3rd October - Granada

Today we travelled to Granada, which is situated at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. It was a stronghold of the Nasrid Dynasty, the last great Moorish Kingdom in Spain. We visited the AMAZING Alhambra Palace...I know I keep saying AMAZING but these places really are AMAZING! We had a great local guide here too, with a great sense of humour! The Alhambra was originally created for military purposes but was an 'alcazaba' (fortress), an 'alcazar' (palace) and a small 'medina' (city) all in one.The Alhambra and the Albaycin, situated on two adjacent hills, form the medieval part of Granada. To the east of the Alhambra fortress and residence are the magnificent gardens of the Generalife, the former rural residence of the emirs who ruled this part of Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Alhambra became a Christian court in 1492 when the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabel) conquered the city of Granada. The Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) is an oblong court in an area of the Alhambra which has in the centre of the court the Fountain of Lions, an alabaster basin supported by the figures of twelve lions in white marble, it was a symbol of strength, power and sovereignty. The way the fountains produced water (being up on the top of a hill) is an example of the Muslim's genius at architecture, design and engineering at the time. This has only recently been restored. I understand how this place has been the inspiration for artists and musicians. My favourite part here was in the courtyard of the Harem and looking up towards the kings quarters and seeing the reflectIon of the building in the reflection pool.

On our return to the hotel Linda went upstairs to our room and I went up to the supermarket to buy some water. I forgot my room number! I knocked on the door of 312...we have had so many room numbers, it was an easy mistake...and a man answered....in his underwear!!!! Oooops! Turns out we were in 311!!!

Later at night we went up to Albayzin, the ancient Moorish quarter of the city. Here we saw a flamenco show performed by a gypsy family. We were told that this was the very best place to see a real flamenco show and they were right, they were really good! They danced, sang and played music with such passion. I didn't understand a single word but you could tell by the tone that they were telling stories about lost love and celebrations...including a wedding! At the end of the show they drag up members of the audience, two brave souls from our group (Alex and Nicole) flamencoed like professionals!!!! On the way out we saw a photo of Michelle Obama with the gypsy family...she had been to the same show as us! Afterwards we walked up to the Plaza de San Nicholas where we had a stunning view of the Alhambra at night.