Today we spent a wonderful couple of hours in El Alhambra.  We split up into two tour groups and toured the Alhambra with 2 local tour guides who were very knowledgeable about the incredible grounds and enormous palace.  We began our tour in the portion of the castle that was commissioned by Charles V.  He built the main room in the style made famous by the Roman empire.  There were meant to be three levels of different styles of columns, but Charles V was too busy conquering other areas of the world and fighting wars, that he was only able to complete 2 of the floors.

Afterward we entered the rest of the castle that was originally built by the Arabic or Moorish sultans that invaded the southern part of Spain.  The molding work was like nothing many of us had seen before.  It was made of plaster, dust, egg whites, and paint, which was put into a mold and heated in the oven.  Then the decoration was affixed to the walls and ceilings of the castle.  The details were truly impressive.  We learned that the Arabic inscription that looks like the letter W is the word for Ala, the Muslim word for god.

We learned about the tile that is unique to this area.  The shapes are geometric and the colors represent various parts of the culture-red is for passion, green is for the Muslim religion, yellow is for the money and the color of the sand from their homeland, and blue for the sky and the water.  Not only did they have intricate tile designs, but the woodwork was equally impressive.  The wood was not carved, but cut and pieced together.  The Moor´s mastery of this type of woodwork and decoration in general was quite a sight to see.

From there we visited the different rooms and gardens in the castle.  We visited the sultan´s quarters, which was interestingly smaller than the sultana´s quarters.  There was a mirror pool in between 2 of the rooms, which we learned was the original of this kind, and it´s very possible that places like the Taj Mahal and the Washington Monument copied what had been done here in Spain.

After that we walked through the ruins of where the servants, soldiers, etc. lived, which were obviously not built from the same type of material that was used to build the Salton´s quarters since they didn´t survive as well as the castle.  Now there are beautiful gardens and excavation sites in that area on the way to the Salton´s summer rest area.

The Salton´s summer rest area is called the Generalife.  The sultans built this garden like a fridge so that the cool breeze circulated through it during the very hot summers, as temperatures in Granada during the summer can reach 46 degrees Celsius.  We learned, however, that the sultans didn´t stay the night in the Generalife because it was dangerous, as they were in danger of being assassinated.  We were told that out of 22 sultans, 12 were assassinated for power.

The Generalife is a well-maintained (by 120 gardeners!), beautiful garden with lots of fountains for soothing peace, aromatic flowers such as roses, lavender, rosemary, etc., orange trees, and areas for viewing a wonderful panorama of the city of Granada.  The Generalife had buildings that had similar tile, plaster, and woodwork as found in the main quarters of the Salton.

The tour was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, and the amount we learned about the unique combination of the Christian, Muslim, and Gypsies cultures found here was fascinating.  Following our visit, we walked to downtown Granada where we had some time to eat lunch, visit some shops, and waited until the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel opened.  There we saw the tombs of the late, greats Ferdinand and Isabel, two famous Spanish monarchs.  We also saw Queen Elizabeth´s crown and all of the clothing they wore while seated on the throne.

Our tour guide was kind enough to take us to the Mirador San Nicolas, where we were able to get a spectacular view of the Alhambra, where we´d spent the morning.  We took some photos, observed the eccentric Gypsies and hippie community that has set up camp there, and had a nice walk through a different part of town.

From there we returned to the hotel, where the students were given an assignment to reconstruct one of the beautiful scenes we witnessed today in a sketch, a summary of today´s activities, and quiz to be done with a partner in the other tour group to learn some of the interesting tidbits of what was learned at the Alhambra.  The students worked on their assignments, had a nice buffet dinner in the hotel, saw a lovely sunset from their rooms, and have now settled down for a good night´s rest.

Thank you for all of the great messages!  Again, we are grateful that you are reading about our adventures.  Next we´re off to Sevilla!