Granada

The end of our trip, Tuesday and Wednesday nights of last week, was spent in Granada.
We arrived in Granada late Tuesday evening and just had time on our own for dinner and whatnot. Wednesday was mainly El Alhambra.

Alhambra 101 and/or Alhambra for Dummies:

It was a palace for the Sultan and Sultana.
Soldiers lived there too.
Alhambra means "red" in Arabic.
It is a redish color is from the red dirt in Granada. The end. There will be a quiz later.

View of Granada from the Alhambra. That's Melissa

Shot of the Alhambra. See the redness? And what did Alhambra mean?

Circular courtyard. Maybe the first circular courtyard in Spain...or something like that.

I know. I should've posted this right when I got back so I wouldn't forget this stuff. But honestly, this is about what I would have remembered if I'd posted it the day after we returned. Also, at this point in our trip, we had seen many things and heard many things. Ignacio, our director, had warned us that we may feel bored with this day since we had already seen so much. He advised us to still try to be amazed and interested. Sadly, he was a little right. Not that I'm taking any of these sites or experiences for granted and this day was wonderfully wonderful...but there is some truth to what he said. You get accustomed to seeing buildings, cathedrals, etc. . . and so the third largest Cathedral in the world just isn't as impressive as it would be if it were the FIRST Cathedral you'd seen in Spain. And really, nothing has overwhelmed me like that damn Eiffel Tower did. ohh that tower...Anyway, continue... circular courtyard.

Don't know what this sign was exactly about.... or what was exactly done for or given to Claude Debussy. But I took the picture just because I like him and maybe it was important...although not important enough for the guide to mention it so hmmm?

These inscriptions are written allllll over the Alhambra. Every room and wall had them. I believe they're prayers. The little curvy "w" that you see being repeated (twice in the picture below...I placed w's over them so you can tell which ones I'm talking about) is the symbol for God, or Allah. It is written in the Alhambra thousands and thousands of times. I think even within those little leaves around the inscriptions there are little "w´s."

.............................w......................................... w

If a wall doesn't hold inscriptions, then it is covered in beautiful ceramic tiles. This will be in my bathroom one day... an Alhambra inspired bathroom. I'd like to say it will be in my palace one day, but in the event I don't get a palace... bathroom will do. I mean, both have thrones.

These windows are the bedrooms of the 5 wives of the Sultan. They can see out, but you can not see them. That's against the rules to look at the ladies. Wall covered in those inscriptions p.s.

Back in the day, people who wanted to see the Sultan had to wait in that dark room back there.

Ok see those light reflections on the wall in the picture below? The ones up higher on the ceiling. They are from a little pool in the courtyard.


They are from this reflection pool

And this tile is right next to those reflections. It is the only tile in the Alhambra that has curves. Why do you think this is so?

Because it is trying to look like the light reflections. Neat right?
Well, it was neat enough for me to remember. Go back to the light picture and see.

Allah Allah Allah... find the Allah symbol.


Pretty


Same shot but artsy. Water drops frozen in time.



Lots of gardens in this thing
This photo looks like I'm a stranger who jumped in front of their group photo.




More artsy


Me enjoying the beautifulness of it all.

Tree of lovers... or The Love Tree... or something about Love, Lovers, and this Tree.

Point is: This is the meeting place of the Sultana and her lovers. I don't know if the love actually took place by this tree or on the tree ... or if they met then loved each other somewhere else. Either way, there is another room in the Alhambra called the Room of the Beheaded Kings. Guess what happened to the Sultana's lovers when the Sultan found out about them?

Leaving the Alhambra

View of Alhabmra from the bottom

Wed. night we took a walking tour of Granada.

Everything in Andalucía seems to have ceramic... even Coca Cola signs. So fancy.

Night time Alhambra... took about 33 tries to get this clear shot.


Melissa and I and Alhambra

And our last activity in Granada was a Flamenco show. I would like to say that I saw REAL Flamenco... and I certainly felt like I was seeing it as it happened, but I don't think people who know Flamenco would say that I saw REAL Flamenco. Yes, I saw dancing, singing, and costumes, but it was very staged. When we left, students who had seen Flamenco in Madrid and Ignacio our director said that our show was very touristy...that Flamenco is not supposed to be so rehearsed and acted out. It is supposed to be raw and more authentic. And it's true. This place was very touristy. We waited outside for about 20 minutes for the show before ours to end. The doors opened and a slew of Asian tourists poured out of this cave-like room. We were then herded through the doors and into the "cave," which had chairs lined up and down the narrow room. The musicians were at one end of the cave and more chairs for us were at the other end. The dance floor was the middle... see below.



But whatever, it was still entertaining and I certainly couldn't dance like that! The stomping was crazy to watch. I tried to capture some of it on video...but I don't know how great it will appear.

Ok so my first brush with fame was Star Wars and Natalie Portman's footsteps in Sevilla. Second brush with fame: Michelle Obama, who visited this Flamenco cave at some point after she became somebody. I guess her butt was really in this chair?

A picture of Coop with the picture of Michelle at the touristy flamenco place.

So now, since I have had this brush with Michelle AND I saw her speak in Tallahassee during the campaign... it's like we're real live friends.


Thursday was all day bus ride back to Valencia. The more I visit other places, the more I call Valencia home. And the more I can't wait to get back home...no matter how awesome the new place was. We stopped at this town for lunch called Alicante. It was on the beach and it had a fortress on a hill. Day trip!! Hopefully, I can come back and explore it more cause we only had an hour.

Lillie and I, heart glasses, and fortress.



Cheesy beach pictures


Had to see it in black and white too.

And now, back to "real life" aka the working world. But I had a three day weekend to enjoy and to rest before I had to get too real.