Granada una

Today was Alhambra day. We began in the house and gardens of the architect Generalife (gen-ur-ul-LIFF-AY), which sits above the Alhambra palace.

Then a guest house, also outside the palace walls.

Although my uptake of info has slowed, I believe Alhambra was built 1000-1300ish? The Catholic monarchs' battles against the sultans and their muslim followers moved east from the first significant battle (Gibraltar), to Cordoba then Seville then Granada, the last to fall in the late 1400s.

One of the halls we toured was a judicial court. It had a niche sticking out at an odd angle with the room below. This niche faced Mecca so that those facing judgement in the court could pray.

I learned a lot about islamic architecture and aesthetics. The muslims were mad for maths, and geometry equated to beauty. So revering Allah was a matter of creating patterns, symmetry and numerology-influenced designs on a grand scale.

I learned that the divine is represented by the number 8, so the stars in islamic design are 8 sided. There are seven levels in heaven, so 'seventh heaven' is the level nearest the divine.

I also learnt that men could have four wives and 10-20 concubines. So there were rows of bedrooms to accommodate the many females. People slept downstairs in the summer and upstairs in the winter. Below is the court of the lions.

Above is an 8-sided star. I don't know what this building is – there were many buildings within the walls. We had a 2.5-hour tour, so only scratched the surface.

After the tour we walked around Albaicin, across the river from the Alhambra.

From Wiki: "In the 13th century, following the rise and fall of other Muslim dynasties and the military advances of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, Ibn al-Ahmar (Muhammad I) established what became the last and longest reigning Muslim dynasty in the Iberian peninsula, the Nasrids, who ruled the Emirate of Granada. However, when Ibn Al-Ahmar established himself in the city he moved the royal palace from the old Zirid citadel on the Albaicín hill to the Sabika hill further south, beginning construction on what became the present Alhambra, a fortified palace complex that still dominates the city today."

Albaicin is densely built with lots of narrow, hilly lanes. As the Reconquista moved eastward from Gibraltar, many muslims moved to Granada and Albaicin, the last stronghold of the muslim emirates. The porches have screens across them because, while muslims nominally converted to Catholicism to survive, they practiced their religion in their homes.

From Albaicin you get a great view of the Alhambra, however our walk around Albaicin was in the late afternoon so the light wasn't great.

16 March