English and the World

Spain and Portugal57 lessons

The story of the Reconquista, told backwards. It begins in Granada, where the Reconquista ended in 1492: its history, the Alhambra, the Albaicín, Sacromonte, the Cathedral and Royal Chapel, Jewish Granada, Lorca’s city, the Alpujarras and Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra. Then Almería, surrendered in 1489, with its Alcazaba, the Copper Age town of Los Millares, the westerns of Tabernas and the volcanic coast of Cabo de Gata. Then Málaga, taken in 1487, with its history, the Baños del Carmen, its two historic cemeteries, the Alcazaba, La Concepción, Picasso and the Atarazanas market, and its province, from the Caminito del Rey and Ronda to the dolmens of Antequera, the Cave of Nerja and Frigiliana. Gibraltar, taken in 1462 and British since 1704, has a lesson of its own. Cádiz, taken in 1262, begins with Phoenician Gadir and Roman Gades, the port of the Indies, Trafalgar, the Constitution of 1812 and its carnival, then moves on to Jerez, Sanlúcar and Doñana, and to Huelva, with Palos, where Columbus set sail, and the red river of Río Tinto, then crosses into Portugal for the Algarve, with Silves, Faro, Lagos and Sagres; Seville, taken in 1248, comes next, with its history, the Cathedral and the Giralda, the Alcázar, the Archive of the Indies, Triana, the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the Plaza de España, its operas, Holy Week and the April Fair, and the Roman city of Itálica. Then Jaén, the frontier province: Jaén itself and the pact of 1246, Renaissance Úbeda, Cazorla and the sea of olives, Baeza and Antonio Machado, and the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa that opened the road south. Then Córdoba, the city of the caliphs, beginning with its history from Roman Corduba to the conquest of 1236, the Mosque-Cathedral, Medina Azahara, and the Jewish quarter and Maimonides, with more to come. From there the chapter travels through every region of Spain and Portugal, following the dates of the Reconquista as a general direction, with the islands and Ceuta and Melilla included, from Lisbon to Coimbra and Porto, to finish in Asturias, where the story began in 722.