Alhambra

Saturday Jan 16th we went to the Alhambra, named as such because "hambra" in Arabic means red, the color of the earth and is the most important color in Islamic religion. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Kathleen, Liz, Claire, Megan and I went through the CLM (school - centro de lenguas modernas) and had a tour guide who teaches there. We entered through the Puerta de la Justicia, one of four entrances to the Alhambra. On top of the door, there is a small drawing of a hand, facing as though you put your right hand palm facing yourself, so your thumb points to the right. This is because the hand represents the five pillars of the Islamic religion, and the most important part is the thumb which means, "there is only one God, Muhammad is the prophet", points to the east, toward the Mecca. The other entrances are the Puerta Militar, Puerta de agua, and Los Siete Suelos Puerta. In itself, the Alhambra is a mix of things, it was originally a city holding I believe 1500 people, a fortress and a palace, and is now a monument as well. It was built by the Moors/Arabs, so the Islamic influence is seen but when los reyes catolicos, the Catholic king and queen Isabelle and Fernando, conquered Granada, more Christian and Catholic images were placed over the original design.

It has three parts, the first of which is the military fortress, where we stood on a tower that gave an amazing view of the city and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We saw the bases of what used to be houses, basically the outlines of where people lived, and where they would bathe and cook. We also saw a dungeon they held prisoners in, which was frightening. The second part is the palaces and residence of the kings. This is more decorated and has many designs and patterns that represent infinity or Allah. Our guide told us that the Alhambra tells her own story, seen through the patterned walls and repeating phrase that he said means something like, "no hay ganador sin dios", or, there is no winner without God. The third part is the Generalife, which is outside the walls of the Alhambra, but very close by. It involves mostly gardens. Even though it is winter here, most things were green, although I would like to go back in Spring when things are blooming. The gardens and forest are vast, and I don't know if I even saw all of them.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. After we finished the tour, we stopped to sit and eat our picnic and a few extra snacks we bought at the souvenir shop. My senora packed Kathleen and I a bocadillo, or sandwich, which was basically a half a loaf of french bread with cheese and oil in the middle. We also got COKE!!! I don't know how she knew we loved coke, but it was a very pleasant surprise. She also packed fruit, but I had to grab a bag of chips and a delicious chocolate ice cream bar since we had been doing so much work walking around :)

Instead of taking the bus back down, we decided to walk it. The streets leading up to the Alhambra are very steep, so I don't think we could have made it on the way up, but leaving was fine. Unfortunately the road lead us straight to some street vendors and shops that we spent at least two hours grazing through.

Then later Saturday night we went out, first to the chupeterria, which is a place that deals in shots for one euro. After we got out of that place, we headed over to the discoteca Granadadiez, which we had visited last Wednesday. It was fun, but extremely crowded so you couldn't move your legs much.

Sunday Kathleen and I asked senora for another bocadillo to take with us as we went adventuring and attempted to get to a better view of the mountains. We were very excited but unfortunately it seemed the farther we walked, the farther away the mountains got, and we couldn't get any clear photos where we were, so we are going to try another direction next time, possibly first stopping at the tourist office to find out where we can walk and be successful. But we did have a good time and actually walked for like two hours straight, no stopping. We had our picnic in a park in front of a little fountain (there are fountains everywhere here) and headed home for a siesta before dinner. We had what seemed similar to Alfredo pasta, cheese, and some kind of chicken balls she fried. It was delicious.

That's all for now! Love Love Love Nikki