Cordoba's main tourist attraction is the Mezquita (spanish for mosque). A Church, which was once a Mosque (which was actually originally a Church.)

What makes it interesting is that it is still part mosque while being a church. There are rows and rows of rose-coloured columns topped with stripped yellow and red arches. There is a mihrab decorated with glittering mosaics. The mosque is a leftover from a time when a Muslim Emir controlled southern Spain.


Well at least the architecture is part mosque. Smack bang in the middle of the Mezquita is a Roman Catholic cathedral nave decorated in the baroque style. In 1236, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella recaptured Cordoba from the Muslims. At this time they simply re-consecrated the mosque as a church (abracadabra!). Later on, when they thought about tearing the mosque down and building a proper church there was a bit of an uproar. Some families in the town had their chapels inside the current mosque and did not want them destroyed. So in the 14th century, the king had a new church built, right in the middle of the mosque. It's rather at odds with the rest of the building.


Reputedly, when Carlos V saw what he had authorised he said "You have destroyed something that was unique in the world." And yet, without the church in the middle of it, the Mezquita might not exist today. Its conversion to a church probably saved it from the Spanish Inquisition. So, although incongruous, we are thankful for the chapel. Thankful that it's there and therefore we're still able to visit at least part of this beautiful building.


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Our visit to La Mezquita was part of Tapas Travels: The Wilsons + Daleys do Spain. Mum, Dad, Andrew and I did a 3-week road trip around Spain with a few days tacked on in Portugal at the end of the journey. Other entries from this trip include: La Sagrada Familia and The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone.

Each year, London holds an Open House event. Seven hundred buildings around London are open to the public over one weekend in September and we're allowed a sneak peak behind usually locked doors.

This year, Andrew and I elected to visit The Paddock, Churchill's top-secret 1940s bunker in North West London. After our visit to The Pension, I was inspired to take a look at another top-secret bunker. As our tour of The Pension was in Latvian, I was looking forward to maybe finally being able to piece together some of the puzzle that was The Pension.


However, there are some major differences between The Paddock and The Pension.

Firstly, the Paddock is a World War II bunker. It was designed to survive a direct hit in a bombing raid. (Our guide mentioned that the bunker would not be a safe haven against today's bunker busting bombs.) Because a WWII raid only lasted for a few hours the bunker also doesn't have any sleeping or kitchen facilities like a nuclear bunker. It didn't even have a toilet! (I guess you just had to cross your legs and hold on.)


Secondly, the Paddock is in a derelict state. At the end of 1944, the Paddock was no longer required. After the war, the bunker was used by the Post Office Research facility in the building above as a meeting place for a social club, and in 1976 it was abandoned. When it was reopened in 1997, the lower floor was flooded and in some rooms, dry rot fungus was growing two-feet deep from the walls and ceilings. Although, no longer a flooded dry rot jungle, the bunker is still in a dilapidated state. Today, a visit to the Paddock requires a hard hat, a pair of wellies and a very good imagination.

The Paddock was designed to be a back up bunker if the cabinet rooms at Whitehall were destroyed. In truth, only two cabinet meetings were held at the bunker, only one of those was attended by Churchill. The first meeting was held to test the bunker's facilities and the second to impress the Prime Minister of some backwater country (Sir Robert Menzies). Churchill pleaded a cold for the second meeting and did not attend. The theory is he was chucking a sickie, as he was not a fan of the The Paddock.


Can't say I'm a fan either. It was interesting from an urban decay perspective but I would have loved to see the bunker in a working condition.

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"The search for animals that fall outside of taxonomic records due to a lack of empirical evidence, but for which anecdotal evidence exists in the form of myths, legends, or undocumented sightings."

The Loch Ness Monster is surely one of the world's most famous cryptozoids. No trip to the highlands of Scotland would be complete without a visit to Loch Ness for a bit of Nessie spotting. We drove the length of the loch but didn't spot the monster.


In Drumnadrochit, we visited the Loch Ness Exhibition. The museum explores the legend of the Loch Ness Monster and the research that has been conducted to find Nessie. I was actually surprised at the time and money that has been spent looking for Nessie. First, they posted lookouts on the shores for a year or so. Next they formed a flotilla of boats dragging sonar equipment to plumb the depths. After that they submerged a vessel in the loch for a bit. It recorded the goings on in the loch (fish getting it on probably). After all this, they still have no conclusive evidence that Nessie exists.

The lack of evidence, points to a lack of Nessie. Apparently the population of fish in the Loch (even with all the getting it on) is not enough to support a creature the size of the supposed monster.

The exhibition also examines the photos that have captured Nessie and explains what they might be. A deer swimming in the lake, a blurry bird, the wake of a boat. The most famous photo of the Loch Ness Monster is a proven hoax. The exhibition is pretty non-judgemental towards the wackos that have "seen" the Loch Ness Monster. It concludes with a phrase about the wonderful powers of imagination (sure, sure! We know they are wackos).



I'm not sure it was worth the £6 entrance fee but I found it extremely interesting. A recommended pit stop if you too have a curiosity for the strange and mysterious.

Our visit to the The Loch Ness Exhibition was part of our "Emergency: Jess needs to renew her visa" trip to Scotland on the August Bank Holiday weekend 2008. Other entries from this trip include: Real men wear skirts and Now here are the results. Yep. And we're going to....

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On Day 2, we headed to a nearby river and caught a ride on a traditional Slovakian raft. The raft was a group of hollowed out logs that had been tied together. When Vili talked about rafting I thought he was talking about white water rafting. However, this was definitely not a fast paced ride, as it took 2 hours to complete a journey of a few kilometres. Kinda funny... but very relaxing.





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On Day 1, we caught a cable car up into the Tatras and went for a hike. The mountain was submerged in the clouds, so though it was a sunny 25 degree day down on the ground, it was only a chilly 7 degrees on top of the mountain.

The others went for a hike to the top of the mountain. Andrew and I joined them for part of the hike and then stopped to have lunch on a rock (after a little panic attack from yours truly. Heights and Jess do not mix).


On the way back down, a group of FOOgs decided to try a different method to get to the bottom. There were Go-Karts (not motorised) for hire and they decided to give it a whirl. All of the boys fell off and Rupert hurt himself quite badly when he decided to use his hand as a brake (a hand brake... geddit!). He removed several layers of skin off his palm and there was lots of blood. The next day he decided that boiling water would be a good way of cleaning the wound. So he had burns on top of the scrape. It blistered and leaked pus and was generally pretty gross. For the rest of the week he wore a turquoise rubber glove on his wounded hand to protect it while we were doing strenuous activities. He looked like a strange Michael Jackson (as if it's even possible to look stranger Michael Jackson!)