Granada

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Granada (Spain)

From touristic point of view, the city of Granada is synonymous with the palace-fortress-garden complex of Alhambra – the zenith of the Moorish architecture.

Alhambra is no doubt one of the most beautiful palaces, but the setting of it even more beautiful. It is built in the foothills of Sierra Nevada Mountains of Spain (NOT USA) and so the background of the snow-capped mountains adds a special charm to the complex. Moreover, the lush green countryside surrounding the complex is a natural garden in which nestles the incomparable man-made garden of Generalife. The buildings, courtyards, walled gardens and water-fountains of Alhambra in these surroundings take the cake.

I used to pronounce ‘Generalife’ as “General Life” which confused Avi no end. In fact when I told him that we were going to Granada for Alhambra and “General life”, he insisted that we do not need to buy ‘General Life’ cover because we had already bought our travel insurance. In his mind, ‘General Life’ could only be an Insurance policy.

When we told him that ‘General Life’ was a garden, he was speechless to begin with, but later said that it was a misnomer for a garden.

Perhaps, not quite such a misnomer after all!

I mean, if the Abencerraje prince, who romanced the favorite wife/concubine Soraia of the Moorish king, in the Generalife garden; had taken a ‘General Life’ policy beforehand, his womenfolk and children would have been immensely rich. Because, when the Moorish king discovered the love-affair, he massacred the whole lot of Abencerraje men in revenge.

Apparently, the Abencerraje prince had never heard of ‘Insure and Be Secure’.

The Alhambra complex has become so popular that in order to preserve its heritage, only a limited number of tickets are sold per day for visiting the Nasrid Palace, during the tourist season. These tickets are generally booked well in advance on the Internet or by agents. Moreover, even after booking, you are given a specific time to present yourself at the gate to the Nasrid Palace and you lose the chance to get in if you are not there.

As we were traveling with a baby, we could not adhere to a fixed schedule and so did not book the tour through the Net/agent and all the tickets to the Nasrid Palace were already sold even though we reached quite early.

So, we could visit everything else other than the Nasrid Palace complex.

However, this could not dampen our spirits because the Spring was in the air and the atmosphere was redolent with the scents and colors of the greenery. The flowers were in full bloom and everywhere there was a faint smell, somewhat like raw asafoetida but smoother, which most probably was myrtle.

We visited the Baths with their star-shaped skylights, Al Kazaba, which is a strong fortification at the western end and Charles’s Palace.

The Charles’s Palace is a huge square monstrosity built in the midst of enchanted land of Alhambra, looking like an ogre sitting amongst the fairies.

Even the stones of the outer walls awe us by their thickness and weight. Inside is a round, paved courtyard open to the sky without a single speck of green in sight.

I mean a Moorish courtyard would have at least a fountain and a few flowering shrubs or an orange tree or two.

Actually Charles’s Palace is more like functional, military barracks rather than a palace, totally in contrast to the delicate Moorish elegance.

Had we known that the same elements of Moorish pleasure palaces – walled gardens, cool pools reflecting the filigree arches supported by slender columns, water-fountains, courtyards with Orange-trees, walls of green shrubs cut into uniform archway shapes – all these have been used in the gardens of ‘Generalife’; we would not have spent so much time in Al Kazaba and Charles’s palace.

I have not seen Butchart Garden or the Garden of Giverny, but I have seen Keukenhoff Gardens, the Peterhof garden and the Japanese gardens as well as Mughal gardens.

While Peterhof is more famous for its fountains and Keukenhoff for miles and miles of Tulips, Generalife is famous for its beautiful setting, imaginative landscaping, its profusion of flowers and plants, its water-channels and reflecting pools as well as the airy, well-lighted Moorish buildings in the midst. With their open corridors and trellised windows, they blend in the general scheme of things rather than stand out.

Generalife is a water-garden, a rock garden as well as a flower-garden.

In one of the courtyards of Generalife, a photo-shoot was going on and I have included the photos of the model.

In my mind, Generalife ranks as one of the most beautiful gardens ever designed. (Or did it just happen?)

While going to Granada from Malaga we had taken the coastal road but while coming back we took the scenic hill-road recommended by our land-lady.

The scenic route which winds through mountains along the river-valleys, hugging the cliffs, backwaters of dams, traversing the bridges built over the rivers and which offers glimpses of sea-coast in-between, was an icing on the cake of this beautiful day.

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