Granada and The Alhambra

Yesterday, June 8th, we caught a tour bus for Granada, the home of the Alhambra Palace. Joel had originally seen a picture of the Alhambra in a Jr. High textbook quite a few years ago.

We were picked up along with two German couples around 7:45 A.M., there were several more stops and by the time everyone was on board there were two English ladies, a Dutch couple, 3 or 4 Spanish women and close to twenty German people. Our guide was a woman from Belgium who spoke all the languages of everyone on board, so any description was repeated several times in the different languages. We are finding that wherever we go we are the only North Americans.

At the Alhambra we were given a guide named Martin who did the tour in German and English. Many on the other groups were led by a person with a flag. Martin was probably 6'6" tall so needed no flag. We enjoyed visiting both the palaces of the Moorish Sultans that were built in the 1200's and then the palace constructed by the Hapsburg Emperor, Charles V in the 1500's. There was ornate ceramic and stucco work in the older, Muslim palaces. Much of the restoration of these magnificent palaces was started in the 1950's and continues today. There are many beautiful fountains and gardens. Granada was ruled by the Muslim Moors until 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella finally drove them out of Spain. When Christian Spain took over the mosques were redesigned into churches and other more European renovations were made. In the main palace was the place where Columbus made his appeal to Ferdinand and Isabella to be funded for his trip to the new world.  Granada was replaced as the capitol of Spain in the early 1500's by Madrid, which has a more central location. We spent almost 2 1/2 hours in the Alhambra. On our way out we saw may ruins that are part of the Alhambra. They said these were areas that Napoleon and his troops destroyed in 1802. Unfortunately, we don't have pictures as when we took out the camera we discovered we had left the card in our computer, so we have many beautiful pictures in our minds, but none to share.

We spent the afternoon in the main city of Grenada. This is a city of 500-600,000 people. The downtown was beautiful with many picturesque streets to stroll with many Tapas Bars, Restaurants, and expensive shops. We were told to be careful as there is 26% unemployment in Granada, so petty crime was on the rise. We were told to watch for Gypsy women. They would offer you a free Rosemary sprig and when you take it they would grab your hand and quickly tell your fortune, then demand payment of five to ten Euros. Luckily, none approached us. we were also warned about pickpockets. None in our group had any of these problems, but one English lady fell in the cathedral and left her purse. She had her driver's license and debit card in it. The British have a sizable presence in this part of Spain, including her bank, so she should get her debit card reissued quickly. We enjoyed a good meal which included a paella, which was a rice dish with Shrimp, squid, clams, and oysters which was delicious. Later we stopped at a gelato stand and enjoyed this for desert. We wandered many of the streets and ran into a square that appeared to have been taken over by protesting young people. They are protesting high unemployment among young people and government austerity measures. We walked through their square where some had pitched tents. Many looked like my friends and I from the 60's. None gave us any problem and appeared to be peacefully protesting.

Our ride home was uneventful and we were glad to return to Torrex around 7:15 P.M. When we returned we saw that the authorities have been working hard at beach restoration. A kilometer of the beach had been washed away by storms before we arrived. Now there are bulldozers and large trucks working feverishly at rebuilding the beach. The city fathers of our home city of Mazatlan could learn lessons from this project. The workers start early in the morning and go until the evening. It appears everyone has a job and is doing it. In less than a week 2/3 of the beach has been restored and it looks like they will finish soon.

Our next plan is to rent a car for 4 days and drive to some of the Spanish hill towns. The town of Ronda is the first one. They have a wine museum, which should be interesting. We will also tour Malaga, the home of Pablo Picasso. They have recently opened a Picasso Museum and also have an old city wall that is of interest. We also plan to drive to Gibraltar and go to the top of the rock and also see the Gibraltar Monkeys that live on the rock. I am sure next week we will tell of those trips.

Until next time, "La Vida es Buena"