Part 60: La Alhambra, El Año Nuevo, y Los Amigos Dec 31-Jan 2, 2013

I arrived in Granada on the evening of Dec 30.  I found the bus and took it to the stop indicated in my hostel directions.  Then I started up the winding, narrow streets and hoped that they would all be labeled.  Street signage is not always the best in Europe.  Luckily, Granada was carefully labeled. 

That night, there were two sisters in the room with me from Macedonia.  They currently live in Canada, but were familiar with Bulgaria since they used to vacation at the Black Sea (it’s amazing how many people vacation there).  They were nice, but we were all tired so we didn’t spend that much time talking.   By the next morning, they had been replaced by D and L from France and Finland, respectively. 

The next morning after breakfast, I decided to walk to the Alhambra.  I didn’t really realize it was up a mountain (No it wasn’t Everest or anything, but still it was enough of a climb that I was sweating by the end of it).  I made it to the top and stood in the wrong line to pick up the tickets I’d already bought.   The main part of the Alhambra has a limit to how many people can enter per day so it is better to buy your tickets in advance.  Way in advance. 

Once I found the correct line and got my ticket, I headed onto the main grounds.  The Alhambra started its life as a fortress in 889 and Sultan Yusuf I converted it into a royal palace in 1333.  I went behind the fortification’s wall into a really nice garden surrounded by some ruins of several smaller buildings.  The road then curves down past a large church towards the Palace of Charles V which was built on the site in 1492 after the area was reconquered from the Moores. 

On my way down I stopped to check out the mosque baths and then passed the palace and went through the wine gate to visit the Alcazaba.  The Alcazaba is part of the old fortress and sits high on the hill overlooking the city.  From the watch towers and walk ways you can see everything.  To get back to the rest of the Alhambra you walk along a really nice garden that extends along the wall.

Now it was nearly my turn to enter the Nasrid Palaces.  This part of the Alhambra is the most famous and the most beautiful.  It consists of 3 palaces built between 1333 and 1392 by various Sultans of Granada.  These palaces were home to the royal families and after standing in line sandwiched between groups of smokers, I was finally there. 

You start off in the Royal Complex.  This is where you get your first taste of the incredible carvings found all over the palace.  Your journey continues through some rooms that were used for general palace business before finally coming out in the Court of the Myrtles.  This is the court that is in all the travel books.  Here there is a large pool that (according to Wikipedia) was used to cool the palace and acted as a symbol of power.  The power display was due to the fact that water was not that plentiful and it took expensive technology to keep the pool filled.  Myrtles are the type of shrub growing along the sides of the pool. 

Next I walked through the Hall of the Ambassadors with walls covered in carved marble and a 75 ft high dome.  It was pretty impressive, which makes sense since this is where the sultan received guests. 

After that, I was in the Court of the Lions.  This was my favorite thing in the Alhambra.  The floor was white marble and in the center was a large fountain held up by 12 lions.  Several fountains from rooms off the court also drained to the courtyard.  The surrounding arches were amazingly carved the ceilings in the adjoining rooms were awesome. 

The rest of the Nasrid consisted of a few other rooms and some courtyards.  After exiting the Nasrid, I stopped by the Palace of Charles V to see if I could visit the Alhambra Museum.  It was closed, so I moved on the Generalife.    This portion of the complex was built in the early 14^th century and was constructed as a getaway for the royals… that is literally within 10 minutes walking distance from their amazing house. 

The Generalife is beautiful.  I saw the Court of the Water Channel which is a long pool with fountains that is surrounded by flowers and the Sultana’s Garden.  The gardens here are some of the oldest surviving Moorish gardens in the world.   I also made sure to visit the Water Stairway.  The railings are inverted roof tiles that carry constant streams of water down them for use in the other fountains. 

Having seen all I needed to see, I exited the Alhambra through its original gate, the Gate of Justice and after looking at Charles V’s fountain walked down through the woods and out the Gate of Pomegranates back into Granada. 

I wanted to visit the Cathedral, which is one of the largest in Spain.  It was started in 1518 and took 181 years to be completed.   Unfortunately, the cathedral was closed but the Royal Chapel was still open.   The Royal Chapel is first and foremost a mausoleum for the remains of the Catholic Monarchs:  Queen Isabella I & King Ferdinand II and some offspring.   The chapel is dominated by the sarcophagi of the royals and the actual coffins can be viewed by walking down the stairs that go under the floor.  The chapel also houses a museum showing off the Catholic royals’ rosary beads, crowns, scepters, and religious icons (I do love a good icon). 

After this, I walked around town for awhile and grabbed an early dinner.  I then took in more of the sights before going back to the hostel for New Year’s Eve.  The hostel was having a New Year’s dinner, but since I had broken down and eaten early, I just sat with D, L, and S (my 3^rd roommate from Japan).  It was a great dinner.  I met people from New Zealand, Croatia, and Israel.  Afterwards, a big group of us headed to the main square to ring in the New Year.  There were so many people wearing funny hats (I might have been one of them) and there were great fireworks and music.  After that, D, L, S, and I went back to the hostel and spent the evening listening to the hostel cooks play amazing guitar music as L sang along. 

The next morning, S and I walked to a nice overlook for a view of the Alhambra.  Naturally, it was foggy so we continued seeing some sights around town.  Then, S had to catch a train so I met up with D and L for a walk into the countryside past cave houses and an abandoned convent.   That night, I went out for pizza with a girl from Massachusetts and another girl from the East Coast… somewhere (I met a lot of people this trip) before catching the overnight train to Barcelona.