Granada. Home to many wonderful architectural delights including the world famous “La Alhambra” palace / fort. If you haven’t been then you definitely should. Just to make it a day when it’s not cold and wet.
La Alhambra (“The Red One”) goes way back to 889 when the Romans were rulers in this part of the world . It’s seen a succession of different owners since including the court of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492 who Christopher Columbus came to in order to receive the royal endorsement for his expeditions that followed.
It’s an impressive piece of design with multiple gardens, theatres, chapels, palaces, administrative buildings and an aqueduct system that is wondrous in its design. I spent 3 hours within its walls and felt I had barely scratched the surface.
Given the inclement weather I was staggered at the number of people present. A very large contingent were Spanish too. So it obviously it invokes some national pride. Rightly so too.
Some photos follow that do it’s magnificence little justice
A top tip for anyone thinking about visiting La Alhambra - Book your ticket a looooong way ahead of time to ensure you can visit all aspects of the forts and palaces and halls. Given the crowds, even on a cold wet spring day the only access I could get tickets for were the general grounds and one area of the fort. Everything else was sold out and even if you had an “all access” ticket you are allocated a specific time period for each of the major halls.
And then there’s Granada itself ...
View of Granada from atop La Alhambra
Leading up to Granada’s Cathedral
Orange tree lined squares abound
Like the Italians the Spanish focus on style in presentation.
A few years ago my wife and I did a 5 day hike in Tanzania. Each morning our guide, Charles, would shake the tent gently to wake us.
Each morning the conversation started the same way.
“And how did you sleep Mr Nick and Mrs Kathryn?”
“ We slept well Charles , and you ? “
“ I slept like a fat baby”
Well Charles, after yesterday’s epic climb and ride it’s fair to say that the fat baby analogy was an apt one for “The Laeman “ last night.