Granada was our final stop in Spain. Here, in the heart of Andulucia, we got to enjoy some very famous landmarks. We had cone here from Sevilla with the idea of getting a bit more into the Moorish culture and seeing the Alhambra of course. We got much more than that!
For food, we scoured the old city or Albaycin with its narrow windy streets for a veggie restaurant. The Albaycin was the old Muslim quarter- we went to the Albaycin twice- once to find a restaurant- we entered from the residential entrance and wandered down empty streets for at least half an hour before stumbling on to the street- alas..a tourist gulch with shops and stalls. We ate in Plaza Nuevo right next to where we were staying - lots of good shawarma, falafel, tapas etc.
Granada is also where, in 1492, the Catholic Monarchs gave Christopher Columbus (or, in Spanish, Cristobal Colon) his mandate and funding to go find a new route to India. Of course and off course, Colon ran into the West Indies and 'discovered' the new world. I asked our guide as to where Colon had gotten his maps from and we heard that they were received from a Portugese map expert. From others, we have heard that the Chinese circumnavigated the globe much earlier, prepared maps and copies ended up in the hands of Colon (see the book '1421 - Chinese discovery of the world')
We took a walking tour that took us through the old city. According to our guide, Granada's new face was Christian, built on the remains or sites of previous Muslim buildings. We saw a madrasa- a Muslim theological school, a fountain and others. Almost all of the Muslim architecture has been destroyed unfortunately. The Catholic Monarchs wanted to erase all presence of Muslim influence. They did not really succeed since the Alhambra and the Albaycin dominate the city.
The Alhambra towers over the city of Granada. From the outside, it just looks like a big plain fortress but from the inside, the Alhambra is magical. We elected to take a minibus to the top - it was too hot to walk up there! On the inside, we saw the palace, the keep, the Generelife (pronounced 'heneraleefey') gardens and much much more. The Koran specifically prohibits the worship of idols and the imitations (i.e. statues and paintings) of men. As a result, there is a marked difference in the interiors of Muslim architecture compared to Christian architecture.
The Alhambra has fantastic patterns and inscriptions on all of its walls, with gorgeous geometric patterns and stalactite-like ceilings. The stalactite-like ceilings are evident everywhere and give a very organic look to the ceilings. Our audio guide called the Alhambra the seventh wonder of the world - well, it techinally is not but we will nominate it for the eighth wonder!
There is the beautiful fountain of lions. There were many other such sites. Many of the rooms overlooking courtyards had moucharabiah screens or what we calld purdah screens in India. This was used by the women to look outside without being seen themselves.
Apparently, Moorish architecture also focused a lot on providing peace and calm to the inhabitants of the palace. As a result, fountains and streams such as those shown here provide a serene atmosphere.
We also saw many other parts of the Alhambra, spending about 5-6 hours there. From the keep, one can see the city of Granada - some beautiful landscapes. The Generalife gardens has beautiful flowers and arangements, in addition to fountains and streams.
On our final night in Granada, we elected to go to a hamaam. After all, we had seen hamaam ruins in the Alhambra and in Sevilla and in Barcelona so why not visit a functioning hamaam? The hamaam was right next to Plaza Nuevo - it was quite a pleasant experience although the shock of going from hot water to cold water was somewhat unpleasant! One room had a long pool with hot water, the other room had a tank with freezing water; We ended by getting massages at the hamaam.
Next morning, bright and early at 7am, we took the train to Algeciras and the ferry to Morocco!
- Dev
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