• Their first stop into the Basque region after crossing the Pyrénees was the famous city of Pamplona.  The Fiesta of San Fermin (The running of the bulls made famous by Ernest Hemingway runs in mid-July.)

•   Along the Encierro (route of the bull running).  They first fire a rocket to signal the releasing of the bulls from the pen.  This is a street along the run up towards the Bullring.  They end in the tunnel at the Plaza de Toros.  They have several runnings over the period of a week celebrating the Fiesta of San Fermin

•   They spent an evening in Madrid and took an early train to Granada and the Alhambra.  They spent several days in the Alhambra and met some delightful people from Texas (he was a fellow Buckeye - OSU alumni). The vistas from the train were of cork and olive trees.  The view from their room at the Alhambra Palace was spectacular.  The Arabs, invading in the 8th century gave it its current name.  It was the last Muslim city to fall to the Christians in 1492 at the hands of Queen Isabel and husband Ferdinand of Aragon.

• The name Granada is ancient and mysterious. It may mean "great castle", for the Roman fortress which once stood on the Albaicin Hill. When the Moors came here, the town was largely inhabited by Jews, for which they called it Garnat-al-Yahud - Granada of the Jews. The Jews are said to have been one of the first peoples to settle in Spain, even before the Romans.

• Here is the side courtyard entrance to the Royal Chapel.  An example of the intricate Moorish influence throughout the eight palaces.  The Court of Lions built the Nasrid Sultans. 

(Tania's camera was acting up and she had to relie on their new friends  Bill and Tencha for pictures - but she left those at home so Wikipedia provided the above.)