El Generalife (at night)

Tuesday:





I expected to feel rather sore after my big hike the previous night, but luckily all was well. I woke up at a decent hour (10 am) and went for another free city tour at 11 am. Surprisingly, the city was still just waking up at 10:30! Shops were just starting to open! It made me feel better about sleeping through most of the morning. The city tour covered much of the same area as the previous night, with a few more details, and luckily NO rockclimbing!





The tour ended on the street famous for its TAPAS! I was able to enjoy a couple of drinks, with free tapas provided for lunch. It was a nice and relaxing way of spending a couple of hours. Once the group split up, I went in search of retrieving my tickets for the Alhambra for that night. I also managed to score tickets for the entire site for Wednesday afternoon!





NOCTURNA GERNERALIFE: After a tapas dinner, it was finally time to head up the hill to get a tour of the Generalife (The sultan´s summer palace). Apparently it could be 20-30 degrees cooler in the palace on the mountain than down below! Part of this was achieved by painting the palace and homes white, which reflects the sun. Also the flow of water, cooled the area, and created little cool micro-climates.





The experience was AMAZING! At first I was bummed, because my camera ran out of power, but to not be outdone, I whipped out some paper and a pen and started sketching. It turned out to be the best thing I could have done! One of the security guards noticed me, and took an interest. When he found out that I was a student, he began to give me an indepth explanation of the restoration process and what dated to the Moorish erea and what had been added later in the Christian era. He also talked a little about the planting, as well. Mind you this 45 minute conversation was all in Spanish and I understood about 75% of it! I was so pleased!





Things I learned:

• There were only two trees at the center of the garden in the main famous piazza.




• The beds were level with the groung, not sunken as they are today.




• They used to plant herbs and other fragrant plants...not colorful ones.




• They planted the lower terraces with the food, because it was out of sight.




• There used to be a small path and tiny bridge that connected the fortress of the Alhambra with the Generalife.




• The ornamental oranges seen today are a variety that taste bad, but they used to be edible in the time of the sultan.

• The larger fountains were added later, after the Christians took over, in the style of the Italians. The Moors only had tiny bubbling, gurbling fountians and long reflecting pools. They loved the placid water and saw it as a way of reflecting.

• The Sultan lived there with his 4 wives, and many more mistresses. They had two separate gardens, one for the sultan and one for his wives.