Still within the Nazri
Palace, we continued our tour traversing room after room of
architectural wonders.
The photos below are what we saw.
Continuing
through the Alhambra, we encountered more fantastically detailed
carving in the wall.
Not
every carving was stained and some of those that were stained
had faded a bit. Look closely at the photo above and you
can see places where the carved alabaster has spalled-off.
The
color fading was more pronounced in some of the carvings and the
blue seemed to fade more rapidly than the black.
One of
the exhibits has a set of photos taken before and after the
restorations that happened in the early 1900's. The
Alhambra was in substantial decay and many of the areas were
fully restored when the effort was completed.
Washington
Irving spent several years at the Alhambra in the early 1800's.
Through
one of the portals in the palace we got a nice view of the
Sacromonte portion of Granada. The buildings in this part
of town are tightly packed and the "streets" are in reality only
narrow passageways.
On the
flanks of Sacromonte the perimeter wall for the city can be
seen.
Steve
was having a good time at the Alhambra.
From an
east-faciing portal of the palace we could see the Generalife
Gardens further up the hill.
The
eastern portion of the place grounds had precisely trimmed
hedges. We spotted the groundskeepers with tape measures
insuring that the hedge height match the specifications.
Another
portal gave us a closer view of the Sacromonte
neighborhood. Look closely at the terrace below the
tallest tower and you will see that it is filled with
people. It turns out that the Festival de la Cruz had
started that day.
East of
the palace, we came upon a garden with artichokes.
This
is part of the original acequia (aqueduct) that brought water
from the Sierra Nevada to the Alhambra.
From
an open area near an excavation we got a clear view of the 3500
meter Sierra Nevada. The rains that we had in Grenada
resulted in snow in the mountains.
We
needed to get our train tickets from Grenada to Gibraltar but
Kathleen was stumped by their web site. So, to insure our
success, we left the Alhambra and took a taxi to the train
station. The personnel there handled the task with
dispatch, so we took another taxi back up the hill. Along
the way, we passed these ladies dressed-to-the-nines for the
Festival de la Cruz that was happening in downtown
Grenada. I stuck my camera out the window as the taxi was
driving by to get the photo above.
Back at
the Alhambra, we continued our tour at the Palace of Carlos
V. This building is much newer than the original Moorish
buildings.
Inside
the palace was a lage open area surrounded by columns made out
of cut and polished conglomerate stone.
Viewed
close-up, the cut and polished stones are clearly visible.
From
the second level the circular structure of the palace is
apparent.
We
went from Carlos V to the Alcazaba which is a huge fortress on
the western end of the Alhambra. The high walls provided
us with stunning vistas of Grenada.
From
the western rampart we got a nice view of Grenada's main
cathedral.
The
photo above shows the scope of the fortifications at the
Alcazaba. The trough (in the shadows) was likely the
castle's moat.
Active
excavations were in progress in some areas, this one complete
with a feral cat asleep on one of the walls.
The
photo above shows the barracks area of the Alcazaba.
The
northern face of the Alcazaba had substantial fortifications
to repel attackers.
Looking
north from the walls, we got a different view of Grenada.
This
wall is being actively eroded due to the plant
incursions. The roots invade the space between the
bricks and cause them to disintegrate. Note the various
patterns of the masonry.
We
left the Alcazaba and headed east toward the Generalife
Gardens.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2024, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.