After over a month of enjoying gorgeous views of the Alhambra and climbing up to it three times, today I finally had the opportunity to take a tour of Granada's most popular attraction. The word "Alhambra" is a Spanish pronunciation of the Arabic word for "red palace/fortress." It's actually more than one palace. The whole of the Alhambra consists of multiple palaces, both Muslim and Catholic, (including the one I was able to visit without a ticket a few weeks ago), old soldiers' quarters (which feature cutting-edge 13th century indoor plumbing) and lookout towers, Arab baths, a Catholic church, lots of courtyards with pretty fountains, and multiple gardens. The original fortress was built in 889 AD, and all of these things have been added through the centuries. So basically, it was really beautiful, with many different influences and a lot of history. As interesting as it is so see the mix of Christian and Muslim architecture styles together, it's kind of sad to think that as soon as the Inquisition happened and the Reyes Católicos kicked all of the Muslims out of town, they went and built new stuff right where the Muslims' most important buildings were. I also learned things like where the dollar sign comes from and how to use stained glass windows to trick others into thinking you're a ghost so you can intimidate them.
No comments:
Post a Comment