Day 8 - Granada

Andrew and I woke quite early, the sun streaming in through a naughty gap in the curtains. We decided to let Oli sleep in and made our way, with two bags of dirty washing, to a laundrette. We had hoped to get a service wash and had checked it out last night, but when we got there the place was just the washers - no staff. So we stuffed our clothes into two washing machines and left them to do their magic while we had a little explore.

We found a coffee and cake shop and ordered some coffees. Andrew had a ham and cheese croissant (with a take away one for Oli), and I had a chocolate palmier (a kind of biscuit crossed with a croissant). After a wander around, we went back for the washing and set it off on a drying mode! Life on the edge in Granada! The laundrette was, unsurprisingly, baking hot. We got everything dried and folded and walked back to the hotel to collect Oli. It was midday and he was still not awake!

Finally up and ready, he joined us for our walk up to today’s star of the show..The Alhambra.

The Alhambra is a palace perched high above Granada’s old town that was once a walled castle. By 1237 it became the seat of Granada’s Nasrid emirs.

According to the guidebook, the Palacio Nazaries are the finest Islamic buildings in Europe. Quite a claim!

Alhambra means ‘Red Castle’ in Arabic. It had parts added on right up until 1492, when the Christians moved in and took over. By 1829 it had fallen into serious disrepair until America wrote Washington Irvine rediscovered it and by writing about it started a chain of events that led to it being restored. It is absolutely huge and the restoration continues.

It is the only surviving large medieval Islamic palace complex in the world.

It’s designers were supremely gifted, using pools and running water to integrate nature and buildings.

I had first seen parts of the palace when Michael Palin visited it for a BBC travel documentary and I remember how moved he was and how he had hoped that nobody else would ever visit as he wanted it all to himself.

Tough luck as it is Spain’s second biggest tourist attraction after Sagrada da Familia. You have to book well in advance, which we had. It’s quite the climb up, but it’s under a welcome canopy of trees. Oliver described the walk as the pinnacle of awful. Drama!

We walked to the back of a queue (even though we had time tickets) and waited for around 15 minutes to enter the Nasrid Palaces.

Oh wow - what a sight. You are not allowed to touch anything, even the door frames, but it’s hard not to. You just want to feel it. Beautiful coloured tiled walls, white plastered walls and ceilings engraved with delicate fretwork and Islamic script. Not forgetting the marquetry wooden ceilings. It’s beautiful.

Each doorway has arches made of ornate stucco - no basic lintels here!

The Patio de los Arrayanes is in the centre of the palace with a beautiful pool surrounded by white marbled floors and myrtle hedges.

It was a lot to take in, each room more beautiful than the last.

After leaving the palace you find yourself in the vast gardens. The Generalife was the Sultans’ summer greens and they are huge. We sat in the shade for a while, it was 5pm and the temperature was still around 40 degrees. We decided that the garden were maybe a little ambitious for us, so we explored some of the closer parts and then head to the exit. It’s like a town within a town, with other palaces (built later by Charles V) and small shops selling souvenirs. It is beautifully kept and a real credit to Granada.

We took a slow walk back down the hill, popped into a bar for a cold drink and then relaxed with our books before heading out to dinner.

We ate at a rather mediocre restaurant. Which is a shame, as there are so many great ones to choose from. It’s just trying to find something that we all like is hard aometimes.

Walking back from dinner with our ice creams (Granada flavour - pomegranate) we saw a band getting ready to play. Around 15 young men with various types of guitar and tambourines. They are called Tuna - a group of students dressed in traditional costumes serenading young maidens. Really lovely upbeat music with the odd flourish of tambourine acrobatics thrown in. A wonderful way to end the evening.

I will leave you with some more photos of the beautiful palace. Michael Palin was right to be bowled over by it.