La Alhambra - the talisman

Well folks, so far in our travels we have seen some amazing sights attributed to early civilizations but to date they have all centred around western civilisations. Today, we stepped out of that world and into one filled with evocatie images, patterns and sounds. For a little while, we transported back in time to that of the Nasrid dynasty of the Middle East cultures. And what an experience at La Alhambra.

This site as it is seen today dates back to the beginning of the14th Century but is has been developed on a site that was used even earlier. Our introduction to the site was on the bus tour yesterday where as I previously mentioned, we marvelled at the climb and the backdrop of the Sierra Nevadas.

The site itself is san-cars and so we park the car above the main entrance and ticket gate and walk down to purchase tickets and collect audio guides at the start of the day. The introduction has the following poem penned by the Granadian singer Carlos Caro:

Voice of Alhambra

I am the Lord of Glory, the miracle of life, the blessing of life.

I am the territory of light and one of the seven names of Paradise.

I assist to fool melancholy in the memory of the world, to forever ring in the folds of man.

I am the everlasting love, living world and the might of God.

Close your eyes and I will forever be with you.

It is read in a deep sonorous voice that echoes through your head - very evocative!

As we walk up and down the outer wall, making our way to the Justice Gate three quarters of a kilometre away we get our first glimpses of the architecture of this special place. Alhambra means red and it is said that the walls of the city glow red in the evening sky. Parts of the walls are covered in a red-ochre clay over the rust colour of bricks of old. The Justice Gate brings us to the area near the Nasrid Palaces as well as the Charles V Palace. You have a specified time that you must enter the Nasrid Palaces and if you are late, you are denied entry. By the time we get to this point, we have about 20 minutes before our entry time of 10 am and so we take a look first at the Charles V Palace. This is a much later structure, though still every bit as impressive!

The Alhambra sits guard high on the hill overlooking Granada. At the feet of its walls lies the area known as the Albaycin where the Moorish population settled to serve the needs of the palace and fort that towered over it. Part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing, it is a maze of tight and narrow streets intersperced with small squares. From above, you look down and see a white washed town capped with red tiled roofs. It is an absolute picture. You can just imagine sitting by this window, cross legged on the floor and gazing out over the scene below in cool comfort on a blazing hot summer day.

So at the alloted 10 am we and a small crowd of other visitors are herded down a narrow path to the start of our tour through the Nasarid Palaces. This is not a formal tour, but rather a self-paced journey of discovery, guide book in one hand, camera in the other and audio guide to your ear. You enter through a narrow courtyard with a doorway at the other end that entices with the view of a column. This first room, the hall of the Mexuar gives us our first look at eastern architecture and decoration and whets our appetite for more. The terracotta tiles, worn in parts are interspersed with glazed and highly decorated smaller tiles.

We continue to wander the rooms, sometimes moving forward, other times, retracing our steps to linger a little longer. Arabic writings cover porticos and lintels. Ceilings reach to the heavens and are richly decorated. Arches abound and small niches are found near most doorways. It is a place of peace and tranquility and the worn flooring intimates of the thousands of feet that have trod these halls over the ages. The commentary is excellent and is presented as though being told by the author Washington Irving who wrote 'Tales of the Alhambra'. He lived for a few years in the Nasrid Palace and the commentary talks in the first person, presenting his knowledge and understanding as well as myths and legends. It is very well done and it is easy to relate to the past life of the Palace, imagining that you are there.

Perhaps the most amazing parts of this palace are the Courts. These are open courtyards, symmetrical in design, balancing man and nature and always using the element of water which is explained as a living image of Muslim paradise. These courts are places of reflection and somewhere to commune with Allah or whatever other deity you feel the need to visit. They are all constructed with large slabs of white marble, water pools and fountains. In some, the pools are reflective pools with not a ripple breaking the surface - these reflect the beauty of the buildings surrounding them and the crisp blue sky above, while in others, water from fountains spills gently into them creating the gentlest undulations travelling towards the centre of the pool.

The system of fountains that are dotted throughout the palace is amazing. They are connected by channels trough hich water trickles musically on a constant basis - these channels are about 6 inches wide and 3 inches deep. I guess that in the hot dry days of the Granadan summer, they would also serve to keep these open areas within the Palace cool. Some are interlinked and feed water, the lifeblood of the Muslim into larger central fountains that are memorials or markers. The greatest we saw today was in the Court of Lions where the central fountain was once supported by 12 marble lions carved expressely for this fountain. They have not stood the ravages of time and the passage of waters through their mouths are are no longer in place supporting the fountain. This fountain was modelled after another at the entrance to Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem that was supported by twelve bulls representing the twelved tribes of Israel. Other fountains lead under porticos to feed this one and these porticos and the surrounding arcades are supported by 124 slim marble columns - what imagination and courage the ancient architects displayed!

All throughout the rooms, the carvings and the tilework and the decorated arched windows and doors continue. Just when you think you have seen the best there is, you enter another room just to be awestruck at another! Within other courtyards, there are gardens so that the whole palace surrounds a place of beauty.

Once we have done with the Nasrid Palaces, we climb the stairs and head back towards the entry via the Generalife - the leisure palaces of the Sultans of Granada. We walk alongside the outer fortifications of Le Alhambra and hear the legends of the various wall towers - the garson tower, the prisoner tower and the Tower of the Sisters.

The Generalife is set amogst even more gardens - formal and informal, working gardens and orchards as well as ornamental gardens. Michael goes to have a look while I make my way back towards the exit.

We now know that the reason that visitors are limited in number in time, is to help preserve the sense of awe and wonder. Too many people at a time would result in too much noise and jostling for photos. And in this world of calm and tranquility that would never do!

G is for Granada - and for Gypsies!

We begin our stay here in Granada by booking a day on the City Sightseeing Bus – and this one is very economical at €18 for two days. We pick the bus up at its second stop which is about 5 minute walk from our Hotel – the Hotel Universal. One of the drawbacks of being in a country that seems to encourage smoking with no restrictions placed on public smoking is the number of butts everywhere. The councils counteract this by employing street sweepers – in fact there seems to be a street sweeper (with their cleverly designed yard brooms with angled heads) every couple of blocks – and they work – you never see them idle!

All along this main thoroughfare lined with small shops of many descriptions, are the loveliest street lights in character with this historic element of the city. And hanging from these lights are baskets bursting with the sunniest, brightest yellow pansies in full bloom. Now, while the sun is out and shining, there is a wind sweeping down off the Sierra Nevada that makes the air decidedly chilly. One would think that it would stunt their growth – but no – the blossoms are huge.

We complete a circuit of the bus route taking about one and a half hours and getting a feel for the layout of Granada and its history. I am surprised to learn that the university here is home to more than 50,000 students specialising in medicine and the sciences. The city is supported by a University Hospital and also a renown Science Centre where children are specially catered for in learning the application of science to all things exciting. As we drive past we watch yet another school group conglomerating around the entrance doors! We also see the polished metal dome of the planetarium that this Science Centre is known for.

Now, Granada is undergoing a period of civic rehabilitation and construction. We pass the site where a new Cultural Centre is partly complete – a strange looking building for its purpose with a tall façade around seven stories high with a glassed insert and the top and access across the bottom – I can only think that this is the administrative building for culture and that performance and display areas are either underground or yet to be constructed.

One of the stops on the bus route is near La Alhambra. The climb from Granada up to the top of the highest point in the city affords us with some great views of the Sierra Nevadas only 35 kms away. They are a constant backdrop to the City and are snow capped all year. You can clearly see the top of the tree line and the almost knife-sharp edge where the permanent snow line starts. We are told that this range is home to the highest peaks in the Iberian Peninsula but there is a significant mistake in the commentary when they convert 3,400m to around 1,000 feet and not 10,000 feet! The wind going up that hill in an open topped bus made a joke of the neon displays in the city that proudly displayed 9 and 10 degrees! It was freezing. The slopes are covered in prickly pear and at the moment all are bearing lots of the red fruit – wonder if anyone processes them in any way?

Once we have completed a circuit, we alight at the stop for the Cathedral of the Incarnation. Almost as soon as we step off the bus, we are accosted (there can be no other word!) by gypsies. They have handfuls of pieces of twigs, some rosemary, others just common street bushes. They try to press them into your hands and they actively target the men initially. Once they have your hand, some of them then grab your hand and give you a palm ‘reading’ while getting you to hop on one leg; others just blow lots of kisses etc at you. Of course, then comes the take and the demand for money. Michael takes a rosemary sprig and is becoming caught by one of the woman when I say to him to give it back and keep his hands close. It was fascinating to watch one of the older women ‘instructing’ the younger ones what to do – her advice was make eye contact, take people’s hands, be forceful.

Elsewhere on the trip, we see a couple of teenage gypsies at a set of traffic lights, water bottle and squeegee in hand cleaning windscreens as cars stop for the red light and then again, demanding payment. You know, it was all hard work and I can’t help but think that a paying job would be far less stressful and most definitely more profitable. And talking about profit, as soon as the shops close for siesta (about 2 pm), out come the African young men who ply their trade in copies of sunglasses, handbags, fashion, the latest CDs etc from blankets laid on the streets right outside the doors of shops where these goods are legitimately traded. Guess there is a market for every need!

The Cathedral is not open to the public at present and like many other historic sites is undergoing significant maintenance. The Royal Chapel however is open, although we have just missed the morning opening times! So we opt to chill out like the rest of Spain, to have a leisurely lunch and bask in the beautiful winter sunlight. Certainly doesn’t feel like winter (although it also feels nothing like the summer you guys are having). We sit down at the outdoor plaza tables of a local restaurant and order that universal dish – pizzas (of all things!) Mine is four cheeses and Michael’s has capers, anchovies, tomatoes and green olives – washed down by a glass of regional red and mineral water con gas (with gas) for Michael. Ahh – wonder what the poor people are doing today??? Just superb.

After lunch we head back to the Royal Chapel for a look - but can't take photos. Very ornate, very baroque. This is the final resting place of the Catholic Kings of Spain, Ferdinand II or Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The Catholic Kings decided that Granada would be there final resting place as the high point of their reign was when they captured the City and the Nasrid Kingdom in 1492. Its construction was commissioned by Queen Isabella shortly before her death in 1504 but was not completed until 1517. We are amazed at not only the ornate layout, but of the examples of Catholic wealth including some very significant art works that date back to the early 1400s – by painters such as Van Der Weyde, Boticelli and Bartolomé and includes a triptych by Bouts representing the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross and the Lord’s Resurrection.

And while we are on the subject of religion, Granada has a history of coexistence of Jews, Arabs and Christians. While they resided in different quarters, for centuries they lived in the city in peace. And then came the Catholics . . .

Here is a bit of interesting information for all those people following this blog back in Maryborough, Queensland – Granada once had a flourishing sugar cane industry on its rich fertile slopes and plain. For some reason, Spain stopped growing sugar cane and later began to grow sugar beet. Again, Granada rose to the opportunity and planted the new crop where once it grew cane and developed a processing industry around the beets. That also passed and today there is no trace of these former agricultural industries save one huge steam pump that sits in one of the parks.

Back on to the Sightseeing Bus, we make our way around to the Bull fighting arena. The season does not start until March so there is no reason for us to feel uneasy coming here. However, when in Spain . . . This large arena is modelled on those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, but it is austere and lacking in the finesse or the splendour of those monuments. It is just functional and reminds me a little of the big soccer stadiums. There is nothing really alluring and nothing to keep us here – still we had to see it. There is a bit of a wait until the next bus comes through so we opt for a coffee in one of the restaurants that have sprung up in its porticos. We sit and order coffee (con leche – with milk) and almost immediately strike up a conversation with a Canadian couple at the next table. They remark how friendly Australians are. They are spending 3 months cycling in Spain – with those Sierra Nevadas you gotta be joking!! They are presently staying on the coast and have caught a bus up to Granada today to see La Alhambra (which we will see tomorrow morning). They cycled in Australian last year for 6 months and say they will be back – so out comes another card, and an offer to look us up if they come back through Maryborough. They stayed a night there last year and a couple of nights at Hervey Bay – but didn’t make it over to the island that time!

Then, back to the Cathedral stop and a walk back to the hotel – a very nice day all in all. Not hungry after that big dinner, but a lovely gooey chat with our Izabella (and Amanda via Skype) is a great end to the day before we spend some hours trying to plan our itinerary and book various accommodations on our way back to London to re-register the car.

Granada - what a reason for a song!

We exit Toledo for Granada without any problems this morning with Michael driving and me navigating. There is an amazing amount of road-works being undertaken in Spain as we travel through the country. One can only wonder at the cost of such an expansion program where motorways are being constructed over earlier much smaller highways that were never designed to carry the loads demanded of them today. The upside of this is of course that there is plenty of employment for those in this sector as well as the investment in public infrastructure. Additional to these jobs are the large number of people employed by the highways department who we have watched trimming roadside vegetation and collecting the rubbish that drivers and their passengers toss carelessly into the landscape. The result is a highway road network that is in good condition and clean and well-kept.

Spain is certainly far more serious about alternate energy sources than many other countries we have observed (including Australia). We see huge wind turbines all across the open plains and the ridges. Far from being a blight, they are barely visible unless they are in large concentrations (we saw one wind farm that had more than 100 turbines!). The other source that we see today is banks of large solar panels. Not one or two – more like 30 to 40 banks at a time generally sited down on the lower open plains.

And yet in direct contrast to these clean and green activities, we pass many large factories and plants as we cross the central plains of Spain today spewing out huge volumes of fumes and other effluent into the open skies about them. I am sure that this activity is causing far more damage to the ancient constructions that dot the landscape than the ravages of time and the climate have done to date!

We drive through vast tracts of planted olive trees – at first set out in a checkerboard effect interspersed with open land, and then as we travel further south, the spacing between individual trees gets smaller and the previous open space is replaced with grape vines as this is an area of vast wine production. In fact we pass the winery production plant of the wine I drank last night! I can only imagine what this patchwork effect looks like from above and wonder whether there is a pattern in the tapestry of its weaving!

And then we come to the real excitement of the day. We are nearing the city of Ciudad Real when the traffic bunches up and crawls to a snail pace. We pass a couple of highway police directing the traffic into one lane and we assume a crash. How wrong we were!! Then we see the National Guard – lots of them, complete with balaclavas and machine guns at the ready. They are now directing the traffic and have cones, tape and even spikes all laid out. At the point of traffic control, one guard selects vehicles for further inspection and as we near, blows his whistle and begins to direct us to the area off to the side, then realises we are very obviously tourists (the right hand drive is a dead give-away!) and waves us through. Those over on the side are having identification, vehicle papers and vehicle contents scrutinised. Past the stop point, there are four guard vehicles set across the road to form a chicane that you need to negotiate to move on. Wow – I wonder whether the bomb blast yesterday is any reason for this! These guys were serious and none of them were standing around idly. How I itched to get a photo – but as it became clear what was happening, I let the camera (that I constantly carry on my lap when I am not driving) drop to the floor – god knows what the response would have been if I had been seen clicking away!!!

Past Ciudad Real there is a strip along the highway that sports brothels and ‘clubs’. All have large parking areas that are screened from obvious view. I guess this is one answer to keeping this sort of activity away from sensitive areas such as schools and residential areas!

The day is very overcast and we pass through light patches of showers from time to time. As we travel yet further south we see huge clouds spilling down the mountain side and the weather begins to really set in. Although the car thermometer tells us that it is 8.5°C outside, a light dusting of snow clings stubbornly to rocky outcrops and is sprinkled across the tops of olive trees on the higher exposed slopes. Where these olive trees are planted on steep slopes, farmers rake the stones from the ground in circles around individual trees so that the slopes look like they are decorated in figures of eight! And Spain is most definitely a home of olives and olive oil if the vast areas under plantings are anything to go by.

As we come in to Granada there are a couple of interesting observations – signs are being duplicated in Arabic, the Sierra Nevada ranges come in to view (snow capped of course) and the traffic all of a sudden becomes thick and slow! The directions to the Hotel Universal are very clear and we arrive promptly and without stress. As the afternoon draws to a close, I get the feeling that this is a bit of a party central though and I hope that the exuberance of other guests dies down later so that we can sleep as it looks like we will have a full day again tomorrow!