Jun 10 - I love the Alhambra

The night was warm so I had my window open. I didn't want to turn on the air conditioning as one never knows how that will affect a weary traveller.

I was awoken by a couple walking past my window at 220 in the morning. She was wearing high heels and talking very loudly and he was being just as chatty. They were not drunk or carousing but it was so quiet out that the sound carried very well.
  I did get manage to get back to sleep but woke up at 430 so read until 6 and then slept until 8.
Had a nice shower and went downstairs for my breakfast of Croissant, tea and kiwi with yoghurt. 


I shared the outdoor patio space with some sparrows who were very bold and came right onto your table to get scraps. Orange trees with oranges, ivy (possibly grapes) and fountains along with several tables and chairs filled the patio. 
I left about 9 and almost right next door to the hotel are some steam baths. Well the remains of some baths but they are very interesting. Roman style but used by the moors way back when. 


Then wandered down toward the Alhambra proper. On the grounds of the Alhambra there are two hotels, a few gift shops, a post office that I never saw open, a church that used to be a mosque, that rang its bells but had locked doors. Hmmmm. 
My ticket to see the Alhambra palaces was for 10 am so wandered around the palace of Carlos V (Charles the 5th).
 According to wikipedia, Charles was the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad. When Philip died in 1506, Charles became ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands, and his mother's co-ruler in Spain upon the death of his maternal grandfather,  Ferdinand the Catholic, in 1516. 
As Charles was the first king to rule Castile-León and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, he became the first King of Spain (Charles co-reigned with his mother Joanna, which was however a technicality given her mental instability). In 1519, Charles succeeded his paternal grandfather Maximillian as Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria. From that point on, Charles's realm, which has been described as  “ The Empire on which the sun never sets”, spanned nearly four million square kilometers across Europe, the Far East, and the Americas. 
Much of Charles' reign was devoted to the Italian Wars against the French  king,  Francis I and his heir, king  Henry II which although enormously expensive, were militarily successful due to the  efforts of his prime ministers and the undefeated Spanish Tersio 
(a military formation made up of a mixed formation of about 3,000  pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers or musketeers in a mutually supportive formation.

 It was also sometimes referred to as the Spanish Square. It was widely adopted and dominated European battlefields in the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century.) Charles' forces re-captured both Milan and Franche-Comte from France after the decisive Habsburg victory at the Battle of Pavia  in 1525, which pushed Francis to form the Franco Ottoman alliance. 
The alliance has been called "the first non-ideological diplomatic alliance of its kind between a Christian and non-Christian empire". It did however cause quite a scandal in the Christian world, and was designated as "the impious alliance", or "the sacrilegious union of the Lily and the Crescent"; nevertheless, it endured since it served the objective interests of both parties. 
The strategic and sometimes tactical alliance was one of the most important foreign alliances of France and lasted for more than two and a half centuries, until the Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt, an Ottoman territory, in 1798–1801. 
Aside from this, Charles is best known for his role in opposing the Protestant Reformation.


 Wikipedia  also says "The Palace of Charles V is a Renasanist construction , located on the top of the hill of the Assabica, inside the Nasrid fortification of the Alhambra. It was commanded by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who wished to establish his residence close to the Alhambra palaces. Although the Catholic Monarchs had already altered some rooms of the Alhambra after the conquest of the city in 1492, Charles V intended to construct a permanent residence befitting an emperor. 

The project was given to Pedro Machuca, an architect whose biography and influences are poorly understood. At the time, Spanish architecture was immersed in the Plateresque style, still with traces of Gothic origin. Machuca built a palace corresponding stylistically to Mannerism , a mode still in its infancy in Italy. The exterior of the building uses a typically Renaissance combination of rustication (rough cut stones) on the lower level and ashlar (smooth stone) on the upper. Even if accounts that place Machuca in the atelier of Michaelangelo are accepted, at the time of the construction of the palace in 1527 the latter had yet to design the majority of his architectural works. 
The plan of the palace is a 17 meter high, 63 meter sq containing an inner circular patio. This structure, the main Mannerist characteristic ( manifested in the use of unbalanced proportions and arbitrary arrangements of decorative features) of the palace, has no precedent in Renaissnace Architecture, and places the building in the avant-garde of its time. The palace has two floors (not counting mezzanine floors). On the exterior, the lower is of a padded  Tuscan order, while the upper is of the ionic order, alternating pilasters and pedimented windows. Both main façades boast portals made of stone from the Sierra Elvira. 
 The organisation of the patio shows a deep knowledge of the architecture of the Roman Empire, and would be framed in pure Renaissance style but for its curved shape, which surprises the visitor entering from the main façades. The interior spaces and the staircases are also governed by the combination of square and circle. Similar aesthetic devices would be developed in the following decades under the classification of Mannerism.



T here were hundreds of swifts flying around the Alhambra. I don't know why. I will try to find out. Lots of people milling around waiting for their tour of the palaces.

The Alhambra has about 2.3 million visitors a year, which makes it the most visited monument in Spain.  Alhambra Security  are very good at letting so many in  every half hour in order to spread out the visitors so that everyone has a chance to see the inside without being crushed.

All the church bells around the city started ringing at about 10 and it was lovely to hear.

My Turn Came. It was very exciting . I have seen many shows on the Alhambra over the past twenty years and have been  anticipating this moment since we made plans to come to Spain.  To be here in person was Amazing.

The first Rooms were great and it only got better as I went further along the tour. I call it a tour only for lack of a better word. We all went in at the roughly the same time and walked through at our own speed stopping to take photos of what ever interested us.  There were audio guides that one could rent but I had not seen those and so did not have one. Some areas were cordoned off so that we could not walk out into some courtyards or rooms but most of the rooms in the Palaces we had access to. 

 Wiki says Ibn-Nasr took up residence at the Palace of Bādis in the Alhambra. A few months later, he embarked on the construction of a new Alhambra fit for the residence of a sultan. According to an Arab manuscript since published as the Anónimo de Granada y Copenhague,

is year, 1238 Abdallah ibn al-Ahmar climbed to the place called "the Alhambra" inspected it, laid out the foundations of a castle and left someone in charge of its construction...

The design included plans for six palaces, five of which were grouped in the northeast quadrant forming a royal quarter, two circuit towers, and numerous bathhouses. During the reign of the Nasrid Dynasty, the Alhambra was transformed into a  Palatine city, complete with an irrigation system composed of acequias for the gardens of the Generalife located outside the fortress. Previously, the old Alhambra structure had been dependent upon rainwater collected from a cistern and from what could be brought up from the Albaicín. The creation of the Sultan's Canal solidified the identity of the Alhambra as a palace-city rather than a defensive and ascetic structure.

The Alhambra was extended by the different Muslim rulers who lived in the complex. However, each new section that was added followed the consistent theme of "paradise on earth". The majority of the palace buildings are quadrangular in plan, with all the rooms opening on to a central court; and the whole reached its present size simply by the gradual addition of new quadrangles, designed on the same principle, though varying in dimensions, and connected with each other by smaller rooms and passages. Column arcades, fountains with running water, and reflecting pools were used to add to the aesthetic and functional complexity. In every case, the exterior was left plain and austere. Sun and wind were freely admitted. Blue, red, and a  golden yellow, all somewhat faded through lapse of time and exposure.
They are doing a lot of restoration work to the Alhambra. It seems that for years the swifts and swallows built their nests in the protected areas within the palaces and were now being slowly evicted out of the Palaces. We are winning the war of the swallows but it is ongoing.
The palace complex was designed with the mountainous site in mind and many forms of technology were considered. The park (Alameda de la Alhambra), which is overgrown with wildflowers and grass in the spring, was planted by the Moors with roses, oranges and myrtles, its most characteristic feature, however, is the dense wood of english elms brought by the Duke of Wellington in 1812. The park has a multitude of Nightingales and is usually filled with the sound of running water from several fountains and cascades. These are supplied through a conduit 8 km (5.0 mi) long, which is connected with the Darro at the monastery of Jesus del Valle, above Granada.

The Royal Complex consists of three main parts: Mexuar, Serallo, and the Harem. The Mexuar is modest in decor. Strapwork is used to decorate the surfaces in Mexuar. The ceilings, floors, and trim are made of dark wood and are in sharp contrast to white, plaster walls. Serallo, built during the reign of Yusuf I in the 14th century, contains the Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles). 

Brightly colored interiors featured dado panels, and artesonado. Artesonado are highly decorative ceilings and other woodwork. Lastly, the Harem is also elaborately decorated and contains the living quarters for the wives and mistresses of the Arabic monarchs. This area contains a bathroom with running water (cold and hot), baths, and pressurized water for showering. The bathrooms were open to the elements in order to allow in light and air.

the Court of Myrtles

The present entrance to the Palacio Árabe, or Casa Real (Moorish palace), is by a small door from which a corridor connects to the Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles), also called the Patio de la Alberca (Court of the Blessing or Court of the Pond), from the Arabic birka, "pool". The birka helped to cool the palace and acted as a symbol of power. Because water was usually in short supply, in the centre of this court there is a large pond set in the marble pavement, full of goldfish, and with myrtles growing along its sides. There are galleries on both sides;. to the right, was the principal entrance, and over it are three windows with arches and miniature pillars. From this court, the walls of the Torre de Comares are seen rising over the roof to the north and reflected in the pond.

Hall of the Ambassadors

The Salón de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors) is the largest in the Alhambra and occupies all the Torre de Comares. It is a square room, while the centre of the dome is 23 m (75 ft) high. This was the grand reception room, and the throne of the sultan was placed opposite the entrance.

 The grand hall projects from the walls of the palace, providing views in three directions. In this sense, it was a "mirador" from which the palace's inhabitants could gaze outward to the surrounding landscape. It was in this setting that  Christopher Columbus received Isabel and Ferdinand's support to sail to the new world.

 The tiles are nearly 4 ft (1.2 m) high all round, and the colours  and patterns vary at intervals. (MC Eschers visit in 1922 to study the Moorish use of symmetry in the Alhambra tiles inspired his subsequent work on regular divisions of the plane).

Over them is a series of oval medallions with inscriptions, interwoven with flowers and leaves. There are nine windows, three on each facade,

Court of the Lions and the Fabulous Fountain

The Court of the Lions, a unique example of Muslim art

The Patio de los Leones (Court of Lions) (is an oblong court surrounded by a low gallery supported on 124 white marble columns. A pavilion projects into the court at each extremity, with filigree walls and a light domed roof. 

The square is paved with coloured tiles and the colonnade with white marble, while the walls are covered 5 ft (1.5 m) up from the ground with blue and yellow tiles, with a border above and below of enamelled blue and gold. The columns supporting the roof and gallery are irregularly placed. They are adorned by varieties of foliage, about each arch there is a large square of stucco arabesques; and over the pillars is another stucco square of filigree work.

In the centre of the court is the Fountain of Lions, an  Alabaster basin supported by the figures of twelve lions in white marble, not designed with sculptural accuracy but as symbols of strength, power, and sovereignty. Each hour one lion would produce water from its mouth. At the edge of the great fountain there is a poem written by Ibn Zamrak. This praises the beauty of the fountain and the power of the lions, but it also describes their ingenious hydraulic systems and how they actually worked, which baffled all those who saw them. This is just a simple example of the Muslims' genius at architecture, design and engineering during that time.

 Hall of the Abencerrajes

"Honeycomb," "stalactite," or “Mocarabe "vaulting in the Hall of the Abencerrajes

Portico and pool of the early 14th-century Partal, in the Alta Alhambra of the complex.

The Sala de los Abencerrajes (Hall of the Abencerrages) derives its name from a  legend according to which the father of  Boabdil, the last sultan of  Granada, having invited the chiefs of that line to a banquet, massacred them here. This room is a perfect square, with a lofty dome and trellised windows at its base. The roof is decorated in blue, brown, red and gold, and the columns supporting it spring out into the arch form in a remarkably beautiful manner. 
Opposite to this hall is the Sala de las dos Hermanas (Hall of the two Sisters), so-called from two white marble slabs laid as part of the pavement. These slabs measure 50 by 22 cm (15 by 7½ in). There is a fountain in the middle of this hall, and the roof —a dome honeycombed with tiny cells, all different, and said to number 5000— is an example of the "stalactite vaulting" of the Moors.

Generalife

 Of the outlying buildings connected to the Alhambra, the foremost in interest is the "Garden of the Architect". This villa  dates from the beginning of the 14th century but has been restored several times.
there are gardens connected to buildings and buildings opening to other gardens. pools and paths and trees and gardens. Did I mention the fountains or the fish?

(Martyrs' Villa), on the summit of  Monte Mauror, commemorates the Christian slaves who were forced to build the Alhambra and confined there in subterranean cells. There are paths and gardens, walkways and stairs, pools with fish and  flowers galore.  Archeological digs and scenic mountains. All manner of good things to be seen at the Alhambra. 

I sprinkled a bit of Mom and Dad at the pond by the palm tree off the Medina on my way back to the hotel for lunch. they will like it there. shady and cool by the pool  not too busy but interesting to see all the people go by.

   

Jun 8-9 flying to Granada

Jim drove me to the airport for 9 Thanks Jim. Always nice to have a friend to say goodbye to.

Checked in fine. The plane left at 1130 right on time. The flight a little bumpy but that doesn't really bother me. I amused myself. The map said it was 1673 miles to Toronto with a travel time of 3 hours and 42 minutes. Just enough time to watch a couple of movies so watched Mirror Mirror and Man on a Ledge. They were pretty good. 

Landed in TO at 505 and after walking from one end of the airport to the other arrived at my gate to discover that they had overbooked the flight and I did not have a seat. I believe my response was to say “I don’t have a seat?” and than I laughed. They seemed surprised and said that I was taking it pretty well. When you travel you have to expect anything and everything.  They did take good care of me. I went over to customer service and they rebooked me through Rome to Barcelona and gave me a travel certificate for $500. I still had an hour before my flight so went to my gate and read Wicked.  When we boarded I discovered that I was going to be traveling to Rome Executive first class!   Wine, hot towels to wash before dinner with wine and dessert, laying down to sleep all the way across the ocean.  I was so spoiled. I loved it. Moral of the story.... always be nice to the airlines when they screw up and they will treat you nicer and surprise you with wonderful things. Sometimes. This time they did.

Rome Airport is crazy.  They are remodeling and there are detours all over. Walking from one end of the airport to the other and through shops to get to my gate. And Italians are loud at least they seemed to be that day. the worlds cup might have had something to do with that. Went straight to my gate to see if I could get on an earlier flight to Barcelona, as the service desk in Toronto could not tell if there was any room on that flight. I got there explained to the lovely gentleman about being rerouted and having a connecting flight in Barcelona at 430 and how if I caught the flight that I was booked on I would miss my connection. He checked the flight and there was no problem. He booked me in on the earlier flight. that gave me two hours to fill, not enough time to go into Rome so stayed in the Rome airport. After having a coffee, which was actually pretty good if a little strong. I got my nails done. Got to my gate with minutes to spare and the flight to Barcelona was good. Flying over the Mediterranean and the Islands of Corsica?.
Flying into Barcelona was good.  I sat across the aisle from an older couple and the lady tried to communicate with me, and I with her. We both decided that Italians are in fact very loud and that Barcelona is a very pretty city. Barcelona looks like a beautiful city from the air. There is a big park with a citadell on the top of a hill and the city spread out all around it . The Mediterranean on one side with a big marina and a very long beach. I had made plans to visit Barcelona on the 6 hour layover on my original flight, but the rescheduling had dashed those plans. Darn! Will have to go back to Spain in the future. 
got to my connecting flight with minutes to spare and met a lovely young mom Pilar. we had a good time also trying to communicate. She gave me her address. she can read english better than she can speak it so writing should be fun. She told me that in Catalan things are very different than from Madrid or the North of Spain. I hope so. Vive la diferencia!  We said goodbye in the Granada Aeropuerto.

 I went to order my air tickets to Madrid by phone for monday which took about half an hour. Once I got the english speaking service agent things went very smoothly. I missed the bus into Granada and It only goes once an hour so I decided that rather than wait 45 minutes for the next bus I would take a taxi to my hotel. they told me it was 37 euros. so I figured we pay that much at home so why not. the drive in was nice . the taxi driver didn't know a lot of english but we did OK. Olivo trees all over the place. grande and poco (large and small). there were some caves on the side of a hill with doors inset and people living in them. He said that there were a few , not so many.  The town of granada is lovely built on hills. When we drove by the walls of the Alhambra and he pointed them out,  he made a point of telling me to see the palace of Carlos V which is inside the Alhambra walls as well. 

At 75 years Old, the American Hotel is doing just fine. My room was small and had no TV but clean and on the grounds of the Alhambra. The other hotel on the grounds is the Parador at 3 times the price of this place.  I checked in and dropped my things in my room. The very friendly and helpful desk clerk told me I had to go to the bottom of the hill the taxi had just brought me up to get my tickets for the next day to the Alhambra. So off I went. The weather was lovely. I could tell that it had been a hot day from the heat still emanating  from the buildings and streets. the road down to the bottom of the hill is lined with trees and has little waterfalls coming from the Alhambra  and running water along the sides of the road/path.  At 7 pm it was still very warm. I found my way down the hill to the entrance way to the Alhambra gardens and picked up my ticket. Then I wandered through the gardens that were still open. they were beautiful. there is a creek down in between the two hills of the Alhambra gardens. I would like to go there if I can figure out how to get down there. they have giant bees in the gardens, black ones. i tried to get a picture but was interrupted by the security fellows shoeing us out of the park at closing time.  I wandered back by a different route and found a restaurant in the parador hotel . A 930 dinner of eggplant fries, broiled goat-cheese and quince on toast and alhambra beer on the patio. Loved the goat-cheese and the beer was very nice. Wandered back down to my hotel and after reading for a very short period of time slept. my first night in Spain.  sueños dulces.