Advertisement
Published: October 19th 2009
Edit Blog Post
I haven't seen any of the other wonders of the world so it was with great anticipation that I headed off with Gaynor to The Alhambra in Granada.
We started our day in the gardens of the Ayuntamiento de Granada ('Granada Town Hall'). Which apparently is only open when the council isn't in session so we were lucky to see it. Very early on we discovered quite a large group of peacocks. There were at least five males and eight females and they didn't seem phased by us at all. Wandering in the same area were a couple of gorgeous and quite friendly kittens (which also didn't seem to phase the peacocks. Then again if you're about 6 times the size of the kitten you've got nothing to be scared of really have you?).
What I liked about this garden was how you begin in the traditional area - with a lovely grotto and later a fountain surrounded by different statues - and move through to a modern garden - which had a really interesting Brick Maze Fountain Thing (see photo of the same name). In true Spanish style it wasn't built perfectly level and the water spilled liberally
Palacio de Generalife
One of the palaces of Alhambra. over the edge and created a bit of a marsh in the grass.
After being followed by a lonely looking but very hopeful white duck (we weren't even holding any food!) we headed out of the gardens and into the actual city of Granada.
Granada is at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains (call me crazy but every time I see that name I think of America). What I love about this city is the way its wide main roads are lined with beds of red flowers and it has the coolest geometric patterned glass lamps (which stupidly I never stopped to photograph). We didn't spend a LOT of time wandering around but I did manage to buy a Spanish phrasebook and a lovely little Egyptian style perfume bottle for te Spanish part of my glass collection. (Since there's a distincy Moorish influence in this area I figured it was still representative of Spain.) After a quick bite to eat we headed into the Gardens of The Alhambra.
Much of this garden is seperated by large, carefully maintained hedges with archways cut into them. Within each little area are different types of plants. Usually trees (for
example orange trees which seem to be popular in Spain) with various flowers multi planted around them. Even though it's autumn and some of the flowers were on the turn the colours were beautiful.
Within the gardens are a few small palaces (or courts) as well. I especially liked the courtyard in Palacio de Generalife. What I've liked best about all the gardens I've seen in Spain so far is their use of water features. The Court of Lions is very well known for its large fountain surrounded by stone lions. The only problem when we saw it was that the fountain was switched off and housed inside a glass cage thing and the lions had been removed.
After that wander and with about 45 minutes to kill we discovered a temporary exhibition all about Washington Irving´s stay in The Alhambra and his writing career. In particular there were some beautiful paintings of the area (and some sketches he'd done himself which were suprisingly good!) Then, at last, it was 7pm and we were scanned into the actual buildings of The Alhambra.
(Quite frankly a 7pm time slot is pushing it a bit because by 8pm it's
dark here in October. However, because we'd booked our tickets through an automated system at a bank we weren't given a choice.
Tip: We later discovered that if you book online you CAN choose your time. )
The Alhambra (translated it means ´red fortress´) is so special because of its Islamic architecture. It was once the palace and fortress of the Muslim rulers of Granada but the Spanish King Ferdinand and his Queen Isabella conquered it on January 2, 1492. So of course there's also some Christian influence in it now as well.
The most stunning thing about The Alhambra (for me anyway) is the two domed ceilings which have what I can only describe as man made stalactites. The amount of effort they put in to decorating something overhead amazes me. You definitely get the most out of such places by looking up. The arches with their detailed arabesques are also quite breathtaking. I thought I liked old fashioned laticework around the edges of verandas but that was nothing!
Unfortunately by the time we left it was quite dark and the last few areas were difficult to see. But it was worth coming to regardless
The Grotto
In the gardens of Ayuntamiento de Granada. and I definitely enjoyed it. The Moorish architecture and design is rapidly becoming one of my favourites.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0261s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
dragonlady
Kathy H
Fantastic ceilings
What marvellous buildings. I adore the incredibly intricate ceilings, especially the lovely woodwork ones. That was the kind of thing I had hoped to see in mosques in Egypt but we only saw one and it was nowhere near as elaborate. The gardens with their fountains are lovely, too. How many palaces are in the Alhambra? I didn't realise there was more than one. What a shame it got dark too soon.