the old AAA tour books we used to have. I highly recommend it. Many of the small details we would have missed if not for Rick's recommendations. 

PLACES TO SAY:

Having stayed in four places we realized that the best place to stay is in the middle of the old city. That makes it convenient for commuting and for enjoying the whole day and the night to the fullest. 

Hotels have usually small elevators but soon one gets used to them.  Some may have a bumpy ride. The rooms lights are Pakistan style, you have to use the room key/card to put in the slot to turn the lights on. Electric outlets need adapters, It is 220 volts. I had taken the flat multiplug with a long wire, which has six or seven outlets. Wherever I used it, it tripped the fuse and the hotel personnel had to switch it back. Wonder why.

MONEY MATTERS:

Money rates were best in the hotel where you stay. To us they gave the Euros at the bank rates. The exchange on ATM's and the street shops were much higher. Credit cards charge a significant foreign transaction fee, except a few. I was told about Catipal One and I got one before the trip. Used it to the maximun  and did not have a high line on it. Once  I ran out of that, I had to use the regular card and had to pay significant transation fee. One should check that out ahead of time. One should also inform the credit card before going overseas as transactions may be blocked by the company assuming fradulent activitiy. One have to call back to explain all that. Another error I made was to use the credit card as a security deposit for the car rental. Once I returned the car, the deposit was no immediately creditted, ( or there was no immediate 'retribution', as the rental person told me in his Spanglish). It took ten days to have that. So I had to live with a reduced credit line for the rest of the trip.

CELL PHONES:

Cellphone usage is another Herculean task to take care of before the trip. ATT offers a date plan for emails and I took that to keep my self abreast with all the meaningful emails I get in the course of the day. For the rest of the family we disabled the data roaming. We got the international roaming for phone calls and 200 texts for each one of us, so that we can be in touch with each other. We decided not to use the telephone unless it is in emergency and rely on texting. It worked out well, although had to pay for each incoming call form the US even if we let it go to the voice mail. 

Best is to get an unlocked phone and get a local SIM, but one would be disconnected with those who try to reach you. 

HOW MUCH TO TIP:
Despite my active attempt to research it, I could not get the right answer on tipping. How much to tip in resturatns, to the cabby, to the tour guide, to the hotel personnel etc. No help from the  internet, personal communications, not even from Rick. We develped our own rules. It seems that the tipping is not expected as it is in USA but who gets it is very happy at it. One does not have to use the US yardstick, it seems.

FOOD:
This is expensive, so choose a hotel which gives away free breakfast, Not everyone does that. 
Tapas are short servings of the traditional Spanish foods. Somehow did not attract us much. We mostly ate Pizza or generic food. Good coffee was however abundant and was much appreciated. 

Toledo: The Beginning Of The End

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A local saying goes in Toledo, "A carpet frays from the edges, but the carpet of Muslims Al Andalus frayed from the very center".

You understand that when you look at the map of Spain. Madrid, its capital is  right in the middle. Toledo is just south of it. Called Tulaytulah by Arabs,  it was the capital of Spain for years. It was conquered by Tariq bin Zayad himself the same year he landed in Spain. It was the first major city of 'Moors' to fall to Christians.

Muslims, or Musalmans as called by Spaniards, entered the Iberian peninsula from the south in 711 and were at their northern most part in north central France by 732, where they were defeated by French at the Maarkatal Balatul Shuhada aka Battle of Poitiers.

The Reconquest of Spain, La Reconquista, a movement by Catholic Spaniards to take Spain back from Muslims started no later than Muslims arrived. There were small back and forth successes here and there, but the first major city they captured was Toledo in 1085. Granada, the last big city state, fell in 1492. So there is a four century of time difference between the Fall of Toledo the Fall of Granada.

Toledo was built by Romans, the first invaders of Spain. Jews were there long before the Muslims. They had lived a comfortable life under the Visigoths, the Roman nomads who ruled Spain before the Moors. Muslims had Cordoba as their capital. Once taken back by Catholics, Toledo became the center of Spain until later in 1561 when Madrid was made capital of Spain.

Where ever we went in Spain, we saw some reference to Isabel and Ferdinand. What I remembered from childhood books and movies was that the two monarchs were responsible for the downfall of Muslim Spain. It is much more than that. Their marriage was in fact the birth of Spain as a country. A widely divided Iberian peninsula for centuries was brought together by this marriage of the two large dynasties of Castille ( where Toledo is and where Isabel belonged to ) and Aragon. Rest is history.

Isabel and Ferdinand had planned to be buried in Toledo and the Royal Chapel was built for that purpose. Now it is famous for weddings.
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 Once they captured Granada, the Catholic Monarchs ( As they are called) decided to be buried in Granada, and that is where their remains are.

A hospital colleague of mine who has spent his formative years in southern Europe, Dr Solinas, told me that Toledo needs a second trip. I realized that when I was leaving the city. Built on a hill, it can be done in a day if you have all the placed dotted. We were in a group, a half day trip from Madrid. Left by 9  and back in Madrid back by 2.  That left many places unexplored or visited not to the fullest.  Many things to see. The whole city is designated as a World Heritage site.

Thanks to the escalators of a recently built convention center, one can go all the way up from the northern end, just past the Bisagra Gate.  Once upstairs, one finds oneself on a cobble stone path. Many cities we visited have the streets of the old town for pedestrians only. Only the emergency vehicles go by, or some local residents.

THE CATHEDRAL:
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The first place we saw was the Cathedral, from the outside, Like many large cathedrals of the old cities, it is built on the site of a former mosque. In Roman catholic hierarchy this is the church. It is the Primate church of Vatican which means the highest priest in Spain sits here. Toledo was the central place for both the religious and political hierarchy before the capital was moved to Madrid. We did not go in there, but I heard there are many things to watch, including the detailed historical map of the La Reconquesta and an effigy of faqih Abu Walid. He was a local Muslim leader who helped plead to Alfoso VI to spare the lives of those who destroyed the mosque. (The king was not in favor of the mosque's desecration but his wife conspired with archbishop to have it happen).

EL GRECO:
El Greco, literally means 'the Greek' was a Greek artist who came to Spain to try his luck in the building of royal palace El Escorial. He did not have any luck there, retired to Toledo and now he is one of the most famous residents in the history of Toledo. We saw a famous painting of his "Burial of the Count of Orgaz" hangs over his grave in Santo Tome. There is  museum in his name in the city.

SYNAGOGUE:
The Synagogue. Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca.
This is one of the many sad stories one is reminded when visiting Spain's past. Jews have a longer history in Spain than Muslims. They were there long before 711. They apparently had enjoyed a good time under Visigoth Romans but when the rulers converted to Christianity form their pagan faith, the life slowly became difficult for them. In that background, they welcomed the arrival of Muslims and stories of their accomplice roles are widespread. In Toledo, there is a rumor that when the Christians went to pray at the alter, the Jews closed the city door behind them and opened for the Moors when they attacked.  Once Toledo fell to Christians, Jews still enjoyed good treatment for a while. Things turned bad four centuries later, when Granada, the last Muslim stronghold fell.

The synagogue we visited is one of the two in the city. It was built a century after the Fall of the city. Muslim craftsmen had remained in demand and they were employed to built the synagogue, That is why it has mosque like mehrab and onion dome shaped arches.  Once the city got rid of Jews mercilessly, it was converted to a church, as all the synagogues and mosques were. They put the alter and Statue of Mary in the middle of mehrab.
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This is one of the strange examples of architecture which had features of Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths.

DAMASCENE ART:
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There are two places in Spain where you can find original mementos. One is Toledo and the other is Granada. Rest may be all made in China. Toledo is famous for its Damascene artwork. Ummayads were from Damascus and along with them came the arts and crafts. The metal work, of silver and gold in the iron plate is still done in the same way done in eight century Syria. Christian kings were very fond of these swords and the craft found a continued sponsorship. Went to see the work being done in a factory and bought some mementos.

What we did not see and wished to see was the Alcazar and the mosque. And the interior of the Cathedral.
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The synagogue:

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Trip to Spain/Introduction

Trip to Spain

We as a family went to an overseas trip after a long time. The last time we went together was in 2004, for a short trip to London and Paris. The kids were younger and not that interested in the trip unless we included Paris Disney into the trip, and we did.

Now it was time again to go somewhere. We had toyed with the idea of going somewhere in Europe. Italy was the usual favorite on the wish list. When it came down to make a final decision, Haleema wanted to go to Spain. Reason: she can utilize her presumed skills in the language. No one objected and that was it.

I had always thought of going to Spain, but never thought of it as a reality. Now that we decided on it, I put in my condition. We have to visit the sites in Andalusia. Saleem wanted to go to Barcelona and Zoha wanted to include Gibralter. My friend and medical college class mate Mubashar Riaz lives in Geneva and I thought of including that too.

We searched a few websites and contacted some of them. We wanted to include all of the above and it became increasingly difficult. I thought of Tipu, the travel and event guru at APPNA, who had been in this field for years. I called him, and we are very happy that he built up a plan for us which included all we wanted. It was cheaper, more economical and more over, he was always available. That includes some scary moments when we were told on arrival to Seville (Sevilla in Spanish) that our next day trip to Cordoba is cancelled and rescheduled for another day which we could not do as we had the tickets for Alhambra on that day. Those who have been to Alahmbra know that the tickets are bought well in advance and cannot be replaced or exchanged for another day. These final minute alterations which included canceling the old car rental and making new arrangements in a few hours could not have been possible had Tipu not been available on the other end of the phone all the times.

Going to a different and a totally new country where you do not know the language or anybody in the whole country can be scary. We went there without a group, had all the arrangements made ahead of time and traveled by train, car and air. Could not have done it on our own, we had thought. Now I think otherwise and feel that one can easily plan the next European trip on one’s own.  But that is now.

I will highly recommend it to everybody who wishes to have an independent trip, to contact Tipu or some one like him.

Over the course of next few weeks, I will post my thoughts on the trip along with the photos. There are many and all are available at flickr.com/nasirgondal.

I am sure that many of the readers of this post have been to Spain and what I write may not be new to them. Nonetheless this has been a trip of a lifetime to me and that is the reason of the desire to share it.

What is was in the end a memorable trip, which has incited me to learn and read more about Spain and her history. Many of my perceived notions about the Muslim history in Spain have been corrected and now I have a different and quite mixed opinion of Islam and Iberian Peninsula.

Home

Ghareebkhana is another name for one’s home. Gharib means not wealthy or poor. Humility dictates to call one’s own home a ghareebkhana and of others as daulatkada, ie a house of opulence.

There is another angle to it. Gharib also means one who is away from home ie one who has gone west (gharb). So Gharibkhana is the home away from home.

So it is. We have left our homes, moved west and adopted this land as ours. In time this becomes your home.

Welcome to my home, my Ghareebkhana. I hope the time you spend here is warm and enjoyable, and when you leave you take something memorable with you and feel like coming again.