Alec Fisken

A Different Perspective: The Traveler's Guide to Medieval (Islamic) Spain and Portugal Alec Fisken

A Different Perspective is written for travelers to Spain and Portugal who find history part of the pleasure of the trip. In cities where the cathedral is more often than not built on top of a mosque, which may itself have been built on top of a Visigoth church, this book is written to help the traveler spot remnants of those earlier structures and other monuments from the centuries when the Iberian Peninsula was ruled by powerful Islamic empires.

The book includes a brief history of those centuries when Arabic was the lingua franca in most of the Peninsula and Cordoba was one of the largest cities in the world. It outlines the empires that ruled this part of the world, from Damascus, Cordoba and Marrakesh, and notes the walls, towers, and design elements that remain from their rule.