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| Sunday, 13-Nov-2005 00:00 |
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Day 4 ; Last Day, Spain Trip: Alhambra, Granada
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This event took place on the 11th November ; 8 days after Eid. We went back to the place where we started the first day we arrived at Spain; that was Granada. The main attraction of this place is the Al Hambra Palace
On the way from Marbella to Granada, we stopped at two places; for solat and of course photography session. we saw seaside/beach most of the time and they were all beautiful beaches.
We arrived at Alhambra Palace almost the closing time but still we could make it in time to visit the attractive,and modern (at that time) architecture building, and made us very proud of the Muslims architect and the calipha at that time it was built.
Although the Alhambra is today devoid of furniture, and most of the rich colours of its decoration have worn off, we have been left at least the testimony of its purpose summed up for prosperity by the dynasty's moto, wa Ia galiba illa Allah (No one conquers but Allah), which appears so many times in the decoration of its buildings amidst innumerable religious quotations and poetic lines, as proof of a spirit alive beyond mere material constructions.
| Quote: | The Alhambra was a palace, a citadel, a fortress and home of the Nasrid Sultans, high government officials, servants of the court and elite soldiers of the Nasrid Dynasty (1238-1492), the last Islamic sultanate in the lberian Peninsula. Together with the Mezquita (Great Mosque) of Cordoba, the Alhambra is one of the most widely known of all Islamic works of art.
The Nasrid Sultans chose as the site for their court the Sabika hill, one of the foothills of Sierra Nevada on the plain of Granada, which constituted an excellent site from which to keep watch over the capital of their kingdom and the surrounding area. From the beginning of the XIII century, the small older buildings, mainly watchtowers, some of which dated back to before the XI century, gradually grew into a huge walled site which clearly intended to be both palace and court.
Within this gradual change, different stages of development, grandeur and decadence can clearly be seen through the various works of art and buildings erected over the years. The Alhambra was not a single static construction, built at a specific date, but rather the result of an evolution, successive reforms and extensions.
Today, four groups of buildings can be identified o
This last, the fortress of the eleventh-century Ziridian rulers, was all that existed when the Nasrid ruler Ibn al-Ahmar made Granada his capital, but from its reddish walls the hilltop had already taken its name: Al Qal'a al-Hamra in Arabic means literally "the red fort". Ibn al-Ahmar rebuilt the Alcazaba and added to it the huge circuit of walls and towers which forms your first view of the castle.
Within the walls he began a palace, which he supplied with running water by diverting the River Darro nearly 8km to the foot of the hill; water is an integral part of the Alhambra and this engineering feat was Ibn al-Ahmar's greatest contribution. The Palacios Nazaríes was essentially the product of his fourteenth-century successors, particularly Yusuf I and Mohammed V, who built and redecorated many of its rooms in celebration of his accession to the throne (in 1354) and the taking of Algeciras (in 1369).
After their conquest of the city, Fernando and Isabel lived for a while in the Alhambra. They restored some rooms and converted the mosque but left the palace structure unaltered. As at Córdoba and Sevilla, it was Emperor Carlos V, their grandson, who wreaked the most insensitive destruction, demolishing a whole wing of rooms in order to build a Renaissance palace.
This and the Alhambra itself were simply ignored by his successors and by the eighteenth century the Palacios Nazaríes was in use as a prison. In 1812 it was taken and occupied by Napoleon's forces, who looted and damaged whole sections of the palace, and on their retreat from the city tried to blow up the entire complex. Their attempt was thwarted only by the action of a crippled soldier who remained behind and removed the fuses.
Two decades later the Alhambra's "rediscovery" began, given impetus by the American writer Washington Irving, who set up his study in the empty palace rooms and began to write his marvellously romantic Tales of the Alhambra (on sale all over Granada – and good reading amid the gardens and courts). Shortly after its publication, the Spaniards made the Alhambra a national monument and set aside funds for its restoration. This continues to the present day and is now a highly sophisticated project, scientifically removing the accretions of later ages in order to expose and meticulously restore the Moorish creations. |
I'm just curious.......Bila agaknya tempat ini akan kembali kepada Islam.
 
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| Saturday, 12-Nov-2005 00:00 |
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Day 3; Malaga -Gibraltar, The Africa Continent
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On the way to Malaga, we stopped at this place where we could see the Africa continent from the Europe continent. We also could see Gibraltar. The place where we stopped was a beautiful place, but we arrived there not at the right time. Hence, we just took several pictures of Gibraltar and Africa from afar 
It comes to my knowledge that Gibraltar got its name from Jabal Et Tariq where Jabal means mountain in Arabic ; and Tariq was the person who was once a general who led the conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711.
He was initially the deputy of Musa ibn Nusair in North Africa, and was sent by his superior to the Iberian peninsula in order to intervene, at the request of the heirs of the Visigothic King, Wittiza, in the Visigothic civil war.
On April 30, 711, the armies of Tariq landed at Gibraltar (the name Gibraltar is derived from the Arabic name Jabal Tariq, which means mountain of Tariq). Upon landing, Tariq is said to have made the following speech, well-known in the Arab world, to his soldiers (supposedly after burning his boats, according to some accounts):
أيّها الناس، أين المفر؟ البحر من ورائكم، والعدوّ أمامكم، وليس لكم والله إلا الصدق والصب...
There is nowhere to flee! The sea is behind you, and the enemy before you: so by God, you have only sincerity and patience, and no minister but your swords (as recounted by al-Maqqari).
The so-called Moorish armies swept through Iberia and, in the summer of 711, won a decisive victory when the Visigoth king, Roderic, was defeated and killed on July 19th at the Battle of Guadalete. Afterwards, Tariq was made governor of Hispania for awhile but eventually returned to Morocco.
There is no mention in Muslim books of this intentional or accidental burning of the ships. The claim appears only in European sources. Indeed, there are a number of reasons why Tariq ibn Ziyad wouldn't have done such a thing.
1. Not all of the ships were Muslim owned (the leader of port septe owned ships which sailed with Muslims in exchange for lands in Andalusia).
2. The consequences of burning the ships would have been praised or punished by the Caliph, but no sources mention that Calipha either praised or punished Tariq for this.
3. In Islam it is forbidden to destroy public property.
4. If it had been his strategy to create desperation in his troops, Tariq could simply have sent the ships away, letting them return home.
5. Musa ibn Nusair sent reinforcements to Tariq, something he couldn't have done if the ships had been burned).
The controversy over the burning of the ships has remained a subject of debate between Muslims and the West.
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| Friday, 11-Nov-2005 00:00 |
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Day 3 ;Sevilla - Museo Taurino(bull ring)
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Day-3 , the visit continued to seville, ( I was told that it is the 3rd largest city in Spain after Barcelona n Madrid. It is not same like Cordoba which is more historical.
As Spain is famous with its bullfighting, we visited one of its bull rings here that is Plaza del Toros or Museo Taurino. AT the museum,we had a guided visit that showed us the different parts of the Bullring, such as the infirmary, the Museum,
the chapel of the bullfighters and the stables, that was also a journey through centuries of bullfighting history, with explanations on the peculiarities of one of the oldest bullrings in the world. This museum also showed us dresses of famous bullfighters, trophies, photos and other objects of the world of bullfighting.
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| Thursday, 10-Nov-2005 00:00 |
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Cordoba II - Medina Azzahra
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We're still in day-2, in Cordoba. The visit continued to Medinat Azzahra about 8km out of Cordoba. The place was under archeology works but still we could have a sightseeing there. A few information about the place we got :-
In 936 caliph Abdul Rahman decided he needed a new residential town, and had built Medina Azahara, at that time the largest town in all the region, by 10.000 workers within 25 years. 4.300 columns, all of them originating from older buildings in all the Mediterranean area, were used.
On top of a hill there was the palace, Alcazar Califal, below the administrative district with parks and gardens, while the actual town was located in the flat land. Chroniclers tell us about the extraordinary beauty of the palaces "Throne Hall" and "Golden Salon", both with arcs of ebony and ivory and ornaments of marble, gold and precious stones. In the center there was a basin filled with mercury, which reflected the rays of sunshine.
But this colossal work existed for only 74 years - then it was conquered and destroyed by the Bereberes. Most of the artworks were stolen, and many of them were lateron integrated in the many palaces of Cordoba.
Medina-Azahara was all but forgotten, until archaeologists started to excavate it in 1910.
To be continued after coming back from work
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| Wednesday, 9-Nov-2005 00:00 |
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Cordoba I - Le Mezquita
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The vehicle for our transportation
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on the way to Cordoba - macam gurun pulak
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olive tree
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2nd day : a visit to an enormous mosque which is called Le Mezquita . Some information about this impressive Arabian Mosque,the 3rd biggest mosque in the world with an extension of 23.000 square meters, the most beautiful and original building of all Spain.
This Mezquita initiated the so-called Califal style, which combined Roman, Gothic, Byzantine, Syrian and Persian elements and was the starting-point of all Arabian-Hispanic architecture of the centuries to come, up to the Mudéjar-style of Arabians living in the Spain reconquered by Christians.
Knowing about Cordoba's cultural background we found interesting additional aspects when visiting its great monuments ; first of all of course the world-famous Mezquita, the Moorish mosque - and museums.As impressive and surprising Cordoba presented itself to us, as impressive and surprising was its past. Not many know, that in 11th century it was one of the most important capitals in Europe. People of the most different cultures and religions - Jews, Muslims and Christians - were living peacefully together, and important philosophers, scientists and artists emerged from here.
Caliph Abderramán I. built the colossal hall, consisting of 11 naves with 110 columns, the capitals of which were taken from old Roman and Byzantine buildings. Above there is a second row of arcs, then an architectonic novelty, creating a unique ambience of light and shadow.
Abderramán II. added 8 more arcs in 833, with columns of white marble taken from the Roman amphitheater of Mérida. Alhakem II built in 961 the minaret, Mihrab, and the Kliba with its cupola of entangled arcs in 961, both being among the major attractions today. The last an most important enlargement was made in 987 by caliph Alamanzor, doubling the original size of the mosque and adding columns of blue and red marble. As the enlargement could be made only towards West, the river Guadalquivir in the South and the palace of the caliph in the East being very close, the mosque of Cordoba is the only one that doesn't have the Mihrab as its central point. The other particularity is that it is not orientated towards Mecca, but towards Damascus - perhaps because of nostalgic feelings of Abderramán I., who expressed in his poetry how much he was missing the mosques of his home-town.
(More pics coming soon...mama/ayah still penat, tak de masa nak upload n edit entries..baru je balik dpt tido less than 4 hrs hari ni....c u later)
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| Tuesday, 8-Nov-2005 00:00 |
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"The Arrival"
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Hola !!
A few days after raya, we went to this place/country which is famous with its bullfighting...the weather was very nice,the skies are blue, beautiful sceneries, the people were also nice... the journey continues
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| Saturday, 15-Oct-2005 00:00 |
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From Portobello Market -----> Bicester Village
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We planned to go to Portobello Market (somewhere near Notting Hill) to get souvenirs (key rings ,fridge magnets,etc- org kata very cheap here) for Cik Amy to bring back to Malaysia...But, .....'suddenly' mama didn't like the place (because she didn't like the place...org ramai sangat!) So she suggested to ayah..." why not kita pegi to Bicester village jer?" The place is abaout 1 hour journey from where we were. Bicester Village is a designer outlet...mcm2 kedai designer ada...Burberry,Polo, Levi's, Bally, Ferragamo,Clarks,Tommy Hilfiger,Timberland, ntah macam2 lagi so many to write...Kesimpulannye nak beli bende murah kat Portobello Market...Ter'beli' bende mahal kat Bicester Village-alasan!!!!  
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| Wednesday, 12-Oct-2005 00:00 |
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Fatin n Taraweekh
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.......while mama n ayah were performing their 'solat taraweekh' she was walkin around with the camera...I noticed the camera flash was flashing around the prayer hall...once she got the camera...she knew what to do with it...the results.....:-
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| Sunday, 9-Oct-2005 00:00 |
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Stonehenge - Revisited
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We went to revisit a place named 'Stonehenge'; one of prehistoric sites found in Britain. We visited the place for the first time in 2003. This time we went there together with Cik Amy. During this Ramadhan time, we will visit places like this where very hardly to find people eating or selling foods; because our parents + Cik Amy are fasting but we can eat and drink  . There is nothing here except massive stones were erected in circle (the heaviest stone is said to be 40 tons).There are some wonderful myths and legends and we can hear them on the audio tour (like mobile phone - provided to us at the entrance) in nine different languages, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Russian and Japanese. We were walking around the stones (like tawaf) . We were not so happy because the weather that time was pretty cold. Hence, we spent less than 1 hour there.
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| Thursday, 29-Sep-2005 00:00 |
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3 Apples of My eyes.....(ada btol ka?)
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They are different from each other...characters, figures, the way they talk,and everything....even the way they attract my attention...
They are the colours of my life
  
Can you tell the differences??
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.....first time la tengok pokok olive tu....mcm tu ke rupanya....best la Fatin dapat bergambar dgn pokok olive 
, tapi 3 anak dara ko memang ada la perbezaannya...at least pada nama 
