Among the palms and sweet orange trees of the Parque de María Luisa, stretches the Plaza de España, a stunning complex built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. Star Wars fans might recognize this beauty, as it played a role in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones— neither of which I have seen. I was brought up with the original trilogy; with Han and Leia and Luke, Chewbacca, C3PO and little R2D2, and could never bring myself to see the newer movies. They don't remind me of my grandma.
I know that sounds odd, but my grandma is an avid fan of all things Sci-fi and fantastical, and when I visited her as a little girl, we would watch Star Wars and her beloved Star Trek while Grandpap grumbled something profane under his breath and disappeared into his shed, a cloud of pipe smoke trailing behind him. She loved Star Trek so much, that the various spaceships of the series dangled from branches of her Christmas tree each year. She even attended conventions in costume— something I was deeply proud of, as most of my friends' grannies merely baked and knitted (though Grandma did that too).
Anyhow, I've digressed.
(These fish are for you, Mom)
In places the architecture, woodwork, and colourful tiles feel very Middle-Eastern. The particular style of the plaza building is called Neo-Mudéjar, which is a revival of the older Mudéjar style; a wonderful collision of East and West as Muslim and Christian aesthetics came together in 12th century southern Spain.
Gorgeous, isn't it?
3 comments:
What a great grandmother!
She certainly is.
I'm lucky!
What a visual feast!
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