Day 2 was all about the reason we were in Granada, La Alhambra. We’d heard and read so many great things about this ancient. It’s name means Red and refers to the color of the rock forming the fortress walls. Much more can be read at wikipedia on Alhambra and Granada. Because of the proximity of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) to Africa, Southern Spain was under control of the moors (muslims) for centuries, see this map and more info on this page under the ‘moors of Iberia’ section and this must-read on the Reconquista, from which I found this great explanation:
The Reconquista was largely completed in 1238, when the sole remaining Muslim state on Iberia, the Emirate of Granada, became a vassal state of the Christian Crown of Castile. This arrangement lasted for 250 years until the Castilians launched the Granada War of 1492, which finally expelled all Muslim authority from Spain. The last Muslim ruler of Granada, Muhammad XII, better known as King Boabdil, surrendered his kingdom to Isabella I of Castile, who with her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon were known as the Catholic Monarchs (los Reyes Católicos).
The 4 great Northern Christian Kingdoms of Spain formed an alliance and eventually pushed the muslims off the peninsula. BTW, much like there is the British Gibraltar at the southern tip of Spain, there is a Spanish city at the North Eastern tip of Africa!! The city of Granada was left alone for many years and indeed was in a sort of alliance with Castile allowing them a direct trade partner with African gold. See the maps on the right of this wiki page. When Portugal found a more direct trade route by sailing around the southern tip of African, muslim Granada became unnecessary. The muslim king years earlier had also attempted to expand his territory only a decade earlier by attacking Castile, and had been defeated and captured. In fact, he seemed to be allowed to keep Granada by becoming subserviant to Castile. But in 1492 Granada was signed over to the Christians after Aragon and Castile lay seige to the city. That year may ring a bell to some of us Americans. That’s right, it was the year Christopher Columbus discovered America. Coincidence… NO! Columbus was the 2nd priority of King Ferdinand II (of Aragon) and Queen Elizabith I (of Castile). The first being getting control of Granada again, making all of the Iberian peninsula once again Christian. As soon as AlHambra was signed over to the King and Queen, Columbus’ voyage to discover a Western trade route to the Orient was approved. In fact, the papers were signed at the Alhambra! Which is why there is a pomegranate (Granada means pomegranate and likenesses of the pomegranate are all over town) prominently featured on Columbus’ tomb that we saw in Seville. Alrighty then… That seems to tie our little historical tour of Spain up quite neatly.
The other thing we learned at nearly each of the cities we visited in Spain, was that Napolean played a big part. Usually in destroying something! He occupied the palace in Madrid and melted down silver to support his efforts. He melted much of the silver adornments of an altar at the major church in Seville! He destroyed ALL of the housing complexes of the 2000 people that used to live within the walls of Alhambra. And he destroyed the Monastery at Montserrat (coming in a future blog)! ‘That darn Napolean’ is a phrase we have repeated many times on our trip.
Back to day 2 in Granada… Our day started with a quick breakfast buffet at our hotel (the best buffet we had at any of our hotels by far!), and then we waited out front for our tour transportation to arrive. It was quite late and we feared we may miss our tour group. We were even more surprised to realize when a man walked up and found us. Turns out we were staying only 1.5 blocks from Alhambra and he simply walked us over. Our tour guide, Antonio spoke Spanish, French, German and English!! Today his group was both German and English. I made a point of listening to his German as well and was surprised how easily I understood nearly all of it. Of course, I had the advantage of hearing nearly exactly the same thing in English first. We’d introduced ourselves to the other Americans, Bob and his wife Trisha. He’s a professor studying change on the barrier islands outside of North Carolina. So esteemed by his college that he teaches only one of the semesters and researches the other semester. We also warned them of our children and hoped they wouldn’t be too much distraction for them, rather they seemed to enjoy them, especially Trisha.
The walking tour was a 2.5 hour tour and kept a pretty good pace. I realized later that they needed to keep a tight schedule as some of the group came from a tour bus and had a strict departure time. We, on the other hand, often felt rushed at points where we would’ve liked to have lingered and I thought to myself, maybe the audio-guide would’ve been better! Still we learned a lot and it seemed to help keep our older kids more engaged. Theo and Maeve, however, were often in their own little play world. Not exactly sure what they took in other than maybe some of the sights. Kate had found a kids book of the Alhambra the night before when we went out for food (turns out this book was at nearly every tourist shop, and tightly price controlled too. 8.50 euro) that she’d read to them. It mentioned a hand and a key over the gate, where legend tells that at the return of the sultan (king) the hand would seize the key and the all of the Alhambra would disappear. Here’s Theo and Janie searching for said key and hand.
We learned that the porcelain art work was not carved, but actually pressed. That pictures of human form in their temples was forbidden by their religion, that their writing runs from right to left, that whenever you see the letter W it refers to Allah, the Nasrid Dynasty was fond of the idealogy, noone conquers but God. And this phrase is repeated throughout La Alhambra.
That King Charles the V so appreciated Alhambra, that he made a home there. But was called away on other duties, and only 2 of the 3 floors was completed and the roof over the courtyard was also never finished. That a large city wall used to encompass all of Granada. That the gypsies (to whom flamenco is credited) lived mostly outside the city walls in caves that today host nightly flamenco shows. (the old city wall can clearly be seen in this photo taken from Alhambra snaking up the hill in the background)
That Bill Clinton spent a summer/semester in Granada, spending much of his time in the area of the city at the left of the above photograph. Zeke was especially surprised by this. I think because he assumed a president must have always been a hard worker. I explained that there’s great value in getting breadth of knowledge, including knowledge of other cultures.
We also learned that the ceilings are often the most ornate part of the building.
That for the moors water was cherished (no surprise they come from an even more arid climate than Spain!) and it was impressive to afford pools of water that would not evaporate and were replenished continually from water coming down from the Sierre Nevada mountains. That Washington Irving, having written Tales from the Alhambra, is a modern day superstar in Granada!! That our little guys can walk a LONG WAYS and can even enjoy eachother in harmony (but for much shorter durations)
After leaving Alhambra proper and bidding adieu to our new American friends (or so we thought) we headed toward town. The mountain water ran everywhere including outside Alhambra and made for pleasant background noise as we walked (when Maeve wasn’t sing-songing).
We even dunked our hats and heads into it to cool down in the summer heat, although most of the walk was well protected with shaded trees. As we entered the city proper we stumbled upon this modern day entry to the fortress portion of Alhambra where the kids fulfilled their search for the key and the hand.
Due to overheated/exhausted kids, we didn’t enter the fortress (and unfortunately, never did later) but headed downhill into town. We found some food and did some souvenir shopping. Kate left back with the kids as I continued my quest for a few gifts, only to purchase a gift in a shop that I had previously already unknowingly visited until the shop lady implied I had returned. Returned?? returned from where?? Needless to say it was easy to get lost in the maze of shops, many of them looking very similar offering exactly the same products. You found yourself quickly assessing a shop’s worthiness by whether they displayed anything unique, i.e. not yet previously seen. Nope… next shop. This was certainly the most unique thing I found in any of the shops, a stuffed bull (though it was not for sale)
I returned wondering if I should stop at a store for supper food. I guessed wrong. Kate and the kids decided to eat at the restaurant buffet (Theo and Maeve were free and the other 2 half price). I wasn’t that hungry and Kate allowed me to go for a run. I decided to see if I could conquer the hills in front of the hotel and behind the Alhambra. I ran up that way and got lucky. What appeared to be signs identifying the hill as parkland and bicycle tracks as if it were for biking. I was able to find a manageable path up the hill and was rewarded with a breathtaking view.
Sections of the old city wall still stood at points.
I enjoyed the park so much that it seemed like an absolute must on any visit to Granada. I was surprised it wasn’t even mentioned in any of our guidebooks. After watching the sunset from the hill, I started my jog back down. On the way down I shortcutted through the Alhambra parking lot and bumped into 2 guys attempting to push start their dead car. I was happy to lend a hand. Turns out one was a Spanish man who was lending a hand, the other had a wife and child in the car and was responsible for leaving the lights on. We were unsuccessful at push starting it. I felt obliged to stay and help as they had a child and I knew how my children would’ve been feeling in this situation. She spoke very good English and good Spanish too, and was able to ask at the guardhouse for jumper cables (pincers). They didn’t have them, but one of the guards called a personal friend who delivered them and drove his car over to give a jump, which just added to my great impression of the Spanish people!!
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