Cool tiling? But wait, there's more...


Moorish tessellation

These tiles all over Alhambra are an example of tessellation, a repeating pattern of shapes that fit together without any gaps or overlap. We all take this for granted in our wallpaper and flooring, but there is actually a branch of mathematics that studies the rules of tessellation. A tessellation that has translational symmetry, meaning it repeats in two directions (up/down and left/right) make up something called a "wallpaper group", because it can be used to make wallpaper (duh).


More complex tessellations. What do you call a happy Islamic mason? Merry Tiler Moor.

What is fascinating is that mathematically, there are 17 different kinds of translational symmetry or wallpaper groups. They say that all 17 kinds can be found all over Alhambra. This is astounding for 14th century medieval Islamic art. M.C. Escher, the famous mathematics-inspired Dutch artist visited Alhambra in 1922 and was so captivated by these tiles that he made several copies in his sketchbooks. These Moorish tilings eventually influenced his style of art, leading to countless drawings of his own tessellations of which he is most famous for.

I did an art project on M.C. Escher back in high school and he was my favorite artist back then, so while the math is interesting, I really find it cool that Escher thought these tiles were cool. Because Escher is cool.


Beautiful day for a ride!

We left fairly late from Alhambra. The road from Granada to Cordoba is a nice twisty highway and the countryside is lined with thousands of olive trees planted in uniform rows on either side for as far as the eye can see. The late afternoon sun lends a little bit of warmth, but this is January and most of Canada is blanketed with a thick sheet of snow right now.

I don't complain one bit as I follow Neda's line through the sweeping turns on the smooth blacktop underneath us.


What a long day! The sun is disappearing in front of our eyes as we get closer to Cordoba


Arriving at the hotel moments before sunset

Not that I am counting, but it's now been ten days without rain with The Pula Girls. My thoughts turn towards kidnapping...

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com