Granada & the Alhambra

16/2/12 A Day at The Alhambra

cozy sleep in, coldest am yet, frost all round, Jeff out for a run+10BX. Jen too chicken in cold. Onto Bus 4 to the centre of Granada.

Alighted at a beautiful intersection of about 5 cobbled streets, lots of pedestrian going about their business, oodles of scooters buzzing by, set off down 1 of those 5 streets towards the Catedral, lots of plush shoes shops, an Apple Store, funnyfood vendors, bought a bag of dried cumquats - what! 

Neared the Catedral and the tourist vendors thickened, selling T shirts and all sorts of Granada nicknacks including flamenco dresses for little girls, lots of Alhambra pics books and boomerangs with Granada written in them. $euro to enter the Catedral.....the outside was nice enough.

Up towards The Alhambra, coffee and a soupy hot choc in a ritzy little cafe.Then met Bianca, young chick from Geelong who guides Segway tours thru Sacramonte and Albaycin.  She gave us a go - Kib’s a natural, might do it tomorrow (bit exy, 30euro each for 2 hours exploring).

Further up the hill through more tourist vendors and guitar shops and onto the garden path to the great fortress/palace/prison/garden/church/museum that this city is founded around.

Alhambra: 

 there is just so much to say about this museum castle - best to google it. We spent 6 hours here, imagining,learning,being awestruck,taking 250 photos whilst walking more than 10 kms effortlessly as if all under a spell - even Kel!

In a nutshell it tells stories of a military fortress as early as the 9th century & goes on to thoroughly overwhelm & beguile lovers of fine art & architecture with Islamic decorative perfection .We were lucky to see 2 excellent exhibitions - Owen Jones { an architect  in the 1800s who was totally mesmerised by the mathematical perfection of the designs and made models & drawings that were critical in restoring parts that were destroyed/bombed/left to decay} & M.C Escher{ a Dutchie artist  - famously drew the Crossing Worlds sketch -   who took most of the inspiration for his works from the Alhambra} atmospherically displayed within the grand Palacio Carlos V.

 LIke a wise grand entity, it soothes & calms with exquisitely designed innumerable pools,fountains & aqueducts and invites one to frequently draw breath in astonishment as it silently,proudly sprawls across La Sabika. All majestically framed by the heavily snowed peaks of the Sierra Nervada, the highest in Spain.

Dinner at a Moroccon restaurant to finish off a great day, then home in a cab blissfully allowing someone else to weave through the streets and deliver us home to Eddie.

FRIDAY 17/2

 woke to another blue sky, freezing day & initially reluctant exercise.

Kids put on & creatively hang out washing on Maria's roof top....

School work - maths & creative writing.

Off to meet Bianca, our Aussie Segway tour guide.

 Off on the Segways to explore the open-air, living museum of the old Muslim quarter , the Albaysin. 

White-washed villages, some dug in like caves,  cling precariously to the incredibly steep slopes across the Darro river valley from the Alhambra. We had possibly the most fun 2+ hours of our trip so far ( $120 todos!)

Reluctant farewells to Bianca & the Segways. Tapas with our beers before heading home. In Granada, tapas is served by law with any drink to "lid" one's alcohol.

Like Boadil the Moor as he left his beloved city to the Christians, I won't be the last departing traveller to shed a tear for Granada.

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