10/01/2013

La Alhambra! 

And music for background, the song "Granada" of course (what else?)

Granada Granada, tierra sonada por mi, mi cantar se vuelve gitano cuando es para ti. Mi cantar, hecho de fantasia; mi cantar, flor de melancolia, que yo te vengo a dar. Granada, tierra ensangrentada en tardes de toros, mujer que conserva el embrujo de los ojos moros. De sueno, rebelde, gitana cubierta de flores, y beso tu boca de grana, jugosa manzana que me habla de amores. Granada, manola, cantada en coplas preciosas, no tengo otra cosa que darte que un ramo de rosas, de rosas de suave fragrancia que le dieran marco a la Virgen morena. Granada, tu tierra esta llena de lindas mujeres, de sangre y de sol.

Translation into English Granada, land of my dreams, mine becomes a gypsy song when I sing to you. My song, born of fancy; my song, melancholy flower, that I've come to offer you. Granada, land covered in blood from the bullfighting afternoons, woman who retains the spell of Moorish eyes. A dream-land, a rebel, a gypsy, covered with flowers, and I kiss your scarlet mouth, juicy apple that tells me about love affairs. Granada, my beautiful, sung in precious coplas, I have nothing else to give you but a bouquet of roses worthy of adorning the brown-skinned Virgin. Granada, your soil is full of beautiful woman, blood and sunshine.

Las banderas! The European Union, Andalusia, Spain, and the city of Granada

This is my school. It's called La Huerta de Los Angeles, so sometimes I tell people I go to school in L.A. haha

Postcards! First round!! Finally! Woo hoo!! (If you want one, send me your address and I'll gladly oblige)

The view looking down from the tower of the Alhambra on one of the other towers and on what remains of the walls of some of the original buildings. The outside wall around it goes around the entire "city" for soldiers to patrol.

The ceilings are INCREDIBLE. The art style is called "Mocarabe" or  "Honeycomb". Originally it would have all been painted with many different colors, all that remains of the original are some of the blues, but I can imagine it was quite the sight

These people knew how to decorate

The intricacy of the carvings is mind-blowing. . .   all made of crushed plaster mixed with water and poured into molds

Las Palacias Nazaris- So: The Alhambra is a city in itself- "Alhambra" translates to "Red" from Arabic, so  it was known as the Red City, so called because the first Muslim ruler had red hair. It is situated at the highest point in the city (for strategic reasons), and pretty massive. The palaces look pretty impressive on the outside, but the inside. . . .oh man. . . . they believed that just as beauty in a person should come from within, so too should the wealth and beauty of the palaces be displayed inside instead of outside. . . and WOW did they ever display some wealth.

La Generalife. Every time I see this word I want to make it General Life, but it's Generalife, which is Arabic for the Gardens of Paradise. Islam originated in the desert, so naturally their paradise is a garden full of flowers, fountains and fruits. It's a little early for the flowers, but the gardens are gorgeous and green and in a month or two will be filled with roses and other flowers.

The Palace of the Generalife. More fountains and gardens and all around awesomeness

The theater. added in the 1950s for public concerts and music festivals in the summer. Supposedly in July and August there are some pretty spectacular flamenco shows up here

The capitals of all the columns, displaying some beautiful script and designs.

The palaces again. Much of the Alhambra is the original Nasarid (the last dynasty of the Muslim rulers) palaces, but some of it was added by Carlos V after the Reconquista of Granada

Oh no. . . I've already forgotten the name of this building. . .. did I mention the Alhambra is kinda big?

Puerta de Vino! So named after the Reconquista (Islam forbids alcohol), because it was the door they would use to transport goods, including wine, in to the palaces

The ruins of one of the palaces. Napoleon and his Little Man Complex destroyed parts of the Alhambra, along with time (1000 year anniversary this year!). Many of the original houses of artisans and nobles who lived within the city were destroyed, but luckily most of the palaces etc remained intact.

Almond trees and Orange trees abound in Spain. The oranges are all in season, and the almonds are just starting to bloom:) Spring is upon us!

Legend says that one of the Muslim kings married a princess from Northern Europe and when he brought her to Granada she was homesick for the snow. So he planted thousands of Almond trees all over the hillside of the Alhambra so that the hill would be white in the spring and look like snow. 

Mosaics!

Inside the flower is the Arabic word for "blessing". It's on every doorway and archway in the Alhambra to bless those who enter

The mirror of the Alhambra.

Plaza of the Lions

So much sun. . .

The ceiling of the Salon of the Kings, all made out of wood and carved with stars to resemble the night sky and the seven levels of paradise

This phrase in Arabic means "God (Allah) is the only true victor". When Mohammed I (the first Nasarid king) returned to Granada after his great victory in battle, the people greeted him in the streets with cries of "Mohammed our victor/champion!" to which Mohammed responded "God is the only true victor." It became the family motto and is carved literally thousands of times in the Alhambra

The ceiling of one of the private residences of the king and his lady friends (Islam permits up to 4 wives. Whichever one has a son first is the principal wife and was given the title of Queen)

more mosaics

Granada, from the tower

The Palace of Carlos V. Carlos had some serious power, as the grandson of  Los Reyes Catolicos (Ferdinand and Isabel) and The Hapsburgs of the Austrian/German empire he inherited most of Europe and was given the title of Holy Roman Emperor. He wanted to make Granada the capital of Spain, and so built a palace here in the Alhambra. the patio inside is designed to look like the Roman Pantheon.

So rumor (from one of our host moms) is that there is an underground palace at the Alhambra that no one is allowed to visit. . .  maybe that's where this random staircase in the ground was headed for (There was a big locked door at the bottom ha)

Yeah, I'm pretty excellent at smiling for pictures

The Sierra Nevadas!

More gardens, and Granada

The Mirador de San Nicolas in the Albayzin. When we visited there  a few weeks ago I took a picture of people taking a picture of us from the Alhambra, sooo now I have the opposite way as well haha!