L'Alhambra

July 9, 2013

Shortly after Jerry had celebrated with other members of our group at Hemingway's, we were whisked away to the train station to begin the next leg of our trip--to Granada to see L'Alhambra.  We had a layover in Madrid, where we were able to buy some books in Spanish for Carson and to grab a quick bite of mushy artichoke pizza and a salad.

The train station In Madrid is spectacular with a whole little jungle inside it. 

Lacking time, we took the salad with us, and Jerry accidentally dumped a little of it out when he set the bag down on the bag security check.  We stood at the suitcase and ate it, happy to have a few veggies in our stomachs.

The trip from Madrid to Granada was beautiful, with miles upon miles of olive orchards and views of some beautiful mountains.  Parts of Spain reminded me of Kansas, with sweeping planes and wind turbines and rows of growing corn.  Some mountains reminded me of New Mexico and Mexico, and I thought No wonder the Spanish settled Mexico.  It seemed like home!  Some parts reminded me of Oklahoma, the huge fields of freshly baled hay, the cities far apart, with large areas devoted to farming. The villages are small and ancient.  You see no suburbs.  In the cities, everywhere tall apartment buildings, both old and modern, fill the view, and every apartment has a balcony, many with awnings to protect them from the scorching sun.  Outside the cities, the train reaches speeds of 150 kilometers.

The Spanish seem to be ecologically conscious.  We saw hundreds of wind turbines and numerous solar panel "farms."  In our hotels, we had to insert our room key before we could turn on the lights.  

We enjoyed a sandwich and beer in the food car (I wouldn't call it a dining car since there were no tables), enjoying the sights flashing by the big windows as we ate.

We arrived at a gorgeous hotel to meet the best hotel clerk of all time, Javi, who helped us arrange for tickets to L'Alhambra the night before when I'd discovered I had booked for the wrong date and saved us again the next day when I had to confess I'd lost my credit card at L'Alhambra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

The Alhambra^] is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was originally constructed as a fortress in 889 and later converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.^[1]

The Alhambra's Islamic palaces were built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain and its court of the Nasrid dynasty. After the Reconquista by the Reyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was rediscovered in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well known Arab-Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The Alhambra is aUNESCO World Heritage Site, and the inspiration for many songs and stories.^[2]

In literature it is most famous today for

• Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra. This is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories. Irving lived in the palace while writing the book and was instrumental in reintroducing the site to Western audiences.
• Philippa Gregory's The Constant Princess, depicting Catalina the Infanta of Spain as she lived in the Alhambra after her parents took Granada.

What can I say about l'Alhambra?  I had always dreamed of going there, having studied about it in college in my literature and Humanities classes.  For Jerry, it was too much.  Too much to see, too much to process, too much to remember, too huge, too much walking, too much beauty to be able to  appreciate the millions of examples of art in front of us everywhere we turned:  the designs in the rock paths, the woodwork, the water paths, the gardens, the flowers, the hedges, the doors, the tiles, the stained glass, the arches, the views.  Even the smells were delightful--rosemary, thyme, petunias, roses, chrysanthemums, trickling water.  Everywhere you stepped, whether it was a grand scene or a tiny room, you had to look at your feet, in front of you, behind you, on each side of you, above your head, or you would miss some masterpiece of beauty.  If you opened a book of pictures and looked at each one separately, the beauty, the balance, the intricacies of each design, whether one inch big or as big as the sky, are almost incomprehensible.  To see it all in seven hours is overwhelming.  As with almost all museums, this is one you need days, weeks, years to enjoy before you can put the experience in perspective.  

Before our appointed time to queue up for entrance into the Palace, we had Lite Cokes and a couple of delicious sandwiches in the Hotel America.  One was tuna on a hard bun; the other was vegetables--cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, corn, shredded carrots with Picka Peppa sauce (Mr. Rickerts' favorite) instead of mayonnaise or mustard.  Spanish music played in the background.  The room didn't have a ceiling but instead a canopy of some kind of vine.  Spanish music played in the background.  Because we had to spend 25 euros to use our credit card, we ordered two cups of Sangria.  Inside the clear cup was one cube of ice, diced apples, and an orange slice.  The waiter brought us spoons to enjoy the goodies at the bottom of our empty cup.

Fortunately, we were able to do the main things we wanted to do in Granada: visit the Alhambra and see the sunset over Granada.  Unfortunately, that's all we got to do.