Granada Day 1

Granada. Lovely little town, like Seville, it seems to live on tourism. Our original plan was to arrive in the morning and leave at night, due to some misunderstanding, will leave us with too little time to see the 2 attractions that we desperately want to see, Alhambra and Sierra Nevada. But due to extreme carelessness on my part, I bought train tickets for the wrong day and we couldn't leave Granada that night. After costing us the whole morning running around trying and failing to change the ticket, we decided to make full use of the situation and spend quality time at both Alhambra and Sierra Nevada. =)




The train to Granada
Granada is a small place, and it's the only place where we took buses. They have a countable no. of buses and their routes are marked on maps at bus stops. Very convenient for map-literate people.


La Alhambra. UNESCO world heritage site. Muslim palace that's been occupied by Christians and Muslims. Long series of photos follows. Beautiful place. Glad we got tickets to go in. This is the neighbouring houses, the territory of the muslim rulers. Great view from the rulers in the palace.


Islamic architecture in Alcazar


Repeated pattern on walls, something about Allah is the greatest. Sorry can't read Arabic. But it's really intricate, imagine whole walls covered with these carvings. Impressive




Star shaped ceiling. Meant something, I forgot. Something to do with the constellations and heaven. And notice the uneven surface. Christine claims that they threw rugby balls up to the ceiling to create those holes.


Garden


Bathhouses












Amphitheatre-like place


View from the tower at the fortress. Sierra Nevada in the background.




Generalife, "architect's garden". Water is so precious in the Islamic world that it's used as an artform here. The arches created by the water mirrors the arches of the architecture.