AL HAMBRA AND GENERALIFE GARDENS
An architectural highlight in Spain is Alhambra with its astonishing arrangement of courtyards with cool fountains and refreshing pools; through the landscaped gardens of the Generalife to the summer palace of the Muslim rulers of Granada, particularly enjoyable for it's cool green, terraced water gardens.

Toledo is set on a hill above the plains of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain. It’s known for the medieval Arab, Jewish and Christian monuments in its walled old city, and as the former home of the artist El Greco. The Moorish Bisagra Gate and the Sol Gate, in Mudéjar style, open into the old quarter, where the Plaza de Zocodover is a lively central meeting place.

Montserrat is a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat about one hour North West from Barcelona. Not only is Montserrat Monastery of significant religious importance but the natural beauty surrounding the monastery is simply breathtaking. You can take a ride to the top of the mountain and from there you can choose a number of different walks, all with amazing views of the Catalonian countryside. 

Getting there was part of the experience. We took a ferry ride from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier and then a train to Fes El Bali (Fez).  Apart from electricity Fez seems to belong to another century and has been Morocco's intellectual, cultural, and religious center for 1,200 years.  It's 9,500 streets and 180 miles of alleys filled with every kind of shop, market, and restaurant are centered around a walled medina.  It is a delirious assault on sights, sounds, and smells with dye pits, tanneries, butcher shops, tiled fountains, palaces, mosques, spice markets, and persistent rug merchants.  It’s fantastically overwhelming.