Tales of the Alhambra

None of us is Washington Irving, but we did decide to sneak off to Granada and see the jewel of Moorish architecture from our base in La Linea/Gibraltar. Mara had visited a couple of times, but Adam had always wanted to go. We rented a car and drove to Granada, and then had to be led through the serpentine streets of the old town to reach our rental apartment. But it was worth it. The picture above? It's the view from our apartment!

The next morning we rose before dawn to head over to the Alhambra for our guided tour. (Ok, the sun wasn't coming up until after 8:30, but it still felt really early!). We spent the next 3+ hours in one of the most incredible buildings you will ever see. From fetes of engineering (like running water in the fountains) to breathtaking tile work and carving, it truly is a wonder. Pictures surely can't do it justice, but here are a few attempts from our visit.

The girls learned about some of the symbols that recur throughout the Alhambra. The key and the hand we the two most frequent symbols. They learned that in Islam the key represents the key to the 7 levels of heaven and the hand symbolizes the 5 pillars of Islam.

As you'd expect, the Alhambra sits on the highest peak in the area, which meant there were stunning views at every turn.

But the real star of the show wasn't the views, but the incredibly intricate carving all throughout the palace. Keep in mind the Alhambra has dozens of buildings and easily hundreds of thousands of square feet of space. All of it, from floor to ceiling -- including the floors and ceilings -- carved in symbols, patterns, and words (in Arabic), all with various meanings, praising the Sultan, Allah, etc.

After visiting many Christian cathedrals and churches through France, Italy, and Spain, we had a discussion about why different religions adorn their buildings in different ways -- for example, why Christian churches usually depict stories from the bible with human figures and paintings, while in Islamic palaces & mosques use symbols and more abstract designs.

And different types of arches that are decorative, not structural.

Amazingly, when a new Sultan came to power, they would simply "re-decorate" right over the top of the previous artwork, which you can see in this photo. It was truly mind boggling to think of the hours that went into carving all of this. And to just do it all over again!

I guess you can do that when you have 1000 years to do it!

And of course, the Alhambra is covered in tile work of all kinds. This was our favorite :)