Granada

We arrived in Granada about sunset and went to the hotel where we had to connect to our apartment. The hotel, Monjas del Carmen was up a small dead end alley...they let us park our car and called a taxi to take us to our apartment.  It was walkable but not with our luggage.  The apartment was located in the old Arab part of Granada, el Albaizin or sometimes, el Albaicin.  It has narrow winding streets and cars cannot make it through most of them..so the taxi took us to the foot of the hill, dropped off our luggage, and we ferried it up the stairs and up the hill to our apartment.  I was in love-we could walk out our door, look up and see the Alhambra.. amazing.

This is from my IPhone-no light but it is still stunning.

From so many years ago, I remembered the magical quality of this city and I was a little afraid that I would not see it the same way...it was a groundless fear.  The city is incredible and although we barely scratched the surface, it was amazingly beautiful.  It feels old and it's like being in another century.  Every where you look there is something interesting to see.

With and without flash-I vote for now flash..

We had dinner in a great restaurant up the hill from our apartment.  We just walked up and found the most amazing patio.  Dinner was fantastic and Granada had cooled down so we were not too miserable.  Granada turned out to be more manageable than Barcelona, which we thought would be the coolest stop in Spain.

Waking up early to take a taxi to the Alhambra. We could walk it but we were late (aparently you do need makeup to visit that place!) I wanted to go early because of the heat.  

The Nasrid Palaces is the only area that needs a ticket with a special time-if you miss the time, you cannot go in.

The incredible carved plaster wall and columns are amazing...the detail is beautiful.  You can see the intricate carving that was done.

Tile is everywhere and compliments the carved plaster.  I was in awe of how easy it is to walk in and be in another century...it just takes you back in time.

You are not allowed to touch anything as oils on skin can contribute to deterioratioon of the site.  So there are several interactive areas where you can touch and feel parts of the wood, plaster, and tiles - there is expanation of what everything is.  

This is the Patio of the Lions which is outside the Palace of the Lions which is the harem where the family lived.  

The courtyard is surrounded by these walkways -exquisite carvings.

A closeup of the carvings on the walls.  There are incredible views of Granada directly below.

This is a ceiling of one of the towers...

There was also carved wood-not everything was plaster.

More courtyards of the Nasrid Palaces.

This is the reflection from the courtyard.  

After we left the Nasrid palaces, we headed to the Alcazaba, the fortress and the oldest part of the Alhambra.  This is what you can see when looking up from our apartment.   

This is what it looks like from across the site.

The girls on the roof of the Alcazaba.  There are flags up there and views of all of Granada.

This is the arms square which was the original entrance to the Alcazaba.  Archaeologists discovered the foundations of Arab houses-probably where the people who served the dignitarties and royals lived.

Roses of the Alhambra-I had fun using the macro lens on the camera taking lots of flower closeups..  The roses were exquisite.  We had to walk all the way to the main entrance of the Alhambra and along the pathway to the Generalife.  

The Generalife was the leisure palace for the kings of Granada.  It was built in the 13th century.

It has been rebuilt, modified, and altered.  The buildings are very plain compared to the ostentaciousness of the rest of the complex.  The gardens are the most beautiful part. The Patio de la Acequia (irrigation ditch-sounds much better in Spanish) is the view that I have remembered all of these years since I was last in Spain (1975-OMG, a lifetime ago), Much has changed since the Arab period in Spain.

Views from the Generalife back towards the main part of the Alhambra.

We had an amazing day.  I think the Alhambra really blew the girls away...it is so hard to imagine what it might be like and then you go there and you are transported to another world.  I can see myself strolling through the gardens and living up on that hill.  It is so spiritual -like being at Macchu Picchu...sort of...

Beautiful textures in the crumbling walls.  The colors of old paint and plaster so amazing.

This is looking from one end of the Patio de la Aquecia through the arches of the Generalife and down into the valley of Granada.

Walking under arches of oleander on our way out of the palace...wow such an incredible day

Panoramic view from the Alhambra.

Toledo

We decided to go to Toledo on the way to Granada...it is famous for its multicultural heritage,as a place where Catholics, Jews, and Muslims co-existed-La Convivencia.  You can see remnants of that all over the city.  It was stinking hot that day-100 easily but we managed to see a lot.  This all ended inn 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all non-Catholics.  It is a very old city dating back to the Roman times.  It is high up on a hill, but the Spaniards have a thing for escalators, bless them!

It is a long escalator but you can take it from the parking area all the way to the top.  The views are amazing.

We walked into the city and needed a cold drink.  We walked around the borders of the city and then

Loved the sign that shows the different religious locations. 

I loved the fact that you could feel the age of the place and that the history was palpable.  We hardly felt the heat as we walked around.

Castle walls and more of my Spanish doors

We walked through winding streets and were so impressed with the beauty and the age of what we were seeing.

Finally a cold drink and a plan of where to go.

This was a view of the cathedral.

She was beautiful!  We did not end up going into the cathedral but we did visit inside part of it and the synagogue  and an old mosque. 

There were beautiful gated courtyards with lovely old gardens.

These are called chapitars and surround all the pillars-they are stucco.

This is a column in the synagogue.  It's called Santa Maria la Blanca Sinagoga (nice Jewish name!!) There is no information about its age, but it was believed to be built at the end of the 11th century by a Jewish ambassador to Alfonso VIII, who was openly sympathetic to toward Jews.  It burned in 1250 and was then rebuilt.  Even before the expulsion of all non-Catholics, it was not used as a synagogue but a church-hence the name.  

Tile floors and old wooden ceiling.

More remanants of Jewish history in Toledo.

So many beautiful old streets and buidings.

Me still on my quest for the best gazpacho soup...still nothing better than Le Pain Quotidien...but I got the recipe finally, I think and can reproduce it...

Luis conversing with a manequin and a motorcycle.  We contiued walking around the city and seeing amazing views.

Everywhere you look there are views of the hillside.  We have to go back because the city is surrounded on 3 sides by a river...we didn't have time to see it all.   We allowed 3 hours, stayed 5.5 and felt rushed to see it all.

More doors.  I love Spanish doors...it's the combo of old wood, well-worn and metal, I think.

I loved these window boxes/window alcolves...not really bay windows, San Francisco style, but cool nonetheless.

As we continued our way around the city, we found the mosque too.It's called Mezquita Cristo de la Luz.  

This is the way in..the old name is Bab al-Mardum.  The road itself was discovered in 2005-it's an old Roman road.    King Alonso VI conquered Toledo in 1085.  The original building was built in 999 AD.

This is the front of the mosque.  Although some of the mosque was discovered only recently, it is really quite old.  It has been a mosque, a church,and even a chapel for an order of knights.  

On our way back to the escalator, we saw more amazing views.

It was an amazing visit and so interesting, well worth another visit.