[L4L] Cordoba, how you've fallen

Bismillah,

Salam to all,

today our journey began early in the morning in order to buy a bus ticket to Medina Azzahra.

but sadly, they ticket were already sold out for today.

Instead, we went to the Mezquita-Cathedral,

Oh by the way,

Cordoba.

It was the center for the Umayyad Caliphate once.

but now, it sad to see how it transformed.

If in Istanbul, you'll see a cathedral changed into a mosque,

but in spain, you'll see a mosque, once a huge influential mosque (Mosque of Cordoba) changed into a cathedral.

"famous arches of Cordoba Mosque"

Admission is free between 8-10 a.m.

Then,

we went to the Callahora tower.

There we learned the history of Cordoba, the Mosque and little more about alhambra.

What's its like under the ruling of caliphate.

"not much left, only ruins"

Then, we took a taxi to Madina Al-Zahra,

There we see the lost city of caliphate Abdul Rahman 3.

It's still under excavation.

If you want to know more,

come here =).

We make ourself busy in the evening by walking around the city,

buyings souvenir and so.

Have a little Tortilla de Patata for lunch+dineer.

Until night,

we went back to our hostel to take our bags,

and began preparing for our bus back to Madrid.

Peace!

[L4L] Granada Day's off

Today, we're still in Granada.

Supposedly, today is our day again visiting Zara boutique, but we already went there twice.

The first was in Madrid and the second was yesterday.

So here we are in our cheap hostel (but it really worth a lot more Euro)

named Las Arrayanes, try it.

Ok here's a tip.

*The hostels which are not listed in the famous website and did not accept credit card usually are much more cheaper*

But the disadvantages are they maybe can't speak English, but it's a great opportunity to learn their language.

So today most of our time wasted on souvenir shopping session,

though we didn't buy anything much,

exploring some more Granada's street,

went around the nueva plaza,

have some kebap,

and Arif found another smooy shop.=.=

In the evening,

we took a bus to the Bus Station to catch our bus to Cordoba.

Oh yeah before that,

Arif and me got to taste Curros y Chocolate,

it resembles a cakoi (back in Malaysia) dip with hot chocolate.

anyway,

Cordoba here we come!

edit-safely arrived in cordoba,

check in, and updating blog,

Tomorrow we'll explore Cordoba!

[L4L] Uncle Ibrahim ; "the lost Islamic Empire"

30 Jan 2012

Not 30 actually,

we arrived at Granada bus station at around 9pm,

took number 33 bus straight to Puerta Real.

From there we tried to find a good hostel and finally found one named hostel las arrayanes.
This was the cheapest hostel I ever encounter.

So in the morning, we plan to go to Al hambra early in the morning after dawn.

but it seems that everyone was so tired of walking at Malaga, we woke up late.

Nevermind that, we took our step to Alhambra at 9am.

For the Second time we went far astray from destination.
the first time was at Malaga.

We had to ask a locals to know the true direction.

"lost"

Al-hambra.

If you want to know about this place just google it.

Basically it's like a muslim fortress with Palace inside it.
And there, lies a beautiful garden named Generalife (Maybe it's not that beautiful in winter but I bet it's awesome in spring)

And here we met lots and lots of group from Malaysia including our very own Black Boyzz.

After Al Hambra,

We went to Al-Bayzin.

It was said to be full of Muslim (according to Arif of course) but it doesn't seems like that.

Actually it wasn't that hard to go around the Al-Bayzin.

but we, have a backpackers' Spirit, we took the road not taken,

and get ourselves in trouble finding the direction around.

We wanted to search for the Mosque which located there.

Then after asking the direction (again) from the locals, we found it.

And also, besides it, there's a panoramic view of Alhambra from the Al-Bayzin.

It was quite a view.

We went for Solat Dhuhr and Asr there.

After Asar, we met Uncle Ibrahim, somehow I remembered Uncle Ismael(click!) from Istanbul.

He began asking lots of questions to us and so does we.

According to him, they've been asking permission to build a mosque there for a long time, till 23 years before they get a permission to build the mosque.

It was name Mezquita de Mayor.

He also invited us to take a lunch at a nearest halal restaurant there.

We stayed there until Maghrib to see the beautiful sunset view.

Oh yes, again, there, we met the Black Boyz group and a senior from Tanta.

After that we said goodbye to our pal and began going to the City Centrido.

We search for souvenirs and not to be surprise,

again we went inside a Zara boutique.

So that's it for today journey.

Buenos Noches!

[L4L] Malaga's Yogurt

29 Jan 2012.

We arrived from Madrid at Estacion de Autobusses of Malaga around 6.00 a.m.

We had our Subuh prayer at the bus station.

Luckily, there's a locker room service at the bus station so we wouldn't be carrying a huge burden at our back for the whole day as we won't be staying a night there.

We started exploring the Malaga town to its Centre located around 2km from the bus station by walking.

As we were too early exploring, all the monumentals tourist attraction haven'y been opened yet.

So we took a rest at a plaza nearby the Casa Natal de Picasso.

This town is famous for Picasso as there's a museo de Picasso and the Casa Natal de Picasso,

and according to Arif, there's a place where Picasso write "Picasso was here" but we seemed to fail searching for it.

There's a lot of Cathedral there, so we visit almost all of them.

At around 9, we went to the Al Cazaba. It was kind of a fortress connected to Castillo de Gibralfarro.

The fortress was formed during the Muslim Conqueror dynasty.

But now, the only Islamic evidence there was only the architecture and a vase with the name of Allah

One the way down,

we met our friend, a group from Jordan leads by Abu (well assuming he is the leader).

They travel by a car.wow.

"with Jordanians"

Then from there, we take a walk down (AlCazaba was on a hill) to the Plaza de Tauros, where..( i dont know how to explain the event where a bull and a man with a red fabric in a colosseum-like stadium).

And oh yeah did I mention Malaga is located at a seashore?

So we took a walk around the beach,(cuci mata)

have a little picnic.

Snap a little picture with some cruise ship and so.

Also,

Arif insisted to taste a world-class most delicious yogurt in the world located in Malaga.

So we follow him and bought some.

Yes,it was delicious.(nak sedapkan hati arep)

"smooy.for yogurt lover"

Then we went straight to the bus station to catch our bus to Granada at 7pm.

Adios!

[L4L] Estadio y Mezquita

Our first amigos in madrid

28 Jan 2012 memoirs.

Hola!

Today we have a lot of place to visit.

We went out as early as the sunrise (sunrise is at 9.30am here)

1st stop, Park del Retiro.

Basically it was just a park with a lake in the middle.

There, we visit palacio de crystal or Crystal Palace.

Yes it's a palace of crystal (mirror)

Then, we went around all the famous monuments here in madrid as the museo del prado, Palacio de cibeles( well kind of),and a big gate which i dont remember the name was.

Then,

the most exciting part of the trip.

To Estadio Santiago Bernabeu!

We went there,

bought a ticket and make a tour.

Well this is the first time any of us get inside one of the famous football club home stadium.

So it was kind of exciting!

Well a trip into a foreign country where Islam is not the majority would not be completed without visiting its mosque.

So we had a gamble.

to search for the unseen mosque.
We had only one clue,

it's located in estrachon.

and thats it.

So we went there from santiago Bernebeu,

and keep on walking until we almost lost of hope,

But in the middle of darkness, comes a hope glimmering itself as we saw a kebap shop,
Not long from it, we saw many women with scarf.
So we know, IT'S NEAR.

So went to the kebap shop,

ask a direction

and voila!

here we are in the central mosque of madrid.

we met a spain-borne muslim,

and we amazed to see how fluent his arabic was.

It was like if your a muslim in spain,

you DEFINITELY can speak in arabic.

So we stayed there until maghrib and solat jumaah with them.

Then we went to the kebap shop for a chicken doner.

ahh this really reminds me of turkiye.

Then we went straight to Opera train station,

have a little walk around madrid,

went to see the Palacio Real and a huge Catedhral there,

and start preparing ourself to go to the bus station for our next journey in Malaga.

prepared half at Estacion de Autobusses de Atoche, and another half at Granada.

[L4L] Rainy Madrid.

"interesting.."

Salam,

and greetings from the Spanish land,

Our flight from Egypt boards at 0945,

takes about 5hour to reach Madrid, Spain.

at around 1300 we arrived at Madrid Barajas Airport.

Our first task is to get into a Metro (Train),

and get to Sol Station.

Its not that hard to find the metro station,
but it get quite exhausting as we have to switch train for about three times to get there.

"We're in Madrid bros!"

Next,

Our guide, Faris, recommend us to stay at Angel-something hostel,

but unfortunately,

it was full and we had no reservation,

So we start to wandering around Madrid on a rainy weather (yes, rainy) while searching for a good hostel.

And..we found one with much cheaper price, alhamdulillah.

Then,

we went to the Autobusses Estacion to buy tickets for our trip to Malaga.

As night fall,

we went to Gran Via,

They say there's a lot of shopping complex,

buttttt, we just walking around on a cold night of Europe.

It was pretty good actually,

the weather is just nice.

We search for a halal food restaurant,

On the internet, they say a halal food restaurant exist nearby named el-califa.

So we went inside,

and,....

just say we dont know how they say it was a halal restaurant.

=.=

We also manage to visit a square named Plaza Mayer.

Not sure what's there.

It's only a square.

Then,

Arif enthusiasm brings us finally to Zara's boutique.

And everyone went shopping like crazy as there's jacket, jeans and many more with half price deductive.

"Zara"

At around 10.30 pm,

we went back to our Hostel.

Make a fine sandwich of tuna and egg.

Buenos Noches!

Gotta wake up early tomorrow!