The Alhambra

Our reason for visiting Grenada was to take a tour of the Alhambra. As I spend more time in Spain, its history begins to sink in by some sort of osmosis. Southern Spain, by its proximity to northern Africa, has a history that is intertwined with that region. We saw that last week in Morocco. We see it every day here in Sevilla, and we saw it again in Grenada at the Alhambra.

Southern Spain was home to many Islamic kingdoms from the 8th through 15th centuries. In the 15th century, the Christian kingdoms of Spain unified and conquered the Islamic kingdoms of the south. The last Islamic presence in Spain was in Grenada. When that kingdom fell, the Iberian peninsula was a unified Christian country. Politics aside, cultures change slowly and mix constantly, in spite of what their Christian or Islamic rulers might want.

In the Alhambra, we see the Islamic palace and gardens that stood for 500 years, transformed into Christian edifices that have now stood for another 500 years. There is the original Islamic palace and the later Christian palace. The Islamic gardens, adapted to more Christian/European styles. The remnants of mosaic and geometric adornments and architecture.

Our tour started in the garden. Here, Emily poses for Rachel. I took advantage and grabbed this shot:

This monastary on the Alhambra grounds is now a 4-star hotel:

Here the girls take a rest in an Islamic style doorway:

The intricate plaster friezes were everywhere:

An example of the mixing of the two cultures, this mural on the ceiling is a Christian artform, but it's in the older Islamic palace:

The view of the old part of Granada from high up on the Alhambra hill was amazing:

The gardens on the grounds are under constant care. These "shrubs" were so well-manicured that they looked unreal:

The reflecting pools throughout the grounds, along with the clear blue skies made for some lovely photos:

***

The bus ride back to Sevilla went smoothly. We had tapas for dinner and quietly wished Ric a happy birthday.

Granada

Today we started a quick overnight trip to Granada, about 200km east of Sevilla. We have guided tour of the Alhambra tomorrow. Today was mostly dedicated to getting to Granada, by bus. We left Sevilla at 10am:

We arrived right on time in Granada about 3 hrs later. Laura found us a nice airbnb near the center. We're on the top floor of our building and we have a great patio. The weather was clear and cool. Here you can see the mountains and the Alhambra area beyond the nearby buildings:

Just to get the lay of the land we walked around a bit. Here is the river the comes out of the aforementioned mountains:

Here's Emily:

Here's an old (19th century) bridge over the river:

We got back to the airbnb around 6:30pm. The sunset lit up the view from the balcony:

We had a nice dinner out and then played a card game. Our tour is tomorrow, then back to Sevilla on the bus.

Navidad

We started early with a great breakfast of french toast made by Laura:

We moved into a small gift exchange. Emily did her best Axl Rose imression:

Some swag. Even a couple of Blue Moon beers in there:

The street was quiet today. Here's a picture of the front of our building. Our flat occupies the middle set of windows here:

We went out for a walk:

And made it all the way to the Plaza de Espana:

We got back in time for dinner, also by Laura:

Then played some dominos:

A nice Christmas. Off to Granada tomorrow.

Nochebuena

It's Christmas Eve. In Spanish that's Nochebuena. That seems etymologically strange to me. "Noche" means "night", "buena" means "good". The generic-ness of these terms suggests the great cultural significance of Christmas Eve.

Sevilla is as quiet as I've ever seen it right now. When we took the trash out, the main street was deserted. All the shops and restaurants were closed. Normally, it would be bustling:

***

The weather was nice today. Low 70s, sunny. We went to a tapas place we like called Zoko for lunch:

This is Laura getting her tuna from the server. He seared it with a blow torch at the table. The food was good. Emily and I even shared a vegetarian dish.

***

After lunch, we tried to visit the Torre del Oro, which is free on Mondays, but it was closed for the holiday. Instead, Emily, Rachel and I walked along the river. Laura went grocery shopping. Kathy and Ric went to their airbnb.

Whoever put up the autumn artwork along the river, replaced it with a lovely Christmas tree of macrame and crochet on recycled items like CDs and pop tops:

On our return walk, we stopped at the new mall and wandered around. Laura joined us and did a bit more Christmas shopping.

***

In the evening, Laura made a pretty good spread of Mexican food. After dinner we watched a fairly horrible Christmas movie on Netflix called The Christmas Chronicals. Definitely would not recommend.

My cold is tapering off. Rachel, who came to Sevilla 10 days ago with a cold, is having a relapse. Laura, is deep into a cold. Emily, Kathy and Ric are still healthy, but I fear their days are numbered.

Up on the rooftop

 Today we had a guided tour of the roof of the Cathedral which later included a walk-through of the interior. Emily still recovering from a 9-hour time change needed some coffee to get going this morning:

Once she had coffee inside, she was ready to go. Our tour headphones were stylish:

The roof tour is primarily about the challenges faced by 15th century builders and architects when building this giant gothic cathedral. My favorite part of the tour was this area on the roof where carpenters worked out the designs for arches, windows and buttresses. You can see the straight-edge and compass work scratched into the bricks over 500 years ago. Not only did they build these re-usable templates, but they left behind the record of geometric steps they used to create the templates. The original etchings are in black, the white lines are added by the historians that organize the tour to highlight the resulting shapes:

The weather was crystal clear and the parts of the roof stood in stark relief:

The city sprawled below at every turn:

The broad expanse of the roof above the center of the Cathedral:

Rachel took a picture of the group after coming down from the roof. We survived hundreds of steps up and down narrow, steep, spiral staircases:

After the rooftop tour, we went home and had lunch. We almost lost Emily to the couch:

Just to keep Emily moving, we went back to the Cathedral for the interior walk-through. This was the second time for Laura and me, so I only have a couple of pics. This one shows Sevilla from the top of the Giralda (the bell tower of the Cathedral):

After visiting Morocco and getting a clearer understanding of how this part of Spain and that part of northern Africa share a legacy of mixed cultures covering over 1,000 years, I have a new appreciation for the Moorish influences around Sevilla. This ablution fountain is in the courtyard of the Cathedral and is a remnant of the mosque that stood on the spot where the Cathedral now stands:

The sunlight on the Giralda was amazing as we left the Cathedral: