Day 19

We had an earlier start today for our 12 hour day to Granada and the Alhambra. Fortunately I still had plenty of time to have breakfast and get ready before walking to the pickup point at a nearby hotel. I originally wondered if we needed to wear pants as I was unsure if the Alhambra was a religious site. When I saw a group of men standing near the pickup with trousers on, I thought I’d dressed inappropriately but fortunately they were just businessmen on their way to work!

Heddi, Pentti and Freja arrived shortly afterwards before we boarded the bus with all the other tourists, including some Australians I recognised straight away by their accents. Our first stop today was at a service centre for coffee and to use the bathrooms. It seemed like every other tour bus was there too, which was heavily overloaded with teenagers. But at least the coffee was decent.

Originally the itinerary said we would visit Alhambra first which we were pleased with as the day was meant to be hot…as it turned out, we went to Granada first! Our guide gave us a basic walking tour of the city, which included examples of the architecture and the shopping laneways. We then had plenty of free time to explore (about 2.5 hours) so we went to a nice paella restaurant for lunch before looking through some of the shops and the Plaza Larga.

I treated myself and Freja to an ice cream from KFC as I couldn’t find a churros restaurant, before we all continued on towards Alhambra. First we saw more of Granada from the bus, as well as the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance before arriving. We then met with our guide for Alhambra who gave us each individual headphones which made his tour much easier to hear.

The first sight we saw were the Generalife Gardens, which were a beautiful combination of hedges, rose bushes and fountains. The palace and the gardens were originally used as a private retreat and summer palace for the Nasrid rulers and their family, away from the official business that took place in the Alhambra.

The Alcazaba citadel looked more like ancient ruins and is the oldest part of the Alhambra today. It was the centrepiece of the complicated system of fortifications that protected the area. Its tallest tower, the 26m high Torre del Homenaje ('Tower of Homage'), was the military command post of the complex. Some parts of the Alhambra faced annihilation at the hands of Napoleon’s army when, after occupying the fortress city in 1812, retreating French forces laid explosives at their departure with plans to destroy the Alhambra. Some blasts damaged a few buildings in the complex, but most of it remains intact today.

One of my favourites were the Nasrid palaces, which are a continuation of Moorish (western Islamic) architecture from earlier centuries but developed their own characteristics. This includes a combination of courtyards, water features, gardens, arches, and stucco and tile decorations.

The Palace of the Lions is one of the most famous palaces in Islamic architecture and consists of a rectangular courtyard centered on a marble fountain with twelve sculpted lions. This was where a lot of the most intricate architecture was obvious, with the three dimensional Muqarnas architecture in places like the Hall of the Two Sisters.

We had expected today to be really hot and unbearable but since the tour was at an easier pace and there was plenty of shade, it turned out to be easier than we’d expected. Our drive back to Málaga was quicker too as we didn’t have any stops, and were back around 8pm.

As I’m heading to Berlin via Lisbon tomorrow, I needed to pack up everything before my departure tomorrow, meaning I wouldn’t have time to go out for dinner. Fortunately I had enough food in the apartment so it wasn’t a problem. Málaga has been a very pleasant stopover, and it has been wonderful to see Heddi and her family again, but tomorrow I will head to my final destination of this holiday before heading back home!Read more