Thurs 6/10/10 Granada

Reflecting pool at the Alhambra

Part of the exterior wall and guard tower

Street in Granada leading up to the Alhambra, which is high on the hilltop

Driving into the "car elevator" to park

Pretty garden spot in Alhambra

Looking out of Alhambra toward the city and mountains

Snow in the distance

Foundations of the servants' quarters

Wall and tower

Interior wall with tiles and calligraphy and scrollwork

The heavens represented on the ceiling

Calligraphy up close

Gorgeous windows and arches

Today we saw the Alhambra, the famous Moorish fortress/palace located up on a hill in Granada. One side is surrounded by the cliffs to the river Darro and the rest is surrounded by walls and towers. The palace was built in the 1300s as a palcace for the Muslim rulers. Later the Christians added some features, a church, and another palace for Charles V inside the fortifications. The palace has beautifully decorated rooms, with tiles, tessellation patterns, carved walls with calligraphy and geometric shapes, and even some ceilings that look like stalactites. There are fountains and gardens and you can see snow-capped peaks in the distance.

The town of Granada still seems to have the Muslim influence; we saw many people in Muslim dress and many stalls selling Middle Eastern food and crafts.

We left Granada to drive to Barcelona, our last stop. We stopped in Valencia for the night to break up the long drive and so we could show the rest of the family the architecture of the City of Arts and Sciences.