The Alhambra

We arrived in the port of Malaga at 11:15 in the morning.  This port was to be a highlight of my journey.  As a child I had read Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra.  I didn’t even realize it was a real place much less that I would ever have a chance to visit there.  The Alhambra did not disappoint.

We did not dock until 11:00 am and immediately I went ashore.  Our guide, Debbie, was waiting for us right outside the terminal.  This was the place where Elva and I were going our separate ways.  She had already been there so was going to do the HOHO in Malaga, and she did, and she enjoyed it very much.

We had a tour of the city on the way out of town.  It is quite lovely.  Pablo Picasso was born here but did not paint here as he was a child when the family left.  Antonio Banderas was born here and returns frequently as a patron of so many charities and sponsorships.

We continued for a little over an hour through the countryside.  Debbie was excellent at providing a running commentary of what we were seeing and of the history of Spain.  Who did what to whom, who conquered who. And just for fun olive grove facts!  She said she would skip the part about the Alhambra since our expert guide on site would have more than enough to tell us.

After a break at a roadside café, we continued on another hour to the city of Granada, the Moorish capital of Spain.   The Alhambra was built for the last Sultan.  Debbie was right, our guide held a Masters of Art History and has been guiding here for 15 years.  The tours here were carefully orchestrated and you had to show your ticket at four different places.  The invitation into the palace from the gardens was for 4:00.  We spent about two hours in the Generlife Gardens which were a combination of historical replanting and a general botanical garden designed at the time of the last restoration period. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site everything is carefully managed and protected.

The Alhambra, like the Taj Mahal is ornately decorated.  I thought it looks kind of like a pinky / beige Taj.  The detailed carved ceilings, one room of which has over 8,000 pieces fitted together to create a repetitive pattern.  The design is repeated on walls and the floor.  The palace is over 700 years old but much of the originally tile work remains.  The distinctive horseshoe arches with their ‘lace curtain’ edges frame every doorway and window.  The Taj Mahal is carved in white marble but the Alhambra is a kind of stucco over wood.  The decorative work was probably easier to accomplish because the builders were able to use molds to make squares of ornamentation to fit together.  In order to protect the building and its art work, there were samples of the various designs and materials that we could feel and examine closely so that we would behave and keep our hands off the originals.

The courtyards had names descriptive of their uses.  A Courtyard of the Maidens was where young women who were sent to the Sultan in lieu of or in addition to payment of taxes were shown to him here.  The Courtyard of the Twelve Lions has the Fountain of the Twelve Lions which cools the space and possibly represents the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Each space was multi-purpose.  Large cushions would be set on the marble floors during the daytime for comfortable seating but at night silk pallets for sleeping replaced them.  Behind the arches separating rooms were hung silk curtains.  These could quickly be moved to enlarge or make smaller any space.

The Sultan sat in the large audience room, a room with well-preserved tiles where the bright reds, blues, greens and golds still show.  The length of the chamber keeps them away from the weather.  But not from sunlight exactly.  Each of the high ceiling has star shaped tubular skylights that used to have stained glass windows that could be opened or closed with long poles.  This was especially useful in the baths where terra cotta pipes warmed the floors with hot water and the skylights could retain or release the heat.

Throughout the complex fresh mountain water flows in the marble floor troughs.  It cools the rooms and because the center of the system is at the highest point it is all gravity operated.  Every home and building was in the same system.  And like any fortress, there were many homes and every type of commercial building within the walls.  Most of these are in ruins but two palaces remain.  One is the large, square, unfinished palace of Charles V and his wife.  They spent six months there as a honeymoon and never saw it again.  The other is the Sultan’s Palace which is by far the more interesting and is definitely what you picture and think of when you hear the magical words – The Alhambra.

Our journey back in time had to move forward in time as soon the ship would be leaving mainland Spain for the last time.  We had a pleasant ride back taking a short break at the town of Joha.  At an overlook there we could see a typical town with church, mosque, and synagogue.  A small town of white stucco and red tile roofs tucked in a green valley.

We got back to the ship just in time for me to put my bag in the cabin and race to the 8:00 Beatles Celebration.  Seems there must be some kind of maritime law that you cannot have a week or longer at sea without a tribute to the Beatles.  The theater on the Equinox is so excellent that the sound of the band was good.  The ‘Fab Four’ played earlier songs.  I only know this because they tried to keep in character and when someone asked for Yellow Submarine, ‘Paul’ said they hadn’t written it yet.

I didn’t find Elva in the theater but did find her when we were leaving.  We wandered around awhile and then went up and got a cup of tea.  I have gotten poor Elva hooked on this bad habit.  Back at the room at 10:30 we set the alarm for 12:50 am because at 1:00 am, we were supposed to sail past the Rock of Gibraltar. I wasn’t really tired yet and my spirits were so bolstered by the wonderful day in Granada that I decided it was a good time to deliver to passenger cabins the notes about the tour I am hosting in Lanzarote.  This took over an hour.  This is a BIG boat!  I must have walked more than a mile before I found all the cabins needed to.  But with that mission accomplished I went back to settle in for the night.

After a quick shower I opened the curtains to our veranda and crawled into the very comfortable bed beneath the very warm and cozy comforter.    After reading awhile I turned off my reading lamp and sat up to watch the lights on the distant shore.  It was 12:37 and there it was … Gibraltar!  The pillar of Hercules.  The Rock.  Outlined against the soft haze and in the bright moonlight.  I woke Elva and we were both so glad I had not fallen asleep or we would have missed it.

Sailing past the rock of Gibraltar in the moonlight was the perfect ending to a mystical day.