Thursday 19th January - El Alhambra, Granada (Spain)

 

As we are camped just 60 miles south of Granada, we have taken the opportunity to revisit the Alhambra.  The last time we came here was some years ago and, having become dreadfully lost in the urban outskirts of Granada (yes it is possible), we arrived so late in the day that our visit was somewhat hurried, not to mention bad tempered, so we wanted to spend a relaxed and unrushed day here.

This time we started out early so we could get the best from our visit.  As we travelled further inland and onto higher ground, the weather became noticeably colder and we saw the snow covered mountains all around.  Luckily, we had the heads up that we’d need to think layers when dressing today, and to remember our gloves and hats.  Something we wouldn’t have guessed from the sunny warmth of our campsite just 60 miles away.

 

         

             Snow capped mountains en-route to the Alhambra          Yes, it was just yesterday we were sunbathing in shorts

 

                                                                

                                     Roland tries to keep Angela in sight.  Well the sandwiches are in that pack!

 

It would be easy to think that Islam’s aniconism might be limiting to religious artistic expression, but the breath-taking adornment of the buildings of the Alhambra shows that this is could not be further from the truth.

         

                                                  Islamic religious expression through wonderful patterns

                                                             

 

It was actually quite cold as we made our way around the Alhambra, but we could remember from our last visit how welcoming the areas of coolness were in the heat of the summer.

                             

        Some examples of the way water was used by the Moors to create cool and tranquil areas

                                                

 

 

         

                                                                     Some views around the Alhambra

         

 

On this second visit, we both realised just how much we had missed during our first whistle-stop tour.  The Alhambra is so vast that one cannot really do it justice in anything less than 4 hours.  Admittedly we had a bit of an advantage this time in that there were no crowds.  That being said there were still a few large organised groups of tourists who seemed to be snapping at everything including selfies at every opportunity.  All of this without even taking time to look up and see things as they really are.  But hey, its their holiday.

 

 

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