Page 40 - Traveling 71 eng

ANDALUSIAN PATIO HOUSES
Andalusian
patio houses
transform
geometry
into refuge:
walls, arches,
and patios,
together
with plants
and water,
masterfully
organise light
and coolness
with ancestral
skilll
houses in the neighbourhoods of San
Basilio, Alcázar Viejo, or Santa Mari-
na—open their doors wide to share
with neighbours, travellers, and the
curious a unique celebration of colour,
fragrance, and collective memory. The
bustle of the street fades away behind
the walls, and crossing the entrance
hall, you enter a separate universe:
one of water and shade, lime, wrou-
ght iron, the murmur of fountains, and
flowerpots.
Some of these patios have more
than a hundred years of history, ca-
red for by families who have passed
the tradition down from generation
to generation; others have been
rescued from neglect and restored
by patient, careful hands. But all of
them share something in common:
an almost obsessive care for plants,
lime, ironwork, ceramics, water, and
flowerpots in every corner.
In them is summed up a way of life that
is not the past: it is an active present,
a form of neighbourhood social and
cultural life, a manifestation of Anda-
lusian hospitality that transcends fas-
hions and eras.
The patio as stage
and refuge
In traditional Andalusian houses, the
patio was much more than just an ar-
chitectural feature or an aesthetic re-
source. It was, and still is, a place for
sociability, for gathering, and for pro-
tection from the climate. There, people
cooked, washed, played, held vigils for
the dead, and celebrated family and
popular festivities. Neighbours shared
shade and secrets in the cool, children
ran between geraniums and pots, and
the freshness of the well or the basin
became the centre of summer conver-
sation, under the whisper of awnings
or grapevines.
Cortijo houses, with exterior and interior patios
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