June 11-12, 2014
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| Alhambra in the Moonlight |
Granada ~ Alhambra Palaces and Gardens
We leave early for the airport giving us enough time to get
lost but find we have arrived at this tiny airport at 8 am ~ 2 hours early! Since John hates waiting he insists this gives
us time to tour Hondarriba, which is the enchanting town across from France
where we had dinner with Ignacia and Joaquin.
We drive into town and take an elevator up the bluff to a quaint village
where there is an old cathedral and an amazing Parador hotel. Naturally we sip
coffee on the Placa and enjoy the ambience, which is abundant. John leans in
and says he hates to have to remind me but we have a plane to catch and I
reluctantly leave.
After entering and re-entering the airport several times and
not finding the Budget car rental parking place we leave our car in the visitor
parking lot and rush to check in. I wonder
if there will be a required 40-minute check in time here, and if so we are in
trouble even though we do have our passports!
Thankfully we encounter no difficulties, although when we return the car
key to the Budget lady she tells us we have to move the car into the correct
place. John insists it is not marked accurately and I am reminded of him
arguing with the car navigational man. However, to my embarrassment this time
it is a sweet young Spanish girl who says she will show him the sign. A few
minutes later he returns and tells me she said she would do it by herself. Good
decision on her part I think.
Alhambra ~ Parador de Granada San Francisco
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| Historic Hotel ~ previously Moorish palace and then Monastery |
Although our flight to Granada stops in Madrid we still
manage to be at our hotel in Alhambra by 1 pm. Our historic hotel ~ Parador de Grenada San Francisco has 40
rooms and is a former Moorish palace that was later transformed in the 15th
century into a Franciscan monastery.
It is a beautiful hotel and from our
bedroom window we have a view of the Generalife
gardens and the Sierra Nevada Mountains with snow capped peaks in the
distance.
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| View from our room |
The Spanish Muslims ruled from
Alhambra until 1492 when the Catholics conquered them. This was the last Moorish stronghold in
Europe. It was once a city of 1000
people fortified by a rampart 1.5 miles long and having 30 towers. The Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabel asked
to be buried here but were later moved to the Granada cathedral. Alhambra
became a National Monument in1887. I have read in our tour guide that Alhambra
is one of Europe’s top sights and has 8000 visitors a day. I wonder what makes this place so special because we have seen amazing sites elsewhere. We stroll down the hill past gorgeous gardens
to get tickets for the nighttime tour of Palaios
Nazares. John tells me we have been in the royal palace before ~ he says it was the first
year we were married (1973). I have no recollection of this and this memory
loss bothers me ~ perhaps he is thinking of another girl. Or, perhaps I was so besotted with John that I didn’t remember any
thing else. Actually I do have a vivid memory
of sitting in a cave with John watching flamingo dances so I know I was once somewhere
in Spain.
Dinner & Palace by Moonlight
We have dinner at 9 pm in our Parador Hotel and John is
happy because he can order paella. I have risotto with mushrooms and our
starter is what has become one of our favorites ~ tomato salad with tuna and
plenty of olives. I did not know John
was an olive lover. We were told the
paella would take 30 minutes to make and John had phoned the restaurant ahead
of time to tell them he would be ordering it and wanted it ready because we had
a 10 pm ticket for the night tour of the palace.
We are served at 10 pm and just have time to eat some of these
very big servings and ask the waiter to bring the rest to our room to have when
we return. We dash to the palace entrance and make it by 10:25, 5 minutes
before the closing time for our entrance ticket. I wonder if we need a time management course because we always seem to be rushing.
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| Arabic Inscriptions |
Palacias Naizaries
is spectacular in the moonlight. We see
royal offices, ceremonial rooms, and private quarters built in the 14th
century in Mooorish (Islamic) style. It
has ornate stucco, colored ceramic tiles galore, scalloped windows, tile and carved
wooden ceilings, Arabic inscriptions on the walls everywhere and filigree windows.
The palace speaks of a refined and elegant Moorish civilization. And then we
see the open-air courtyards with amazing fountains and rectangular length pools.
Because there is a full moon the palace is mirrored in the garden pond. It is a
magical place and I begin to understand why it is draws so many people young and old.
June 12
As usual we have olives and a wonderful salad with tuna and talk of how we can make this when we get home.
Granada Cathedral
Next we take a taxi into Granada to see the Granada Cathedral and the Royal Chapel.The Catholic cathedral was built over a destroyed mosque
started in the 1500 and ended in 1700’s. It has a Gothic foundation and was
built mostly in Renaissance style. Here the emphasis is more on the immaculate Virgin
Mary than Jesus. She is depicted as young, lovely, beaming, pure looking, free
from sin, innocent and with long wavy hair.
I talk to John about how people came to believe Mary was a virgin and
confess that I am having trouble being very excited about cathedrals which are
dark, dingy, and have all their golden statues covered with metal bars. Seems it would be nice to see more light and
perhaps have the organ working.
We cross
the street to the Royal Chapel where Ferdinand and Isabel are now buried. There
are marble statues of them lying in bed and the indentation in Isabel’s pillow
of her head is greater than Ferdinand’s. This is said to have done because her
head was bigger and heavier because she was smarter. I like that women's intelligence was valued in this period.
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| John on his I-pad either reading the New York Times or planning |
Back at the hotel for dinner at 8:30 ~ early for us but then
we are leaving for the train station at 7:30 am. After dinner we saunter in the gardens and
with the sound of the fountains feel very relaxed.
I become intrigued with the expressions on the faces of people as they view this place ~ as well as all the different hats worn by tourists. I wonder if I can tell what country they come from by their hat. 
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