534 – Saturday 12th November 2016: Granada’s Alhambra
I was to be the first of us to do the grand tour – we arrived at the ticket office before it opened at 0800 hours – and queued for over an hour! Oscar was much admired by everyone especially a group of young ladies from Cambridge…K had come with me to get her ticket for the afternoon visit.
My visit lasted for about 3 hours and I couldn’t possibly see everything – stunning again – the photos (later) will show a good flavour.
Potted History: The first palace was built from 1237 for Muhammad 1 al-Ahmar; other rulers built / added on gardens and palaces. The Dynasty ruled the Muslim empire which stretched from the Straits of Gibraltar to east of Almeria. Muslim forces actually took over the area long before, but other regions fell to the Christians. In the words of one of our guide books “It all went pear shaped” in the C15 with family in fighting over the succession, leading to a civil war. The Christians took advantage and invaded leading to an 8 month siege. Boabdil surrendered Granada in return for much of the countryside. Isabel and Fernando then set up court in the Alhambra. The Jews and Muslims were persecuted and largely thrown out of Spain
Part of the Generalife (Architect’s Garden), the summer Palace were the Muslim rulers could escape the politics of the main palace. Soothing flowers, light and water.
From the exterior, the Alhambra is an imposing fortress of red and plain walls.
Carlos V Palace: perfectly square with a circle inner courtyard. Carlos apparently never much liked it and it is very out of place given its surroundings.
Alcazaba: some of the oldest parts. The military complex.
The Nasrid Palaces: the jewels of the Alhambra where 250 years worth of Muslim rulers lived, followed by the Christian royal family. The balcony was added by the Christians for the choir.
The detail in the stone carvings was phenomenal.
535 – Sunday 13th November 2016: Yeeha! Spagetti Western Country
Rather than fork more euros for staying a second night, we drove to a free aire on the way to Europe’s only dessert. A bit of an odd aire, as it was pretty full with a lot of Spanish who seemed to all know each other and had the BBQs out. Behind it was a small park with numbered tables (no benches) and an area with rows of stone BBQs. It must be a popular place in summer. Having walked Oscar and set off all the residents’ dogs barking, we headed for the dessert, near Tabernas. During the 1960’s and 70’s, Spaghetti westerns were filmed here and the full scale sets survive. We had a choice of 3 film sets and opted for the middle priced one, as it allowed dogs in … yehaa! Having paid the princely sum of EUR35 (with J’s senior discount, I might add) we wandered around the sets. A lot of them we recognised, but could not place in which film. Was it The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? A Fistful of Dollars? Who knows! There was absolutely NO INFORMATION about the making of the films. We really felt it was over priced, given how much more interesting the place would have been with some history / information. All we were treated to was a can can show, followed by a bar brawl and a shoot out in the saloon! Come on, J comes from Dublin, isn’t that a nightly event in Temple Bar? I lasted until the first gun shot, and had to take our ‘special’ gun dog out. We made rather a scene in exiting, as he wrapped his lead around the swing door in his haste to get away! J was not long behind!
Would you Adam ’n Eve it! We’ve run out of wine and the blinkin liquor store is shut!
The fistfight.
El hombre!!! Yeeha!
The Mexican village.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
Now really James, you don’t even like guns!
The Fort …
… and of course to complete the Western, the Indian Village.
El Hombre again. Yeeha! Giving paying punters pony rides. Tempting but we’ve spent enough.
We had thought it would be fun to stay in the dessert over night, as our entry ticket allowed us to park up there … but when on earth were we going to do all afternoon? A quick soup and off to Nijar.
We headed for the free carpark adjacent to the local police … however, we had our first buttock clenching moment with Jez, where I ended up in front of the van, guiding J down a too tight road with cars that had no place being there! It really does not help when a local tells you that you have no place being there either! Nope … back to the lower car park we’ve just passed. We wandered into the town … and relieved our driving angst with a half litre of red whilst consuming an early supper. A further walk up the town revealed lots of narrow streets … would not have liked to bring a Fiat 500 there either!) and shops selling brightly coloured pottery and striped cotton rugs.
On the way down, we stopped off at another bar and I ordered us a glass each of 43. This is a drink I remember from previous trips to Spain and I also (don’t remember) was told I got completely hammered on it once and could not face it again! Anyway, I had to introduce J to it. A telecon with the Aged P’s and mother said something along the lines … it taste good, but is lethal. Despite that, we had another glass each. And Spanish measures are LARGE! We wobbled down the hill to Jez, with the intention of finding a spaghetti western on the hard drive to watch …. oops … I managed to get the laptop out … but then passed out …. somewhere around 8.00 p.m., I’m told. Mr C was not long behind me. Thankfully, I’ve not seen 43 in the shops (yet!).
Columbus and Queen Isabella … check out her train.
Clune Gap Years 