We have reached the dark days in the northern hemisphere and I find my mood darkened by the news from the Middle East and the truths revealed about our own country by the political campaign.

Today Julianne and I fulfilled a longstanding desire - visiting Altamira and seeing representations of just about the earliest examples of art made in Europe.

Santiago de Compostella has captured my imagination since we visited Arles, France a few years ago.

This morning we drove from Granada to Cordoba, our next destination in this trip. But it's less than three hours if you go direct, so why go direct?

We have been in Granada a week and we are sad to leave.

It turns out to be one of the delightful surprises of wandering around: rarely open but open as we passed by.

An amazing place, the Alhambra, a riot of decoration and visual astonishment. Designed to impress, the product of centuries of artisans beavering away in royal workshops.

This is a cork oak, harvested for (you guessed it) corks.

Cadiz pushed all our Spain buttons: great food and wine, charming street scenes and gracious squares, modern port facilities, and history from Phoenician times. We loved it.

Bird migration at the Strait of Gibraltar. It is one of the remarkable natural phenomena in the world. It is something I have wanted to witness for so many years.

Hey, this is serious stuff!

Tarragona has been our home for nearly 2 weeks.

Barcelona divides easily into 3 aspects over the two days we were there. Maybe such a division is obvious specifically because we had such a short time.