San Pedro & Mesias

[Twenty20 28]

Great update ! I love this kind of cities, it's a very good work !

[panthersimcity4 162]

Hi guys. In a (lame) attempt to exterminate the pageflip bug, I decided to show some real life pics I took when I went to Portugal and Spain a year ago. I only showed a few though, because I'm lazy lol

We went to Barcelona, Madrid, Segovia, Salamanca, Fatima, Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra, Sevilla, Torremolinos, Granada, and Toledo all in two weeks. It was a blast

I'll bet you might recognize these buildings if you look on the STEX (search JEC or Madrid )

Beautiful Barcelona:

and my favorite city in all of Europe (aside from my mom's hometown Lublin)...

Lisbon

and Toledo...

I love this picture to death

(please tell me if they load a long time, they were kinda big, but thanks to Simtropolis I was able to make 'em smaller)

Darn. Now I wanna go back I took pictures of Mexico, but since I lost my digital camera's memory card I had to use my mom's camera, which is the cheap crappy kind that uses film 

[Callbat 8]

Thank you for the images panther, they remind me of my time in Spain, you certainly have a keen eye when it comes to photography the second picture of the Plaza de Sol and the last picture of medieaval Toledo are exceptional

[dabadon5 295]

Amazing !

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Sweetness! Wish I had gone there!

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

Oh, this is really beautiful.  I think I have seen your work before and was always impressed with it.  So colorful and I love the Mediterranean buildings.  Oh, inspired by Asturias?  Jaja, that is great   My favorite is the mosaic (8/03)  with the boat.  Great job!

Edit: Oh, page-flip bug!  I love your RL pics.  I want to go to Spain really badly!  The architecture is gorgeous.  I am sitting here trying to read the signs lol.  Barcelona!  My favorite city of Spain, I don't know why. 

[panthersimcity4 162]

connorc24: Thanks!

feliwi: Croatia is beautiful, did you happen to go to Dubrovnik? I love that city.

jacquilina: Thanks as always Jacky!

Twenty20: I'm glad you like it, thanks.

Callbat: Well I'm not that good... I have a ton other pictures I may show later on.

dabadon5: Thanks

Schulmanator: It's beautiful in Spain and Portugal, but during our visit to Toledo there was hail

BlondeTwiggy: Thanks! Long time no see!

Well, this update is about the town of Andalus, just southeast of Alvares and northeast of Balboa. First for a fun history lesson :

Years after San Pedro had been (partially) captured by the Moors of North Africa, a large campaign started, the Reconquista, where Christian forces from the north planned to expell the Moors to the southern island of Campano. Their campaign was successful, and the Moors then settled in Guadalquivir for 100 years. Later on, as the Moors had been completely removed from Iberia and Europe, the Northern Kingdom invaded Campano and expelled the Moors.

Andalus is still has a hint of moorish architecture, most of which is mudejar (built for European use by Moorish craftsmen)

The city is centered around the Bizquena river, which today is much more dry than before. There are a couple of old palaces built in mudejar style, which were built for wealthy towns people and aristocracy. The Cathedral of San Bernardino is the focal point of the town, it was built on top of a mosque, and the bottom half of the belltower is the remnant of the minaret.

Above the city is the Alcazar Real de Andalus, which was a fortress built by the Moors and was later converted to a summer palace for the royal family in Carife.

Despite it's small size, Andalus is a very important town culturally and economically (thanks to tourism ) and the town swells largely during the summer with tourists from Northern Europe, United States, and Asia.

And as an extra, I (attempted) to make an old 12th/13th century map of San Pedro, although it's a bit too accurate

[panthersimcity4 162]

*pageflip*

[storms991 0]

very cool, looks gorgeous.

[jacqulina 162]

excellent work beautifull pics my friend,i like how you incorperated the castle walls,i think maybe the AD walls would have gone with your colour scheme though,maybe not though they might be darker.fantastic close up shots.

[petriknl 15]

Aamazing.. love the historic realism of your towns.

[GMT 389]

whoa, nice map. hand drawn?

[nihonkaranws 88]

That is an amazing ancient map for great work my friend! Where have you got the other Italian building besides the FF ones?

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Awesome update! Town, map both rock.

Buen tabajo!

[Goin2Chicago 4]

i was looking through all your pages and this is a really great cj! i like the style and the little descriptions under each picture, nothing too in depth just short and sweet.

[Simtastico 0]

wow! I haven't seen this cj around before, wonder what I've been doing, darn.. this stuff is super! Very genuine european and I like how the buildings are tight and close to each other, just the way it should be! Will read through the rest of your cj to catch up, looking forward to see more soon!

[TheSixCents 0]

My Favorite part has to be the creek running through town! It look's so good.

The Alcazar Real de Andalus is superb.

Did you lot it yourself?

I also really like your use of stair's in this CJ.

Good Job.

[panthersimcity4 162]

storms991: Thanks!

jacquilina: Thanks for the advice, It probably would have been better since the AD walls have diagonals (and EAxis was too cheap to make diagonals for their castle walls )

petriknl: Thank you, I love having my cities soaked with history.

GMT: Partially, the background was copied from another old map and I drew the mountains and the outline of the islands and then photoshopped the colors and fading and etc. Thanks for the compliments

nihonkaramnws: Well, they're really from assorted BATters, some of them are by Debussyman (the more latin-ish Spanish buildings usually are his) and of course Mickebear, the king of Mediteranean BATs, made the cathedral and several of the other italianesque houses.

Schulmanator: Gracias senor!

Goin2Chicago: Thank you!

Simtastico: Thanks, yes I love old compact cities with small alleys and cozy streets.

TheSixCents: Yup, I lotted it. And the creek is based on the (Granada?) River in Granada.

Okay, I redesigned Balboa. But personally I didn't like the tall cliffs, too Peruvian. I initially wanted Balboa to be like Bilbao (See the connection with the names?) so I decided to make it northern, but designed like the coastal city of Gijon in Asturias.

Below is a general map of the city:

The old town is the center of the city, and unlike most cities in San Pedro has a low amount of tourists, since they all prefer the nearby beaches. The main icons of the old town are the Castillo Real, a military fortress that was built atop a conquered Moorish fort, and the Iglesia de los Santos.

Now for a mosaic:

Balboa is a unique mezcla of different architectural styles, everything from medieval and 18th centruy old buildings to post-modern offices and shopping centers.

The Circulo de Balboa is where Avenida Vasco, Avenida Vieja, and Paseo de Playa meet. The Paseo de Playa is a long avenue stretching along the beach, with many hotels and retail outlets.

[Sky Guy 163]

Wow, that is great! I would love to live there! I love the arena and all the modern among the old! The city looks like it is a great location judging by the map too

[CarmineHilton 6]

Fascinating CJ... You keep on getting better and better every update! Totally LOVE it =)

btw, I have seen that building with 'Mercedes' on it SO many times, but where can I get it??? Thx!

[Schulmanator 5,812]

Sweet! A cool mix of buildings there. And, a variety of beach towels -- no one has the market cornered like they do in mine. That cool brown and glass building right above the harbor is distinctive.

[TheSixCents 0]

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

Ohh Very nice!  I adore the beautiful colors! Oh and the way you mix the French buildings with all the other diverse W2W.  They fit so well. 

[nihonkaranws 88]

This is one of best CJ's I seen in so long! I love the beaches, and it is one of CJ's that you think is real until remind yourself: "Wait, this is SimCity 4." Great work!

[penguin007 27]

Wow awesome cj. I love your idea of the stream using the plopable water. Also I love the style of buildings some I havnt seen before. Cant wait for more

Will

[roboo1 1]

Great idea with making the stream! And I like it how you placed those small markets through the whole city

[edmonton_stinks 5]

That's a shame about the Plaza del Toros. It's a very beautiful building; perhaps it could be converted to something else.

[bokrif 18]

Superb updates!

[GreekMan 246]

looking very nice

[Callbat 8]

Bullfighting, outlawed?

blasphemy!

The mosaic looks very nice panther! Is that a corte ingles I se in there? my my you have BATting talent, you should release these

The beach shot reminds me of an authentic "costa del sol" beach resort town!

very nice work