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The Alhambra
When I left off last time, we had spent a Saturday in Granada seeing many sights, planning to tour The Alhambra the next day. And tour it we did! But first, the lead-up...
We had heard that the ticket office opened quite early, plus city buses started running up the hill just as early, which would be great because they could save us a twenty-minute walk up the hill first thing in the morning -- before light, before breakfast, and while having to wear warmer clothes but then carry them around all day after it got hot. We walked to Plaza Isabel La Católica after checking out at about 7am and lucked out -- buses were just getting started and at 1€ a trip were a steal.
Now, bear in mind that we had been duly warned about the lines at The Alhambra -- as I mentioned before, this place does 6,000 people a day, year-round. I've waited in some lines in my day, so I figured we'd get there relatively early (realizing that some folks would certainly start at 6 or even 5am) and worst case, get turned away after a couple hours, leaving us to spend the rest of the day continuing to explore Granada and with intentions to try again another day.
When we got to the line, there were easily 500 people in front of us. Still dark out, mind you. But I figured, hey, the odds are still good. We took our place and started to wait.
We spent the next two hours not even moving.
The ticket office opened at 8am, but things didn't even move for another hour after that. Why did we wait? Well, it always seemed that just a few more minutes and things would get underway and that we would just move through the booth after that. We busied ourselves making runs to the snack bar, trying to guess what countries people were from, and sharing sympathetic, annoyed glances with our fellow waiters.
Eventually, we struck up a conversation with the folks in front of us, two Indian girls from Kuwait who now live in Chicago, and then, in front of them, a Dutch guy taking one of his eleven (!) annual weeks of holiday, and became fast friends. One of the interesting things we learned from our friends was that coming from the north on their trip, they found Granada to be the most lax in terms of English speakers and coming from the tourist-inhabited south, we found it to be the least English friendly. But we did ok!
An hour later, the security guard we had seen roaming around (a Spanish version of Kenny Rogers, in my opinion) proceeded to allow about thirty people to get directly in front of us because they had been waiting in the automated machine line for hours, not realizing that they were only for pickup and not for purchasing. (Why? Why can't this be automated?) It wasn't even worth making a fuss. We had transcended pettiness, impatience, and lower back pain and were committed to waiting things out, whatever the price or obstacle.
The best part of all was the Dutchman's explanation to us that he runs a consultancy on -- get this -- logistics. This experience was to him the equivalent of me waiting in line for four hours because they couldn't plug the computer in to let us buy tickets.
Anyway, I mention all of this only partly to vent, but mostly to impart a sense of the Spanish attitude towards things like this. We noticed that instead of building up the capacity to process more people, the waiting areas were built out to accommodate more waiters. Thirty people were told to just get in line in front of 500 or more people who had been there longer than them. And all the while, everyone seemed annoyed, but no one made a fuss. Everything was inefficient, but everyone was pretty zen about it. Or at least it's easy to say that now. In retrospect, I wish I had planned the Arab bath for after the line waiting, but que sera, sera...
Now, I can't recommend The Alhambra highly enough -- after all, this 12th Century complex represents the height of world civilization at its time, so it ain't bad on the eyes -- but do yourself a favor and buy your ticket online or on the phone. Don't even try to wing it unless, oh, you're training for a 26-mile stand-a-thon or something like that.
We still don't know what the general holdup was, but we got our tickets almost four hours on the dot after beginning our quest and then proceeded into the parking lot, blinking at the sun and wondering what to do with ourselves until our timed entrance at 2pm. We ended up heading back down the hill to grab some late breakfast at a nice chain-like place called Vía Colon (which I only pronounced out loud in English much later, to my simultaneous amusement and disgust).
Anyway, after busing back up, we spent the remaining time until 2pm exploring the public areas around the Generalife gardens, which consisted mostly of a beautiful building, now one of the world's best hotels, but in a prior life, the next-to-final resting places of Fernando and Isabel after their deaths early in the 16th Century and before completion of La Capilla Real downtown in 1521 (more on that later).
At 2pm, we were let into the Generalife. These are basically the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen and were the gardens and summer home of the emirs for centuries. If they are keeping them in this good of shape now, I can't imagine how they must have looked in their peak. Water is a central theme and seems to flow all over the place, making you wonder where it comes from and how it moves from place to place. It turns out that a single, distant ditch funnels water out of the Sierra Nevada to the north to this plateau and through an ingenious system of aqueducts and troughs is sent all over The Alhambra. It's amazing. And the elegance and detail of this summer palace only hinted at what was to come...
We went back out to the public areas, including the outside of the Palacio de Carlos V, Iglesia de Santa Maria de la Alhambra, and the Plaza de los Aljibes outside of the Alcazaba, or main fortress walls and towers. The main buildings here date from a much later period -- for example, the palace was begun in 1527, which the Alcabaza walls date to the 12th and 13th Centuries.
We made our way into the Alcazaba and started up some steps to the main interior level. As someone who's never really been inside what you could consider a real castle, this was a treat. The walls are in fantastic shape and you really get a sense of the kind of fortress this could be with soldiers manning the walls, watchmen looking into the distance, and bustling files of footmen drilling inside. Of course, I am envisioning a more traditional Western European type of castle, as those are the types featured in the stories with which I'm familiar. Does anyone have any recommended reading so that I can learn more? Are these a good start?
The highlight of the Alcazaba for me was standing atop the Torre de la Vela (Tower of the Watch), the place where the flag of Fernando and Isabel was raised in 1492, but long before that, the highest viewpoint for seeing The Alhambra, the city, and the Sierra Nevada. I could clearly see their snowcapped peaks even as the hot sun beat down on my head. Another highlight was being able to see the archaeological museum down in town that we had visited the day before from the Alcazaba walls.
After the Alcazaba, we neared the hour for our timed ticket entrance to the Palacio Nazaríes, the most famous and beautiful part of The Alhambra. There was no disappointment there -- just have a glance over the Wikipedia tour or look at a map of the place to get a sense of the size and complexity. Highlights for us here were the tile work, the archways, just the scale of the place, and of course, the often-photographed Salón de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors). I'm embarrassed to only be able to put it into a Western frame of reference, but this was the room where Columbus received his support from Fernando and Isabel to sail to the New World -- not to mention the place from which centuries of sultans ruled. Michelle and I were able to sit in folding chairs in the corners and take in the amazing ceiling and walls, but unfortunately not much came through in the way of photos as it was quite dark and hard to capture the detail.
I was a little disappointed with the Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) because the lions are actually being restored and the museum which normally houses one, in the Palacio de Carlos V, was closed. They are a rare example of Islamic animal sculptures. But it was still an impressive courtyard.
The remainder of the palace after that was made of more modern buildings, including a sunny courtyard filled with orange trees (have I mentioned how much I love these?), the room that Washington Irving wrote in, and some beautiful fountains and gardens. There was plenty of seating to take frequent breaks -- why get all tired out when we had spent the morning standing, it was hot out, and it was exceedingly relaxing to just sit and take in the views.
All in all, I would go back in a heartbeat now that I know where to focus my time and what to check on ahead of time (like the lions). However, you can be sure that I'll buy my tickets online next time.
After The Alhambra, one of the highlights that we were able to swing was the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel -- heads up, the site has music playing) next to the cathedral (which sadly was now closed to due being a Sunday). No photos were allowed, but besides an amazing chapel interior, an enormous and beautiful cast iron grille from the early 16th Century, and the stunning mausoleums, we went down into the crypt and saw the sealed lead coffins of Fernando, Isabel and family in person. Incredible. Seriously, spend a few minutes at that website and check it out. I can't impart to you the sense of awe and history that I felt there.
We spent a bit more time in Granada, but only really relaxing, eating, picking up our suitcase, and letting Spanish ladies wear my hat. Wait, what?
We were sitting next to a quiet couple from the UK, having a quiet meal, when a very large group of very loud Spanish folks came around the corner, descended upon our outdoor seating area, and proceeded to take all of the free tables and chairs in the place and assemble a large, combined seating area for themselves. Two ladies came over to ask for our empty adjoining table and seeing my hat on the a chair, kept trying it on and taking pictures of each other. I asked to take one myself and they happily obliged. I don't know if they were tourists from another part of Spain or merely a very comfortable local social group, but they were fun to watch and not as rude as they might sound.
All in all, a fitting end to a day in a thoroughly lively, thoroughly fun city -- Granada.
