Last year we went to Barcelona and visited the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s amazing, unfinished cathedral. The organ was beautiful but it was difficult to get a picture of, until I realised the Reflection — this weeks PhotoFriday theme — of the stained glass window worked pretty well. (Don’t tell anyone, but my wife zoomed in closer and got a better image that I did.)

I went to the north of Spain twice in the early nineties and visited Barcelona for a day each time. I only remember bits and pieces — walking down the Ramblas and how weird the Gaudi cathedral was — and can’t find any pictures from either trip, so it made sense to make it the first city break of 2013 and the first time we’ve done something like this since the birth of Junior¹

It’s been a while since I entered a PhotoFriday challenge, but when I saw that this weeks was theme “Texture” I immediately thought of this picture. It was taken in Spain in 2009 and has been the desktop picture on my Mac pretty much since then!

Having spent a little time in Jordan, Egypt and Moorish Spain, the word “Geometric,” this weeks PhotoFriday theme, says “Islamic architecture.” The above picture was taken in the Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Grandeur.” I’m entry number 118.

When I think of “Nightlife,” this weeks PhotoFriday theme, I think of music and dancing. I have quite a few images of live music but perhaps the best I have that emphasises the “life” in “nightlife” is the above shot from our holiday in Canillas de Albaida, Spain.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Cleanliness.” I’m entry number 158.

How do you define the “Best of 2009“? That’s this weeks PhotoFriday theme so that’s what I had to work with. It’s hard enough when you have a specific theme but something so broad makes it tricky. Best could mean personal favourite. Or most talked about. Most favourited on Flickr? Most views? Highest rated? (By some measure.)

In the end I went for the above shot, taken in Spain, because it ticks a number of boxes. It’s a bit different from the kind of thing I normally end up with; a few people commented on it; the simplicity makes it one of my favourites; and, finally, I’ve not used it for PhotoFriday yet this year!

The obvious part of this weeks PhotoFriday theme, “…Is In The Details,” is details. It calls for something close-up, imperfections and all. But there’s a missing part, typically “the devil,” so I thought it was appropriate that the above picture is a close-up of some tiles on a church in Spain. Hopefully that means that no dæmons are present.

Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Dawn.” I’m entry number 74.

Okay, I tell a lie. It’s not a larch. This is a shot I took on my recent trip to the Parque Natural Sierras De Tejeda. I didn’t think this fitted in with any of the individual blogs I did but I really like this image and wanted to show it off a little!

I spent a week walking around the Sierra Tejeda Natural Park, staying in Canillas de Albaida which is about an hours drive from Malaga in the south of Spain.

Over the following few posts I’ll be talking about and showing pictures of the tiny, white-washed villages, the diverse and beautiful mountains and, as a contrast, the buildings and culture in Granada.

• Canillas de Albaida — the town that I stayed in
• Walking in Andalucía — what I went to Spain to do
• Granada — what I did on my “rest” day

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