A Slice of Heaven on Earth

*This is a guest post written by my mom because I don't really have the time. I added comments throughout.*

Other than the sunshine and orange blossoms, the highlight of the trip to Spain was seeing the Alhambra. What an incredible place.

It is so popular! As I mentioned before we had to get up early to get tickets. It was like all those times we got up to go hiking in the pre-dawn morning before it got too hot, or so we’d have enough time to finish, or before Amy woke up, or for whatever reason. Anyway, I can’t remember what time the alarm was set for, but we had cleaned our room, packed our bags and completed a 25 minute hike up a steep hill by 6:50AM. I was prepared with my suspense novel and a pillow to sit on. Even at that hour, we were approximately the 40^th group in line. It was worth it—there was no second chance. It would have been a shame to come all this way and miss it. (Jeremy: Queues are a great place for people to smoke. There was one woman in line who smoked around 10 cigarettes in the hour and a half we waited in line. The Spanish like their cigarettes.)

After the line, we pretty much walked right onto the grounds. First, we went through the gardens and the summer palace, the Generalife. The sun was coming out! The gardens were lovely. One of the most impressive sights of the entire complex were the cypress avenues. There were rows and rows of passageways made out of trimmed hedges of cypresses (picture 1). They must be hundreds of years old to be formed that way. There were tunnels of green all over, punctuated by rows and rows of flowers. Many were already in bloom, and you could tell that later in the summer they would be even more stunning. The wisteria! Fountains and water were everywhere. It’s so interesting how they had water running down the middle of the steps and down the railings.

Next stop was the main event, the Palace of the Nazaries. Most of it was built in the mid-1300’s. Courtyards, cedar, stucco, ceilings, columns, arches, fountains, pools, filigree, calligraphy, views, especially the tiles. Everything was beautiful and my descriptions would not add. (Jeremy: Maybe mine would... Haha. There were two primary WOW spots in the palace. One was the Patio de los Leones. In the middle of the patio, there used to be a fountain with twelve lions around the outside of it that had water coming out of their mouths. The fountain is being repaired. The patio is surrounded by a walkway with over 100 slender, BEAUTIFUL columns (picture 2). So amazing. The other huge WOW place was the Patio de los Arrayanes (picture 3). It has a pool down the middle with a tower on the back. The reflection and sight of it was amazing! I loved it so much. Connected to this is the grand reception room where Christopher Columbus got permission to go to the New World from Ferdinand and Isabella (the ceiling of that room is picture 4).)

We climbed a tower, and then rested in a courtyard. The last amazing thing of many were the cherry trees. Every part was stunning, seeing the blossoms against the blue sky and the golden buildings, the shapes of the trees, the purple-pink of the blossoms with the canary forsythia (picture 5). Gorgeous! (Jeremy: I don't know the names of the trees or whatever but it was very pretty. The view from the towers of the Alcazaba (the fortress part of the Alhamabra) were amazing (picture 6). The sun and plants and everything was really astounding.)

The entire thing deserves the word amazing. Everyone who knows me realizes I usually reserve these superlatives only for things in nature. It is really something for me to heap this much praise on something man-made. The quote for the Alhambra in every travel book is this: After the Spanish have finally conquered Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors, the last Amir looks back at the Alhambra and sheds a tear for lost beauty, his unsympathetic mother shuts him up by saying, “Don’t cry like a woman for what you couldn’t defend like a man.” We also sighed as we had our last look at the fortress set against the snowy sierras and the green cypress.

(Jeremy: Our last view of the Alhambra was from St. Nicholas Square (picture 7). We could really see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains behind the Alhambra. So pretty. I can see why Bill wanted to take his family here. There is another old Spanish saying that goes something like "If you have not seen the Alhambra, then you have not truly lived." Frankly, I agree with that assessment. We left St. Nicholas Square and took the bus to the airport. We hung around waiting for our plane and then flew back uneventfully. I didn't get back to my flat until around 2 am. It was a great trip and I was glad my mom was with me. I need to mention that, if you haven't seen my pictures on facebook, you should see them. There are over 60 just from the Alhambra so check them out!)