A friend came by with 8 rolls of prints from his trip to Spain. Although I was itching to do an entire Virtual Stroll article from them ;-) I did manage to charm him out of these three to share with yous. I originally chose the 1st one to post on our Garden Art topic and the other 2 because of the recent acanthus discussion on the Rose Board topic, but then decided to just put all of them together here for a quickie virtual stroll. The balcony is a residence above a shop. The other two are in the gardens of an historic site.

Now there's a happy acanthus in the hot sun! Imagine how much cooler it would be to sit on the stone seats with a breeze channeling thru the alcove.

The public gardens in his pics were mostly in formal classical design, such as this parterred fountain garden ringed with rose standards. I thought the acanthus blooms made a good stately focal point in the background.

I am wondering what the object set in above the arch is, perhaps an ornamental dovecote??

I enjoyed the photos. The arch and garden photos are great. The bad part of this is I'm fighting a losing battle with travel-bug, and now these photos have fed that pesky and expensive bug even more.

I love the Spanish style architecture. I will try to borrow some of Mercedes pics of her mother's courtyard with the brightly colored flowers hanging down the walls and growing in pots all over.

That would be wonderful Caro! I would love to see them here, broadening our mini virtual tour of Spain and to further fuel our travel lust :-)

I also asked about the castle inset too Terry, when I first saw the pic. It is a ceramic tile ornament. Exquisite handmade tilework was everywhere - so colorful, so beautiful. Wish I had been able to share more of the landscape and Moorish architecture pics here. There was so much beauty and craftsmanship in every scene; village, town and county.

Well, Maggie, to get the photos from Mercedes calls for yet another "road trip." Give me a couple of weeks. I'm still recovering from all the driving yesterday.

Caro, where and who is Mercedes and why doesn't she join in our forum? I've always wanted a Mediterranean-style house. There's one in the Mira Vista division that I've drooled over for years. Has a courtyard, loggio and stately pool with lovely tiles. As soon as I win the lotto, I'm on the doorstep.

How about snail mail, Caro????

Won't work. I know exactly which photos I want, and couldn't describe to her which they are, because she has lots of them.

Mercedes is one of my best friends; she is from Spain; now lives in the DFW area. Gail, she was with me at the plant swap. No, she is not online.

Requires road trip.

Oh, oh, oh! I remember her. Sorry, old age. Does she have a Spanish garden at home?

Have you told her that even if she's not on-line, we're talking about her anyway?