Gardens and Moorish architecture on the hill After arriving in Granada, Spain and looking up at it for a day, we finally got to see the Alhambra in all its glory. It took some climbing from our AirBnb accommodation in the old Arab neighborhood called The Albaicin Quarter. (I mean serious hill and stair climbing,…
Gardens and Moorish architecture on the hill
After arriving in Granada, Spain and looking up at it for a day, we finally got to see the Alhambra in all its glory. It took some climbing from our AirBnb accommodation in the old Arab neighborhood called The Albaicin Quarter. (I mean serious hill and stair climbing, which it turned out we didn’t have to do because Google Maps is not as good as we think it is. But we didn’t want to spoil the experience by taking one of the MANY taxis and buses that go directly to the Alhambra front door. Next time… we will take a taxi.) But, I digress.
The Alhambra palaces and grounds were as amazing as I had been told. I loved the Arab portion the best: the design, the gardens, the rushing water, the artistry, and the obvious science and math that went into creating this thing of beauty and demonstration of power. Of all the gardens that I have ever visited, the Generalife Gardens are the most beautiful. We visited in October and I cannot imagine how gorgeous these gardens must be in Spring and Summer.
Generalife Gardens
The Generalife Gardens were just gorgeous and I could only imagine that the gardens in summer must have been extremely lush. I loved it all – the views from the gardens, the irrigation design, the garden rooms, the myrtle and oleander and every other flower (or tree) you can think of, the varying designs from garden room to garden room, the use of architectural design using gardens inside the building to create a much cooler environment, and the musical sound of splashing water.
Moorish Architecture
When we left the Generalife and arrived at the Alhambra buildings created by the ancient Moors, our guide, Jose, took the opportunity to explain the connections to Islam communicated in the decorations and architectural features. The square is important in the Islamic faith, as well as the numbers 7 and 8. The intricate decorations include repetitive writing of Allah, the Islamic name for God, in two different scripts and the few symbols that Islam allows – natural things like trees, plants, and stars (especially the 8 pointed star). No depictions of people since that was considered idolatry.
Spanish Architecture at the Carlos V Palace
The Carlos V Palace was built for Carlos V, the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor, in the strict Spanish Renaissance style of architecture – gothic, with a strident look, and a lot of dark wood. It was built to be a residence for the Emperor, but apparently no one has ever lived there and I understand that it didn’t have a roof until 1957 (Wikipedia). It was a mild shock to go from the elegant, free flowing, and light architectural and garden design style of the Moors to this dark and forced style of the Spanish. To me, it felt dreary and oppressive.
The Albaicin Quarter (an ancient Arab neighborhood)
Our tour started at 5pm and took 3 hours. So, after the tour, we walked back down to Plaza de la Nueva in the dark and strolled back to the cafes at the bottom of our barrio in the Albaicin Quarter at the foot of the Alhambra. As we sat and ate our tapas dinner, a small band of musicians serenaded us for the second night in a row with gypsy jazz guitar music, the kind Django Reinhardt used to play (not as good as Django, but these were very talented young men and tonight they included what looked like a tenor saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar, and a very unusual bass made of a long stick and a string with a washtub at the bottom – and he was amazing). [Btw, if anyone is interested, according to my iPhone Health app I climbed 17 floors, took 15,023 steps and walked 6.9 miles that day. And, yes, I think my caboose was a little bit narrower afterwards.]
It was a magical day. We will definitely be back again and we will stay in the Albaicin Quarter again for those magical nights by the river under the brightly lit Alhambra.
The next day, we hopped on the knee-crushing bus (with a plan to protect our knees from banging the seat in front of us this time) and headed for Cadiz with a one night stopover in Seville. We could only get one night in Seville, but our AirBnb was inside the old city, so we were able to wander the streets of Seville among all the other tourists until the tours left for the night and we had Seville to ourselves for the evening.