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| Ideal photo by Aidarile CC |
Today we took the local bus up the winding narrow streets to the Alhambra, originally a walled city and Moorish palace. We started in the gardens, where workers were busy pruning; it must take a small army of gardeners to maintain all of the flower beds, hedges, and roses and other bushes.
As the gardens are at the top of the site, the views are incredible: the palace below, the snowy mountains in the distance, the city below, and the Albayzin (the Moorish quarter with all white dwellings) across the gorge on the next hill.
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| Courtyard of the Myrtles |
We just had time to get through the very interesting museum, with interesting pottery, textiles and metalwork, when it was our time to go into the Palace. Again we had an audio guide, which was invaluable in explaining the rooms functions, the Arabic script, the tilework and so on. Theses are two photos of the Courtyard of the Myrtles; the first is what you hope for, a fabulous shot, but we were rather disappointed when we got there, to see scaffolding in place!
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| The viewpoint is beside the tower |
After the palace we found the Parador de Granada San Francisco and had lunch; a parador is a government run hotel in an historic building. Imagine staying right in the Alhambra!
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The Alhambra from the viewpoint
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Following a twisting path, we walked down the hill to the river, and back up winding cobbled streets in the Moorish quarter to the Mirador San Nicolas - the viewpoint where you can watch the sun setting on the Alhambra. It was quite a scene with craft vendors, four guitarists, a wandering photographer with a polaroid camera, and of course tourists like us.
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Down by the river
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| Gato in the garden |
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