wake to an even more bustling life than before. Offices and stores open again to serve their customers until 7 or 8 o'clock at night. The sidewalk cafés and restaurants become busier than ever. Every chair is taken, and the conversation goes on at such a fast rate that unless you understood Spanish very well, you could be lost in the rushing sound of it.

Spain has other proud cities besides Madrid. Two, whose history goes way back to the days of the Moors, are Granada and Toledo.

Granada is the city in Andalusia which the Moors loved most and held longest. They fought hard to keep it, and when they finally surrendered it to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492 they wept bitterly, for it seemed to them they had lost a Paradise. The great fortress-palace of the Moors in Granada is called the Alhambra, which means "red castle." About a hundred years ago an American author, Washington Irving, went to live in the Alhambra. He found the romantic castle very much as the Moors had left it, except for the dust which hadn't been removed in 400 years. He walked through the echoing corridors and into the moonlit courtyards with their silent fountains. He talked with dozens of old Spanish and gypsy storytellers to learn all he could about the Alhambra. He even claimed he could see the ghosts of the sultans who had once lived there. Then he wrote a book, Tales of the Alhambra, which we can still read and enjoy. Because of his book, the Alhambra was cleaned and restored to all its former beauty.

Today the carved white and golden stonework of this castle shines with the splendor of long ago. One of its most interesting courtyards is called the Court of the Lions. Twelve very old stone lions, each with a different expression on his face, stand in a circle in the center, supporting the curved bowl of a fountain on their backs. Out of each lion's mouth trickles a little stream of water, helping to cool the air. Everyone who visits the Alhambra loves these funny old lions and goes away with a picture of them.

The Moorish sultans entertained their guests and held big parties in courtyards like this one. But they lived with their families and servants in another part of the Alhambra, with gardens and a sparkling pool where the royal ladies bathed. Looking out through certain of the arching, carved windows, the sultans could see the snow-covered Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Sierra Nevada peaks have snow the year round, even in the hottest summers. When the Moors lived in the Alhambra, swift-running slaves would bring snow from the mountains to make sherbet for the sultans and their guests in hot weather.

From other windows in the Alhambra the sultans could see Sacro Monte—the Holy Mountain—where gypsies still live today in whitewashed caves. Many centuries ago the gypsies didn't have homes, but wandered throughout the world. When some of them came to Granada, they fell in love with the city and decided to stay. Now there are thousands of them living in Andalusia, many of them in Sacro Monte. Their cave-homes are really quite comfortable. Many have fine copper cooking pots hanging on the walls and beautiful works of art, and hangings of hand-woven fabrics. If you go to Granada, you can visit a gypsy cave and the gypsies will dance for you to a kind of music which is called "flamenco." Nobody knows where the flamenco came from, but some say it is as old as the Phoenicians, and some say—even older.

Toledo is another old, old city in Spain—at one time the capital. Toledo is built on a series of hills above a river, called Tagus, which winds around the base of the city like a natural moat around a fortress. Nearly four hundred years ago a Greek painter came to Toledo and stayed to become one of Spain's—and the world's—greatest artists. He was known as "El Greco," which means The Greek, and today most people have forgotten his real name.

Perhaps you have seen his famous painting of the city he loved, called "View of Toledo." If you have, you know what Toledo looks like today, for it has changed very little since El Greco painted it. You could take your crayons or paints to the same spot across the River Tagus where he stood with his canvas and easel, and you would see the same rapids in the river, the same arched gateways in the city walls, the same cathedral spire rising from a hill.

Then you could cross an old bridge, and go through a Moorish gateway into town. Walking along a cobblestone street, you might pass an old church which has iron chains hanging on its walls. These are the chains of Christian slaves captured by Moors, then freed by Christian armies.

At the top of one hill you would discover an old house with red tiled roof and a garden full of roses, geraniums, mimosa, Jasmine and oleanders. This is the house where El Greco lived, and you'd see his easel, his bedroom, his kitchen and furniture just as he left them. In a small museum next to the house you'd find paintings by El Greco, mostly pictures of saints and portraits of famous Spaniards of his time. One of his paintings is in a chapel in town and others are in other churches throughout Spain, and in the Prado Museum in Madrid, along with those of other great Spanish painters like Valesquez, Goya and Murillo.

The people of Toledo have a special art of their own—making fine jewelry called "Toledo ware." The Moors brought the knack from the ancient city of Damascus. Threads of gold and silver are woven into intricate patterns with fine steel. When the piece is put into a hot furnace, the steel part of the pattern turns black, then the gold and silver designs are polished until they shine. Originally the Moors made their big swords this way, but today Toledo ware is bracelets, earrings, cuff links and other small jewelry.

The people of Toledo also make glistening glazed tiles. Some of these show scenes from the lives of favorite Spanish heroes, real and imaginary. There are some Toledo tiles that will tell you about Don Quixote of La Mancha, a hero invented 350 years ago by Miguel Cervantes.

Cervantes wanted to tease his fellow countrymen about reading so many books with stories that could never happen in real life. So he wrote a book of his own about Don Quixote, a foolish old fellow who imagined he was a handsome knight. The poor Don rode all around the country on a rickety old horse dreaming he was rescuing beautiful ladies and fighting imaginary battles for his king. Once he even tried to fight a windmill, thinking it was a giant! Another time he thought a shepherd and his flock were an army!

Cervantes' fun-poking book is still read and laughed over by people throughout the whole world. Today, if you were to drive from Granada to Toledo or Madrid, you would pass through Don Quixote's country, La Mancha, and you would see windmills and the shepherds leading their sheep and goats, with all the countryside looking much as Cervantes described it through Don Quixote's eyes.

Wherever you stopped for the night, you would see a great walking-around, which begins at 7 o'clock. Every family comes out to join in this