The Alhambra


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Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada
July 29th 2016
Published: June 4th 2017
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We get up early for our tour of the Alhambra. Spain really does seem to be in the wrong time zone. It‘s only barely light when we wake up at 7am, and it’s still been broad daylight at 10pm every night. We walk down to Plaza Nueva and look for building number 14, which is the meeting place for the tour. Not many of the buildings seem to have numbers on them, and we're not sure what numbering system is used for squares. I tell Issy that the usual system used in streets of having odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other side might be a bit problematic for squares, because what would they do about the numbers on the other two sides. She gives me the look. We spot an equally lost-looking English couple standing in front of number 13 waiting for the same tour, and a bus eventually arrives and takes us up the hill to the Alhambra's entrance.

The English couple introduce themselves as Roy and Debbie and they come from a village near Birmingham. Roy says that he really wants to come to Australia particularly to see the Great Barrier Reef. He asks us what else they should see if they come to Australia and we both look at him blankly. I think we're both thinking the same thing. There are no historic monuments to see in Australia and all our natural beauty is spread out all over the country. We tell him that Sydney harbour is nice, but I don't think that we're being particularly good ambassadors for Australian tourism. He asks us how long it would take to drive from Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef. Most people from Europe seem to struggle to comprehend how big our homeland is; I think he's hoping we'll say a couple of hours rather than the several days that it would actually take.

We meet our guide, whose name name is Maria. She tells us that construction of a fortress on the site was started in the mid 12th century by the ruling emir, and there was very little on the site before that other than some very minor fortifications. It was turned into a royal palace in the mid 13th century, and successive Muslim rulers then constructed their own palaces on the site if they were able to. There were seven palaces in all at one time, but only two remain. The name Alhambra means "red hill" in Arabic, which is a reference to the colour of the soil on the hill. Apparently there was very little vegetation on the hill before they built the Alhambra, because there was very little water. It's certainly very different now; the whole palace is surrounded by a thick forest of very tall trees. Maria tells us that the first thing they built on the site was a six kilometre long aqueduct from a river upstream, to carry water into the site. This is still in operation. It supplies the water to the many pools and fountains, and any excess flows back into the river downstream of Granada. When Granada was surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs at the end of the Reconquista in 1492, it became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella. They ordered that the mosque be destroyed and replaced by a church. Maria says that this happened whenever a town was recaptured, and the Mezquita Cathedral in Cordoba is the only place where any part of a mosque was retained.

The first building on the tour is the Palace of Charles V, which was built well after the Moorish period. It's apparently very notable for being square on the outside, but having a very large and impressive circular central courtyard. We move through to the two stunning Moorish palaces, with their vast array of characteristic Moorish arches, Arabic inscriptions on the walls and ceilings, and courtyards adorned with pools and fountains. Issy sees a garden courtyard that she really likes, and tells me that she wants me to build a copy of it at home. She says she particularly likes the fountain. I'm suddenly feeling very tired.

One young American man in our group is very proud of himself. He has managed to jump up and grab an orange from one of the many orange trees around the site. He waves it triumphantly to his friends. He then peels it and takes a bite. Maria asks him how it tastes. He has a mouth full of orange so he can't respond. Maria tells him that it's inedible. He stops chewing and turns pale. Maria says that she wanted to see him try to eat it just so that she she could see the look on his face. The rest of the group thinks that this is very funny. The American spits out the bits of orange in his mouth and now looks very embarrassed.

We climb one of the palace's many towers, from where we get great views over Granada and the Sierra Nevada. We then move through to Generalife, which is a massive garden next to the palace, and is otherwise known as the Garden of the Architect. It was designed to reflect the Muslim idea of paradise, and is built around yet another palace which was used by the Muslim rulers as a summer retreat.

The tour ends and we walk back through Generalife. Issy says that she wants me to reproduce the whole garden back at home. I tell her that I think that it might be just a bit too big to fit in our backyard, so she says that she'll settle for a miniature version instead. I'm suddenly feeling very tired again.

We're now both very tired. We walk back down the hill into Granada along a wide path through the shady forest. We have lunch. We now have to walk back up the hill to the B&B. Issy says that I'll need to carry her. I tell her that I have a long walking tour planned for us this afternoon. She says that she might be able to manage this provided it only involves walking from the bed to the pool. We have our now customary siesta.

We head back up to Mirador of San Nicolas again to watch the sunset. The same band is playing as was there last night, only this time there's a flamenco dancer strutting her stuff as well. It's party central again, and there's a large crowd watching the show. I see the young lady who yelled at me last night for trying to take a picture of her puppy. The puppy isn't here tonight. She's trying to sell some trinkets and I spend some time admiring them. She speaks to me very nicely, and I think she's hoping I'll buy something. I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember me from last night. I suspect the puppy was only there last night to attract potential buyers, and that she would have been more than happy to let me take its picture provided I bought something. I prefer this potential explanation to the alternative that it's contrary to the rules of Spanish etiquette to take pictures of cute unattended animals.

We manage to find a table at a restaurant just below the top of the hill. Issy is still wearing her sunglasses and it's after 9 o'clock. The view from here over the Alhambra as dusk settles is stunning. The whole scene is idyllic; the temperature is perfect and there's hardly a breath of wind. Also there are no mosquitoes. We wonder why there don't seem to be any mosquitoes in Spain. Issy says she thinks that they don't like the smell of one of the plants. If so I think that we need to find out which one and take some of it home with us. Issy says that this probably ranks up there with Cinque Terre as the best place we've been to on either of our European trips. We agree that it probably doesn't get much better than this. We do however start to feel slightly melancholy. It's Troy's birthday, and we weren't home for his birthday last year either. We miss our offspring a lot. We decide that we'll ring Troy just before we go to bed, and put up with the fact that it will be early on a Saturday morning and he'll probably curse us for waking him up.

Issy asks me how my head is feeling after I bumped it going up the Mezquita Cathedral bell tower. She says that it's very pink and I now look like Mikael Gorbachev.

I've had more than one cerveza. This is one Spanish word that I have learnt very well; it means beer. I hear the waiter say "hola". I think that he's talking to us so I say "hola" back. I then realise that he's actually talking to the people on the next table. He hears me. He says "everyone hola" and goes into a mini dance. I think it‘s probably time we went to bed.


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