2006 retirement tripSpain March 22 to April 7

Granada

Thursday 30 March, 2006  Thursday March 30 was spent travelling by train from Jerez to Granada. We caught the 09:40 train from Jerez to Dos Hermanas and changed for Granada. At Granada Station we caught a cab to the hotel. The whole trip was within Andalusia. And, somewhere along the way, I caught the flu.
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Thursday 30 March, 2006   My flu had worsened so I spent the rest of the day in the hotel.  The next day, Friday March 31, my flu was even worse and I spent most of the day in bed. We had to move into another hotel that morning.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  I stayed in the hotel room all day, still too sick to move. Jenni took all the photographs for today.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Granada has the Sierra Nevadas for a backdrop - lots of construction going on with Spain's housing boom (busting in 2008).
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  A subway system was being constructed which caused massive traffic congestion in the city.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Once again, modern Spanish architecture is impressive. This building shows traces of Granada's Moorish past.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The buildings in one of the city streets of Granada. This one features iron lacework balconies.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Granada Cathedral (Cathedral of the Annunciation).  The first part, the chapel, was built between 1505 and 1517 in Gothic style. Construction continued in Spanish renaissance style with completion in 1667.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  A part of the cathedral is called Capella Real (Royal Chapel) wherein the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Ferdinand, are buried. Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon were responsible for the overthrow of Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors, in 1492.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  She died in 1504 and he died in 1516. They were buried in the chapel's mausoleum  in  1521. Their daughter was Catherine of Aragon who became English King Henry V's first wife. Their Grandson was Carlos 5 who was the first monarch of the newly united Spain. He was the one responsible for the monstrosity at the Alhambra.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Jenni was very impressed with the high fashion, not only in Granada, but in Spain generally (although in the background the grunge look is de rigueur with the young).
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  While I'm sick in bed, Jenni takes a bus tour that takes her up to the Alhambra, and the Albaicin and Sacromonte areas
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The Tower of Justice, built in 1348, is the original entrance gate to the Alhambra. The   hand of Fatima  , a talisman against the evil eye, is carved into the keystone above the gate. Fatima was the daughter of the prophet Muhammad.  A key, the symbol of authority, occupies the corresponding place on the interior.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  In the bus navigating the narrow streets of the Albaicin. The old bridge in front crosses the Rio Darro.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  A classic shot of the Alhambra taken from Mirador San Nicolas in the Albaicin.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The Alcazabar or fort is to the far right of the picture. The Tower of Comares is in the middle of the older buildings to the left. These are the Nazaries Palaces, the original palaces of the sultans of Granada. The huge cutting in front is where the material used in the construction of the Alcazaba was removed; called the Alhambra conglomerate.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The Alcazabar on the left looks down into the city of Granada. When the Alhambra was built, this was at first open farmland called the Vega.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The Generalife (pronounced Heneral leaf'ay') palaces framed by the Sierra Nevadas.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  One of Granada's main rivers, the Rio Darro, flows beside the Alhambra down through the valley formed by the two hills. The river disappears underground near the Alcazaba. At one time, the Daro provided the water for the Alhambra.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  From the Mirador of San Lucas. Look at the guitars - and the open cases for your coins. Must have been wonderful; I wish I had been there.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  European kids seem even more extreme than our own judging from the hair colours and attire on the left.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The Alcazabar. This was the first building of the Alhambra site.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The monstrosity in the middle that overpowers everything else is the Palace of King Carlos @nbsp; V.  Construction started in 1527 but the building was not occupied until the 20th Century.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Washington Irving's book "Tales of the Alhambra" describes this vista as the vega or plains of Granada. Not a lot of the vega left.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Quite the most enchanting building I've ever seen. Of all the places I've been and seen, the Alhambra has left the most lasting impression on me.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  California tiles on roofs of the old houses in the Albaicin.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  This is classic Albaicin, a labyrinth of secluded plazas, alleyways, mosques-rebuilt-as-churches and horseshoe-shaped gates. It was declared a world heritage site in 1984.  Look at the wiring; this can't be to "code".
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Cave dwellings in the Acromonte district. These caves were originally occupied by Gypsies who arrived with the conquering  Catholic Monarchs' (there were two monarchs, Aragon & Castile) armies.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  They worked as metal craftsmen and settled into this quarter. It is slightly to the north of the Albaicin. Many of these dwellings are still occupied and the area is now world-heritage listed.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Jenni's bus ride continues. Here the lower wall of the Alhambra can be seen.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The road back down to the city.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Modern apartments built into the hillside. What's interesting is the Moorish-style arches.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Jenni's bus leaves the hills and returns to the city where she continues her discoveries - still aboard the bus.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Granada is a university town. The University of Granada was first founded by the Moors in 1349 and then officially founded in 1531 by the Emperor Carlos V.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  This is the Rio Genil which is created by runoff from the melting snows of the Sierra Nevadas.  The river is stored in a huge dam in the hills and runoff is controlled to flow through the city of Granada. It eventually joins the Guadalquivir.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The doorway of this building is very close to classic moorish architecture. Once again, as is common throughout Andalusia, orange trees are used for decoration.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  This is the hotel we stayed in for the remainder of our visit. We had booked an additional day in Granada when we cancelled the trip to Morocco and we were in a different hotel for the first night.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Granada's Plaza de Toros was inaugurated in 1928 and has a capacity of 14,500 spectators. The plaza is used for many functions other than the tormenting and  killing of animals for the entertainment of the masses.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  It is very popular for art exhibitions and rock concerts. Despite this, there are still around 20 bullfights per year.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Inside Granada's Cathedral of the Annunciation.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Starting in 1529,  it took 181 years to build the cathedral.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  This time, it was built next to the old mosque and not on top of it.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  Large Corinthian (Greek classical) columns support intricate plaster work.
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Saturday 1 April, 2006  The altar
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Sunday 2 April, 2006   It's Sunday and I'm well enough to join Jenni on our tour of Granada. It's a little cold this morning.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We had breakfast served by an English-speaking waitress. A bit funny was the toilet overflowing.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We caught the mini-bus up the hill and got off one stop early at the Manuel de Falla museum. Manuel de Falla was born in 1876 and died in 1946. He lived here between 1921 and 1939.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Manuel de Falla wrote lots of good music, "Love the Magician" and "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" are particular favourites of mine.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The church in the middle of the picture is the Santo Domingo Church: Founded in 1512 by the Catholic Monarchs (although Isabella died in 1504)
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Not totally recovered from the flu but much better.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Jenni, yet to get the flu. Santo Domingo Church is near her, uhm, chest.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Beautiful woman. The best.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We walk up the hill towards the ticket office. On the way, we walk past the Washington Irving Hotel not realising what a part he played in popularising, and hence rescuing, the Alhambra.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Jenni collected our tickets that we'd ordered over the internet previously.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  There were continuous announcements in four languages about the number of tickets left for sale. Our allocated time for the Nazaries Palaces was 5:00 to 5:30 PM. Miss that time and tough luck. €10 each was a steal.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  At 2:00PM our group was allowed in.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  They let 3000 people in at a time. We thought we'd be smart and go in the reverse direction to beat the crowd.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  From the Generalife looking down into the Alhambra. Some of  the 13 towers are visible. The large square castellated tower in the right distance is the Tower of Comares and the Nazaries Palaces are in the right centre.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Nazaries Palaces with the belfry of the Watch Tower of the Alcazabar visible on the skyline.  The little tower out on its own is the Queen's Dressing Room.  It was built circa 1537 on top of Abu l-Hajjaj's Tower and it is so called because the Empress Elizabeth, Charles V's wife, Lived there.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We didn't get too far before we had to turn around, go back to the beginning and start again. The way was blocked for reverse flow. Who says the Spaniards couldn't organise a chook raffle?
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Inside the gardens of the Generalife.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The gardens are now modern European in style.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  But laid out in a geometric style favoured by the Moors.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The upper garden.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Water flows down a channel to produce the peaceful sounds favoured by the Moors. In front of us is one of the pools built to slow the water down to remove the sediments from the water. The water originally came from a dam on the Rio Darro 6 kms away via a channel built with pick and shovel. The path even included a tunnel through one of the hillsides.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The present-day gardens were started in 1931 and completed by Francisco Prieto Moreno in 1951.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  They're very nice and relaxing.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The walkways are paved in traditional Granadian style with a mosaic of pebbles: white ones from the River Darro and black ones from the River Genil.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The name Generalife, its name from the 14th Century onwards, is a corruption of Jinnah al-`Arif, for which two interpretations have been proposed: "the Garden of the Architect," or "the Noblest of Gardens."
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The palace and gardens were built during the reign of Muhammad III (1302-1309) and redecorated shortly after by Abu I-Walid Isma'il (1313-1324).
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Patio de la Acequia (Court of the Water Channel), has a long pool framed by flowerbeds, fountains, colonnades and pavilions. Water in Islamic gardens is constantly moving and is part of the Islamic purification rituals.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Court of the Water Channel preserves the style of the medieval gardens of Al-Andalus
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Palacio de Generalife was the summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid sultans of Granada.   These arabesques are based upon the flowing nature of plant forms and recall the feminine nature of life giving.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Being late winter, the flower beds have yet fully to bloom.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Massive wooden doors lead through intricate columns and arches.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  This is our first exposure to the real thing. Most of this dates from the 13th century. Tourists in the late 19th century would prise lumps of plaster work from the walls to take home as souvenirs. Much of it finished up in British museums.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Jardín de la Sultana (Sultana's Garden or Courtyard of the Cypress).
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Water and cleanliness were Islamic themes. It represented heaven here on earth. Islam started in the desert countries of the middle east where water was a precious commodity and must therefore be freely available in heaven.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The gardens, fountains, streams, and palaces of the Generalife and Alhambra are designed to reflect the beauty of Paradise.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  After completing our tour of the Generalife, we walk down to the Alhambra itself. Water from the Rio Darro went first to the Generalife and then via aqueduct to the Alhambra.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The original walls were used to channel water from the Rio Darro throughout the complex. The brickwork is probably relatively modern. The Alhambra had two aqueducts: one for the normal channeling of water to the complex and another to handle overflow during times of flooding.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  On the way through, we see this tower and think "That's nice" and move on. It's the Tower of the Princesses and featured in Tales of the Alhambra in the "Legend of the three beautiful princesses".  It has had this name since the 17th century because of the legend told by Washington Irving about the princesses Zaida , Zoraida and Zorahaida .
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  This is the Tower of the Seven Floors.  When Napoleon conquered Spain, his troops used the Alhambra as a military base. When they left, they blew up much of the gates and walls. This was rebuilt in the 20th century.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  This is the Medina area where the workers who supported the ruling classes lived. The word medina means the traditional, old or non-European area of a North African town.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Medina might also be in honour of the prophet Muhammad who died in Medina (now in Saudi Arabia) in 632 AD.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We travel westwards down towards the Alhambra palaces and fortress. Looking back, we get a great view of the Sierra Nevadas.  Sierra means mountain range and Nevada means snow-covered.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Ruins in the Medina. At its peak, the Alhambra supported a population of 5,000 people.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Getting close. Carlos V was simultaneously Holy Roman Emperor and the first king of Spain. He was of the Habsburg dynasty that ruled most of Europe at the time but not, curiously, Rome itself.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Our first glimpse of Palacio Carlos V.   His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, whose marriage had first united their territories into what is now modern Spain.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  King Carlos V  commanded the construction of the palace in 1527, 35 years after the fall of Granada to the Christians.   He wished to establish a permanent residence, befitting an emperor, close to the Alhambra palaces.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Only the southern and western façades are completely decorated. The other sides are not because they are connected to the palaces of the Alhambra.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Puerta del Vino (Wine gate). The exterior façade of the gate has a pointed horseshoe arch and embossed voussoirs.  It leads to the Square of the Cisterns.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Broken Tower (Torre Quebrada)  to the left and the Homage Tower (Torre del Homenaje) to the right. The steps are the main entrance to the Alcazabar.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  At the top of the hill is the Palacio de Dar-al-Horra. The mother of the last sultan of Grenada, Boabdil, lived here. The Murallas del Albayzin (Moorish defensive walls) can be seen to the left going up to the palace.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Square of the Cisterns is named after the cisterns that were built in the gully between the Alcazaba and the palaces. The cisterns were 34m long, 6m wide and 8m high, and were buried to create the square.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We go through the entrance, turn right then left, and walk along the base of the Homage Tower and climb some steps.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Homage tower from the side.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Moors lost Granada in 1492, without the fortress itself being attacked, when Ferdinand and Isabella took the surrounding region with overwhelming numbers. Boabdil then surrendered to them.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Granada was the last of the Moorish kingdoms to fall to the Christians and this completed the Spanish Reconquista.  All of Andalusia was now under Christian control, Cordoba having fallen in 1236, Jerez in 1264, etc.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The mighty Rio Darro. It is a trickle here and shortly goes underground. At one time, this river supplied the water for the parks, gardens, fountains and people of the Alhambra.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Albaicin. The Mirador de San Nicolas, from where Jenni took the great shots of the Alhambra, is near the top of the picture (where the crowds of people are).
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The palace of  King Carlos V has very little decoration on the Nazaries Palaces side of  the building. The white structure with the six columns is the Court of the Myrtles, within the Nazaries palaces.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Centuries of construction and reconstruction: a combination of stones, bricks and concrete.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  On the northern side of the fortress looking towards the Watch Tower.  Below the horizontal  wall in the middle of the picture is the Arms Gate, one of the main entrances to the tower.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We climb a set of stairs and enter the Military Quarter. This was the first township of the complex and housed the soldiers and the people needed to support them; it even had its own flour miller.  We walk to where the tourists are in this picture . . .
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  . . . and look back at the curtain wall.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  If an invading army managed to scale the exterior wall, they would be trapped between it and the rest of the fortress.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We enter an area called the Alcazaba baths.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We've now climbed very narrow stairs to the top of the Watch Tower (Torre de la Vela)  where we're rewarded with stunning views.  Sacromonte Abbey in the background was founded in 1600 and is built over catacombs (originally mine workings of Roman date).
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The reddish building is the Alhambra Palace Hotel built in 1910.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Looking down into what was once a vega.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  These kids are on top of the entrance to the top of the tower.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  In 1840 the belfry  was erected on the western facade. It was rebuilt in 1882 after lightning damaged it. Nowadays, it is used only on January 2nd, the date of Boabdil's surrender to the Catholic Monarchs. It looks like this bell is still pulled by hand but its sound is electronically amplified.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  A better view of the Palacio de Dar-al-Horra. The Moorish defensive walls can be seen to the left going up to the palace and back down again. Below the palace are the cliff dwellings in Sacromonte.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Sierra Nevadas are part of La Alpujarra which is a landlocked historical region in Southern Spain that stretches south from the Sierra Nevada mountains. The western part of the region lies in the province of Granada and the eastern part in the province of Almería.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We leave the Watch Tower via the Powder Tower and enter the garden of the Ardaves.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The fountain makes nice noises but its style is out of place a bit.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The vega from the Garden of  the Ardaves. Just visible in this picture is part of the Vermillion Towers.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The guided tour was great although we remembered almost nothing of the descriptions. We're about to exit the fortress and come back out near the Wine Gate.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  After leaving the fortress we get a closer view of Carlos V's Palace. The palace is a 63 meter square containing an inner circular patio.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The architect in charge of the works was Pedro Machuca who was an experienced architect who favoured the Renaissance. The works started in 1527 and were totally finished in 1957.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The construction went through several stages including lack of financing, revolts that stopped the works, etc. The building was neglected to such an extent that the ceilings collapsed.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  To me, it's the ugliest, most unimaginative  building I've ever seen.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  It's nearly time for us to enter the Nazaries Palaces. That's the Tower of Comares. This was the next tower to be built after the three towers of the Alcazabar.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Unlike King Carlos' grand palace entrance, the Nazaries palaces are entered through a modest door.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The entrance to the Palaces.  According to Moorish tradition, the splendour is inside the building.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Hall of the Mexuar, the first room of the palace.  It housed the functional areas for conducting business and administration.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We enter the Court of the Gilded Room which joins the Mexuar. On the floor is a small circular fountain. The Gilded Room itself is on the northern side and overlooks the Albaicin.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The  court of the Gilded Room is open to the sky and decorated with impressive plaster work.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Windows in the Court of the Gilded Room (Cuarto Dorado). The Cuarto Dorado was once used as a throne chamber for the Sultan.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Notice all of the plaster missing at eye level.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  In the entrance to the Court of the Myrtles. This is called mocarabe (Spanish for honeycomb) vaulting and is a complex geometric pattern, conforming to mathematical rules, and made of plaster. The blue was originally mined in Afghanistan and was said to be more valuable than gold.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The court of the Myrtles. At the far end, the court abuts the Palace of Carlos V. At the end where we're standing is the Comares Palace.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Palace of the Myrtles is one of the two main units that constitute the Alhambra palaces. Construction began during the reign of  Isma'il I and was completed during the reign of Muhammad V in 1370.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  You can just see the top of the King Carlos V Palace at the top, overpowering the Court of the Myrtles.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Comares Room or Hall of the Ambassadors
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Hall of the Ambassadors was used by the Nasrids for state receptions. The Nasrids were the ruling family after whom these palaces were named; they were the last of the Muslim dynasties on the Iberian Peninsular.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  One of the small chambers off the Comares Room. The ceiling represents the seven heavens described in the Koran. The more good deeds one has performed the higher the level of heaven one is directed to. The highest level is the seventh heaven, in which God can be seen and where anything is possible.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  A series of arches looking out to the Court of the Myrtles from within the Hall of the Ambassadors. The Islamic inscriptions say something about there being no winner but God.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Leaving the Court of the Myrtles, we enter the Court of the Lions. The structures follow mathematical rules developed by the Greeks and Romans (but lost during the dark ages to Christians). This explains why the proportions are so harmonious.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones‎) is the main court of the Palace of the Lions. At  the other end of the court is the Hall of the Kings. Behind us is the Hall of the Mocarabes (mocarabe: design of interlaced prisms).
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Court of the Lions was commissioned by the Nasrid king Muhammed V. Its construction started in the second period of his reign, between 1362 and 1391 - 100 years before the reconquest of Granada.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The outline of the columns here form a square. The diagonal of this square is the height of the arches. The diagonal of this rectangle is the height of the roof line. An old photo shows a fake Persian dome that had been added to the roof of this structure in 1858. it was hugely out of place and was replaced in 1934.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  From the court, we can see the Hall of the    Abencerrages    and  the Islamic star-shaped building at the top.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Sala de los Abencerrages derives its name from a legend according to which Muley Abul Hassan (Boabdil's father) having invited the chiefs of that dynasty to a banquet, massacred them here - one by one.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Mocárabe vaulting in the Hall of the Abencerrages.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Fountain of Lions is an alabaster basin supported by the figures of twelve lions in white marble. This is curious because Islam usually does not represent humans or animals in any form. It could be because the rest of Spain was now under Christian control and many of the ideas for this palace were imported from Christian Seville.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Intricate plaster work frames the entry to the Hall of the Kings.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The columns look too slender to support the structures they carry but they have survived hundreds of years and many earthquakes during that period.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Honeycomb  or mocárabe vaulting in the Hall of the Two Sisters. The two sisters are two large flawless pieces of marble that form part of the flooring.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Boabdil´s mother lived here after being repudiated by Muley Abul Hassan when he married Isabel de Solís, a Christian who had converted to Islam.
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In the Hall of the Two sisters, looking into the bath area.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Washington Irving stayed in this room in 1829 collecting information, tales and myths about the Alhambra. It resulted in his famous book "Tales of the Alhambra". At the time, the Alhambra was run down and in extreme disrepair. Translation:  Washington Irving wrote in these rooms his stories of the Alhambra in the year 1829
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Alhambra was slowly rebuilt as funds became available from the tourism the book generated. The Hall of  the Two Sisters overlooks the Gardens of  Lindaraxa.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  It occurred to me that the Alhambra is reasonably preserved for a monument 8-900 years old mainly because it was allowed to spend most of those years in relative peace without 19th Century tourists taking home samples and destroying it. We're now in the Garden of Linderaxa and these gardens date from the 16th Century.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Lindaraxa was the daughter of the Alcayde of Malaga who married Prince Nasar, of the Nasrid Dynasty, in the 1430's.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Morisco houses outside the palaces. Morisco means Moorish-like and was a pejorative term. Christians believed that Moriscos had not fully converted to Christianity - strange really when the Inquisition persuaded so many of them.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  A note about the Spanish Inquisition: it was established in 1478 by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile and ended in 15 July 1834 (350 years).  It has been airbrushed from Spanish history. These are the gardens of the Partal. Nearby is the Ruada which was the royal cemetery.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Outside the Court of the Lions with the Tower of Comares visible in the distance and the roof of the Hall of Two Sisters visible on the left.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Ladies Tower (Torre de las Damas). This structure was originally called the Partal (portico) because of the portico formed by the five arches. Its decoration is the oldest of the Alhambra. The building was restored in 1924.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The star-shaped roof of the Hall of the Abencerrages.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  We're walking near the northern wall towards the exit .
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  In front of us is the Tower of the Points which helped to defend one of the entrances to the fortress. Although built in the late 13th or beginning of the 14th century, it is of a Gothic style.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  beautifully manicured gardens along the northern wall. I wonder if these were the kind of gardens the Moors had when the Alhambra was theirs.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  They look modern European in style (or maybe Moresco) to me.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Looking down into the Partal.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The gardens continue along the northern wall.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Tower of the Princesses is a small palace which, in the 16th century, was called Ruiz y Quintarnaya's Tower (Torre de Ruiz y Quintarnaya) after its inhabitant at the time. The new name came into use after Washington Irving's tale about the princesses Zaida, Zoraida and Zorahayda.
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  The Tower of the Captive is named after the legend of Isabel de Solís, a Christian who was imprisoned there. She converted to Islam with the name of Zoraya and became the younger wife of Muley Abul Hassan, father of Boabdil.   The tower is both a palace and a fortress. I think the channel could be the one used to divert excess water back to the Rio Darro
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Sunday 2 April, 2006  Boabdil was the last sultan of Granada and surrendered to the two Catholic Monarchs in 1492 thus ending the Moorish reign in Andalusia.  Visiting the Alhambra was a fabulous day in one of the most fascinating places I've ever been. I yearn to return and learn more about the "Last sigh of the Moors". We catch the mini-bus back down the hill to Granada.
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The tourist map of the Alhambra.   END OF OUR STOPOVER IN GRANADA     We return to Madrid.
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