Biker Gang

 On my walk/run along the river today, I saw this family of bike riders. Their bikes were decked out in a biker gang motif. The mom, dad and child were all wearing biker clothing too. It was kinda cute. The dad's bike was real work of art:

This evening a male flamenco dancer put out his hat on San Jacinto. This is kind of unusual since most of the buskers tend to go to the Cathedral area where there are more tourists. He was pretty good:

We went out for a walk to "Las Setas" so Emily could see them. Underneath, there was an ice rink. Watching some skate really well and others not so much was actually pretty entertaining:

We stopped in a clothing store on the way home called Pull & Bear. The words printed on the fronts of some of the t-shirts and sweatshirts were positively inane:

This one from "California Town" was particularly humorous. Rachel got a hoody with Pull & Bear on the front.

Work Day

Today we bade farewell to Ric and Kathy. They drove to Lisbon this morning to catch a plane back to the US. It's strange how time flies. Kathy started planning this trip about a year ago when she first learned that we were heading to Spain. She and Ric did a lot of the planning in Morocco and Granada. We had some adventures and enjoyed our Christmas together. Now it's in the past.

They made it to Lisbon without incident.

***

Today was a day of work for us. Laura studied Spanish. Rachel is studying basic economics in advance of an econometrics class she's taking this coming semester. Emily is reviewing a paper for a journal. I'm writing a talk for the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Baltimore next month.

This evening we walked up to Plaza de San Francisco and watched the 3 Kings Christmas light show with Emily.

We grabbed a pizza for dinner and helado at Villar for dessert. I have found, through a series of independent experiments and now very repeatable, that the brownie helado is the best possible helado.

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.