Saturday, 27 January 2024

Andalusia 2019 - Part 10 - the Alhambra

The reason for our prompt departure from Antequera was that we had tickets to enter the Alhambra in the afternoon. 

Much like the Alcazar in Seville, it's the sort of place where you stick to your slot. 

It didn't feel as busy, but I think that's because it's built over a much bigger area. A much, much bigger area. There's a reason it's described as the Alhambra complex in lots of books. 

The Alhambra was the main reason we went on holiday to Spain. Mum had always wanted to go, and spurred on by her friend J's wise words of advice to "just go for it," I decided to take her. It was totally worth it. 

The route the guide took us in took us via the Palace of Charles V (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Charles_V), which was very impressive, even if it didn't fit it with anything else.
  Circular building, open to the sky, with regular pillars. Guide books describe it as renaissance-style. 

We wandered through the Alhambra at quite a pace, so yes, this is also on the "to be revisited" list. 

The Alhambra pays thanks to Washington Irving with a plaque. Stone plaque dedicated to Washington Irving. It says "Washington Irving, escribo en estas habitaciones sus cuentos de la Alhambra en el ano de 1829." Which translates to something like "Washington Irving wrote his stories of the Alhambra here in the year 1829. 
My terrible translation of this is "Washington Irving wrote his stories of the Alhambra here in the year 1829". 

We saw the Court of the Myrtles. 

Fuller information about this courtyard can be found here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_the_Myrtles
Very mudejar-style building. There is a very plain tower in the background, the Comares tower. There are arches which separate the walkway around the courtyard from the courtyard. The stonework is intricately decorated. There are tiles on the wall to about midway, and the rest is white painted. There is a row of myrtle bushes in the foreground. 

The plain tower in the background is the Comares tower, and those bushes are the titular myrtles. 

We saw the Court of the Lions: 

Meet some lions A fountain basin surrounded by stylised lions. The lions go all the way around, from this angle, you can see either of them. In the background are arches and a lot of tourists. 

For further information on the Court of the Lions, please see here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_the_Lions 

The ceiling of the Sala de los Abencerrajes was possible the most intricate thing we saw all trip. Elaborately carved ceiling, a proper description is immediately below, written by someone who knows what they are talking about Borrowing the description from Wikipedia - "It is covered by an elaborate muqarnas vault ceiling, featuring a 16-sided lantern cupola in the shape of an eight-pointed star, possibly symbolizing the celestial heaven." 

My less technical take is "imagine beautiful inverted termite mounds". 

There is an even prettier ceiling in the Sala de Dos Hermanas, but I was particular taken by the interplay of the muqarnas ceilings and the stained glass in the Mirador. The muqarnas ceiling, which, as I said, looks like the most beautiful inverted termite mounds, takes up the top third of the picture. They are white with blue highlights. The centre of the next third is the stained glass, which is red, blue, green and yellow with the expected black lead lining. The remainder of the photo is the white and blue detailed walls. 

The rest of my photos are outdoor photos.

View of the Partal palace 

  There are pine trees on both sides of the photo. In the front is a patio that leads out onto bushes. In the middle is a brown building. The right hand side is one storey, the left hand, two storeys. The front is mostly arches. 

View over to the Generalife: 

Details of this palace here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalife The foreground is dominated by gardens, and particularly a pine tree about a third of the way in from the left. In the background is a white multi-storey building, which is the generalife. 
View back from the Generalife: View from the white building in the last picture over to the rest of the Alhambra complex. The brown towers of the buildings are interspersed by trees.

We did get to walk over to the Generalife, and the view back helps show how big the whole Alhambra complex is. 

 The Alhambra really is surrounded by Grenada, as can be seen from this photo: View over part of Grenada. The buildings are white walled and have orange tiled roofs. 

And that was where we went the next day.
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