The Alhambra seen from the mirador de San Nicolas. It was kind of tricky to actually see the palaces because there were so many people at this viewpoint, selling jewelry, dancing flamenco, smoking some horribly smelly cigarettes. It was a mess. But not a bad view.
Dear reader,
We only spent three days in Granada but this is still going to be a very photo-heavy post because ohmygod the Alhambra! Have you been there? It's a palace with another palace next door and these gorgeous gardens all around. When the authorities told me we'd spend two days exploring here I was pretty skeptical. I mean, please, we did Neuschwanstein Castle in what, 2 hours? I think we can be pretty speedy about this. (Turns out I was not right about that...) So here goes the photo salvo.
Day 1 we spent touring the Generalife which to my confusion didn't turn out to be an insurance office but the summer palace of the emirs. It was only a few hundred meters away from their other palace so they were obviously afraid of change or hated packing.
Come on in, we've got cookies.Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine, ooh yeah...To and fro, to and fro, for every high there's a low; to and fro, stop and go, that's what makes the world go round. [Ed. note: SmallPaw has recently watched "Sword in the Stone" for the first time.]The emirs were obviously big fans of water. There are fountains and whatnot EVERYWHERE!I think the oranges were fake, put there for the tourists to look at. The authorities would not let prove my theory. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET AN EDUCATION AROUND HERE?Told you, water EVERYWHERE!#nofilter The air really was that soupy and brown. That's the old town of Granada.
Day 2 we spent at the science museum to see something different and give the weather a chance to clear out all the muck and sand from the air. There were so many good things at the museum! We saw a bird show with an owl and a peregrine falcon (those things are out-of-this-world fast, did you know that?), played with a giant ball machine, watched a gerbil family and created our own topographical maps. Coolest exhibit ever.
The higher you made your sand mountain, the darker the colors got. Just like a real map but interactive. And you could make it rain and form lakes by pointing the 'clouds' over an area. Absolute family favorite this one.When the mommy gerbil wasn't sitting on top of them and feeding them (not trying to suffocate them as I thought), the daddy gerbil came in and sat on top of them to keep them warm. Good division of labour, go gerbils!Pling, pling, plong, plang...
Day 3 we went back to the Alhambra to see the actual palace of the emirs. It was a lot more crowded than the Generalife but the patterns and decorations on the walls and ceilings really were spectacular.
All kinds of angles and weirdness going on here. Catering trying to be artistic...Check out this ceiling! Nobody does ceilings like that anymore!More water, of course. But oh so pretty, don't you agree?Oh all the patterns, I can't even begin... *swoon*Pretty as a pictureEveryone went nuts over these lions. I thought they looked kinda funny actually. More like tame house-cats.Throw a couple of couches in there, add a coffee machine and BOOM you're in business!Seriously, why is there no furniture here? And did they have windows or was it all about the onion look in winter? Brrr...That written part in the middle says "Allah" and its repeated over and over and over again. Except for that one room where they had used stanzas from a poem about the circumcision of a prince instead. Such happy decorations!Uhm hello, I'm down here!They must have a lot of gardeners to make this place look so neat all the time.Draw, cowboy! No, you draw! No, you! *CATFIGHT*To clear our minds from all that culture we played a good game of pooh sticks.
We stayed in a tiny house in the old town that all nooks and crannies (and no heating until the authorities finally called the owners who pressed some buttons in their house and presto, ever-so-slightly warmer). I liked it though because there were always some dogs sitting on the wall across from us. Catering grumbled about their barking at night but how else are they going to talk to their friends?! Grown-ups don't understand anything...
Obviously the owners of that house weren't too thrilled with the nightly dog news network either and have put the place up for sale.
So Granada was jam-packed from morning to night. A very nice place though and well worth the stay.
Today we took the bus/train to the Sevilla and we'll spend a few days here before hopping over to Portugal - first time for all of us! Exciting stuff!
