Andalucia Trip part 1: Granada and the Med

Some explorations in Iberia: Granada and Malaga with Pam and Hank.

I had planned on doing many things with this post, they way I always do. These posts in my head are always much more elaborate, researched, edited and exciting before I write them. Then suddenly it is three weeks later and more things are happening and I'm lucky if I manage to put up a couple pictures. So to make myself feel better, I'll just write some things that I hoped to do here.

There are so many amazing things about Spain. One is its Moorish history. The Moors conquered most of the country in the 700-800's and maintained a hold on it until the Catholic kings managed to finally force them out in the 1400s in the historical event called the "Reconquest." In that time, the Moors brought such wonderful concepts as indoor plumbing, libraries, and Calculus to Medieval Europe. They were stopped north of the Pyrenees at the battle of Tours by a Frankish army under Charles Martel in 732 which ended the progress of Islam into Europe. So they then settled down and largely enjoyed running Spain for the next 600 years. I had not realized any of this before this trip.

One of the biggest highlights of Moorish Spain is the Alhambra palace/castle complex situated on top of a mountain ridge overlooking the Andalucian town of Granada.

Granada's old town

The great Moorish palaces of the Alhambra, seen from the old Arab quarter in town.

Cody interpretive dancing in the Alhambra's gardens.

The Moors engineered flowing water throughout the entire hilltop complex by diverting a river from a higher nearby mountain. It let them irrigate lush gardens and provide running water for plumbing and long term storage in cisterns. Wandering among them is amazing, especially the respite from Spain's hot midday sun. 

Arabic script and ornate tilework.

Cultural denizens as ever, the kids take a pause as Jasper tries to stuff a stick down Cody's pants.

And then there are the doorways!

Hank and Cody talk over the stick situation.

Let's do intricate plaster scalloping on the entire palace! But it will take skilled artisans decades! Well, the Sultan wants it done. Ok.

Topiary Masterworks!

Washington Irving spent time in the ruins of the Alhambra in the 1820's. "Washington Irving?", you may say, "Ichabod Crane? Why and how?" For some obscure reason he came to Granada and stayed in the former apartments of the Sultans, writing Tales of the Alhambra, a series of essays and sketches about his time in Spain. I had planned to get it, read the entire thing, and offer witty and in-depth reporting on it to help round out this blog post. That idea fell apart. Someday I'll do it.

Anyway, his book revitalized interest in the crumbling complex, which a few years earlier was nearly dynamited in its entirety by Napolean as he retreated back to France. The popularity of the book moved Spain to protect the Alhambra as a cultural resource and laid the foundations for its current lovingly-restored state as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Alcazaba aspect of the complex, which are the military defences of the Alhambra.

Feels like Tunisia, but it is Spain! Crazy.

Jasper explores the covering over an old rampart stairway. Snow sits on the Sierra Nevadas in the distance, Europe's second highest mountain chain.

Alcazaba courtyard and the exterior fortification wall.

Cassandra dyed her hair red! Pam did not.

Then we drove back down to Malaga and some people fell asleep.

Cassandra found us an AirBnB in a high rise on the Malaga beach. The balcony looked left to the ocean and right to the inner harbor. This is the balcony I was supposed to sit quietly at night with a sangria and leaf thoughtfully through my copy of Tales of the Alhambra doing research for this post. This did not happen either. Instead,

Instead I crashed and got up the next morning and went for a bike ride up the hill to the Moorish fort that sits over Malaga. These Moorish castles are all over the coastline and provide great biking objectives. Hank accompanied me and as we struggled up the hill he issued repeated death threats to me for placing him in this most horrible of all conceivable hellish situations. Luckily I was far enough ahead to be out of range of the stones and coconuts he desperately wanted to brain me with.

Having a stroll post dinner in Granada's old town.

Of course right in front of the Malaga Moor castle, they found the ruins of a Roman ampitheatre. So now you can sit in a sidewalk restaurant across from it, wearing sandals and shirtsleeves, eat paella, sip sangria, stare at the lights on the ancient walls and wonder if this is actually your life. 

They do a lot with palm trees and gardens to give you shade from the merciless sun. Such gardens become quite atmospheric at night when the gaslamps pop on.

The second day of bike rental, Jay took off by himself to do a 60 mile mountain circuit that carried about 8K of elevation gain. The route climbed up quickly from seaside Malaga into a series of peaks. Once over the main pass (Puerto del León) the route wandered among tiny towns, climbing at one point to a place called Comares, an old whitewashed Arab village where I stopped for a much-deserved cafe con leche. On the way down I ran into a shepard (on a motorbike) taking his goat herd down the main street.

On the loop.

Comares back alleys.

With the company kit!

Back in town: with new hat. Aren't selfies fun!

At this point, Pam and Hank left for the States and we picked up our camper van. On our way out of Malaga towards the Alpujarras mountains where we would snoop around for the next few days we stopped to hike up a small stream. Apparently this is a locals tradition - you hike right up the river. Bring the teva sandals.

(missing pics here)

And the next town up the road, Cerja, has a huge cavern. They've only opened a third of it to the public, but research done here has proved that people were here 24,000 years ago painting stuff on the walls and burying their village elders. So we went in to explore.

Cool interp devices! The kids became bored with them after awhile and started looking for cave bears instead.

It was "rediscovered" in 1950 by four kids playing in a field. It is now one of the largest tourist stops on this part of the coast, but completely worth it.

NEXT CHAPTER: Las Alpujarras mountains in a camper van!