Don't judge my spelling or grammar. Spain Day 4

We woke up on the train in time to eat our pastries we purchased the day before for breakfast and brush our teeth. Once off the train in Granada Danny and I attempted to find the bus stop. This turned into quite the scene. Tired, anxious (we arrived at 10 am and our time for touring the Alhambra was 12 and we know how good we are at finding our way around when we first get to a city...see previous Spain Day 0), and probably smelly, we soon entered into a very heated debate as to where the bus stop was located. We asked a couple of people (most seemed to be drunk...quite odd for the time of day) and no one seemed to know. We walked downhill, we crossed streets, we tried following other people, we screamed at each other, and even tried to go our separate ways. Finally I saw a red mini bus that said "Alhambra" on the side of it and ran to get on (a feeling of pride that I found the bus and Danny did not...a bit mean I know but he was a jerk). I got on and finally Danny did too. We rode the bus up and up and up to the Alhambra where I was praying they would have lockers for our packs since we didn't have time to check into the hotel and the train station didn't have lockers like Rick Steve's had said. They did have lockers thank goodness as we were in for a long day of walking in the sun. We got our audio guides and walked to the entrance of the Generalife gardens.

History: If you are like me and didn't know that the Moors (North African Muslims) ruled Spain for 700 years...well they did. Granada was their grandest city and the amazing Alhambra fortress was the last strong hold of the Moorish kingdom in Spain. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella (the Catholic Monarchs) defeated Sultan Boadbdil and marched their troops through the fortress gates. It was in the Palacios Nazaries (insides the Alhambra) that Christopher Columbus is said to have received the "go for it" from Queen Isabel for his expedition to the new world. After years and years and years the Alhambra was forgotten and fell into disrepair. Gypsies eventually moved into the Alhambra. In 1829 Washington Irving moved into the Alhambra to live with gypsies and write their tales. His book Tales of the Alhambra sparked public interest and restoration began.

First impression, “This place rocks."

View of Granada from the Alhambra

Generalife Garden

Sultan’s summer palace in Generalife Gardens

Second impression…”Aladdin’s Palace in real life.”

Summer Palace gardens

(The tree trunk in the very left of the picture is ORGINIAL. It is said that a certain sultan used to speak lovey dovey to his concubines under this tree. Or something like that.)

Danny on the top balcony at the Summer Palace

After visiting the Generalife Gardens and summer Palace we still had a few minutes before our schedule tour of the Palacios Nazaries so we walked around Charles V’s Palace (there wasn’t much to see) and the town area inside the walled fortress.

Fortress/ town gate

(I think it’s pretty awesome.)

Finally our time came to tour the Palacios Nazaries which is THE JEWEL of the Alhambra…the Moorish Royal Palace. The moors didn’t believe in decorating with pictures of things (consider it ideal worship) so the whole inside is hand carved with verses from the Quran.

Can you see all the carvings on the wall? Amazing!

It’s rumored the wooden screens on the windows were to allow the women of the house to look out but not be seen.

Granada in background

The “Throne Room” for lack of a better term

It is here that Christopher Columbus made his pitch to Isabel and Ferdinand.

Looking out to the courtyard from the Throne Room

Courtyard of Lions

Courtyard of Lions (without the Lions)

This courtyard is supposed have an amazing fountain of lions that spurt out water to tell the time but it is being restored…bummer.

The pool and pool house

Moorish Quarter of Granada from the Alhambra

After the palace we went to the old Alcazar, aka fortress. By now it’s really hot and there is no shade and I’m ready to go. We got our packs and contemplated taking the Alhambra mini bus back to the main square and trying to find our hotel from there (horrible memories of never-ending walking in Barcelona filled my head), but we decided to pay the extra 2 euros for a taxi to drop us at the door. Best money ever spent. This set a new precedent for the trip. We arrived at the Hotel Monte Carlo and to our dismay there is no AC again, but at least it’s clean. We cleaned up and headed to the Cathedral. The Royal Chapel is where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried.

Cathedral from the Alhambra

Me and the cool painting

(This painting shows Boabdil giving the key of Granada to the conquering King Ferdinand. Legend (and this painting) claim Boabdil wanted to fall to his knees, but the Spanish king, who had a great respect for his Moorish foe, embraced him instead.)

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures in the Royal Chapel. Very sad as the Chapel was a highlight of our trip. Usually I don’t care much for Cathedrals but this one was worth the $$$. The treasury contained all things Isabel and Ferdinand including, their clothes, bible, hymn book, sword, and crowns. Also on display were two Spanish flags flown at the Alhambra the day the Catholic Monarchs marched through the gates of the Alhambra and the gold cross Cardinal Mendoza carried through the gates of the Alhambra on the same historic day. The rooms also containeds the first great art collection ever established by a woman, Queen Isabel. The remains of her art collection were on display and included works by Botticelli, Perugino, and Hans Memling - quite impressive. Unfortunately, none of the items in the treasury were labeled but lucky for us we had Rick Steves’ whose self-guided tour we read aloud for our own benefit and what later developed into quite a following of fellow English speaking tourists. I think I have a future as a tour guide (more proof to come in later posts).

We also visited the Chapel where Ferdinand, Isabel, their daughter Juana (the Mad), Juana’s husband Philip (the Fair), and Juana’s brother Michael are buried. Philip was so “Fair” that it drove Juana “Mad” when he died young. For two years Juana kept his casket at her bedside, kissing his embalmed body goodnight. She was later locked up for being crazy. Poor girl.

Once again Rick Steves’ came in handy. On the train we read Rick’s warning about Gypsies (yes they are real) and their scheme with the sprig. Their plan…to hurry and give you a sprig (free) and then a “gypsy blessing” (not free), and then refuse to take coins (because they are bad luck) and of course the smallest bill in euros is a 5. Nice try! On our way out of the Cathedral there were Gypsies everywhere, but lucky for us I have a very firm “NO” which they seemed pretty annoyed with but they left us alone.

Next we decided to take the Alhambra mini bus up thru the Albayzin (Moorish Quarter) to San Nicolas viewpoint which boasts a fabulous view of the Alhambra and a hippie colony.

San Nicolas viewpoint, Danny, and the Alhambra

President Clinton visited here in his youth and the view made such an impression on him that in 1997 on a trip to Spain he made the point of bring his family to Granada to see his favorite spot.

After San Nicolas view point we decided it was time to eat (lunch consisted of a coke zero at the Alhambra and a granola bar brought from home). We chose a café on Plaza Nueva were we had some decent food and encounter an interesting dilemma….”Are you supposed to tip in Spain?” We never really figured it out.

Rick Steves’ recommends eating at a Carmen (a typical Albayzin house with a garden and a memorable but expensive experience) but we decided we didn’t want to pay the money. I later regretted it. Do it.

After dinner we walked the narrow back streets looking for a silk market but all we ever found were normal stores and to my dismay…no Christmas ornaments (I collect Christmas ornaments from places I visit). We also walked around forever trying to find a grocery store to get Danny some large bottles of water. After passing about 20 missionaries and Danny refusing to ask them, we walked backed to the hotel and asked. We finally got some water for Danny and he was a happy camper.

We went to bed early because we had to get up super early to catch a train to Rhonda. I was a bit sad to leave Granada because it was so cool. I mean…it had real gypsies who lived in caves, hippies (who also lived in caves), and Aladdin’s Palace (the Alhambra). How could anything top that? (I now regret not taking pictures of the gypsies, hippies and caves. I do not regret my decision to nix Morocco from our itinerary. Granada was everything I thought Morocco would be but probably 1000 times cleaner.) Granada is magical.