Saturday 10th October
In two days we have seen the two most famous buildings in Spain and they were both stunning.
The Alhambra was a significant Moor palace and fortress until 1492 when the last Sultan surrendered to the Christian King Ferdinand, and went to Morocco, with his family safe and considerable riches. Depending on your point of view he either sold out for his own benefit or he very wisely saved the Alhambra and many lives by surrendering and not going to war.
The result is that centuries later we are able to see the Alhambra buildings, beautifully restored and preserved. Eventually Carlos1st (or Charles 5th Hapsburg) did destroy some of the buildings, and built a very ugly square monstrosity in the middle of it. But the tiered and lush gardens, flowing waters and tiled and sculpted buildings remain. It would have been a serene and calming place to live, especially without hundreds of tourists! The photos tell the story much better than any description I can provide.
A visit includes the white summer palace built higher on the mountain to catch the breeze and called Generalife. It's within walking distance and the views were magnificent.
To reach the Alhambra we walked slowly up the steep hill through the Alhambra Woods, and then spent a few hours wandering around until we could walk no more. Then we staggered down the hill, jumped in the car and headed for Cordoba, 2 hours way.
I seem to have taken lots of photos of the Alhambra so here's some to keep you going.
I'll do a separate post for Cordoba as we have had some adventures here, including undrinkable wine, flamenco and dancing horses, learning about Cordoba patios and Jewish culture......and of course the stunning Mesquita. All will be revealed when I have some time to do the Cordoba blog! !
Your very busy and exhausted correspondent
Dianne
No comments:
Post a Comment