GUEST SPEAKER- Manuel Perez
Some of the pictures described the City of Granada and its famous 14th Century Alhambra, an ancient palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs occupying a hilly terrace on the south-eastern border of the city of Granada. It was the residence of the Muslim kings of Granada and their court, but is currently a museum exhibiting exquisite Islamic Architecture. In Madrid, they have the second largest soccer stadium in the world. Barcellona featured a grand Basilica and many high rise apartments designed by Gaudi, a famous Spanish architect. In Valencia, we saw an acquarium, a huge bull ring and the Palace of Music.
We also saw where Manuel lives with his father in Alicante. His house is across the street from the Mediterranean beach. Pretty nice. The remainder of his presentation focused on an ancient city, Elche, The Old City. It was established during the 5th Century, BC, destroyed and rebuilt several times by many conqueors. It now features one of the largest footwear industries in the world. It is also famous for an annual Mystery Play whose theme is the coronation of the Virgin. Several acres of palm dates still remain from the ancient times. They have discovered fossil dates indicating that the groves have been there for centuries. Many of the groves are now public parks. An ancient bust, Dama de Elche, was discovered by Manuel's great great grand father and the stone bust exhibits the mark of his pick on the back side of the bust.
Thank you, Manuel for a well done presentation. It was well planned, organized and executed; and, very interesting.