We Are Off to Granada & the Alhambra Palace!

Hey everyone!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day!  I know I did, & I may share a bit of our day at another time;  but today I want to continue the tour of Spain with our trip to Granada & the Alhambra Palace.

Granada looks & feels like a much larger city than it is, with a population of approximately 250,000 & an urban area population of about 475,000.  It was founded in the 11th century & was originally a Muslim fortress.  Granada is very cosmopolitan & a university city sitting at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mts.

Our walking tour of Granada started right at Rio Genil.  There is a beautiful park right next to the river, that ushers you into the city beyond.  Fountains & al fresco restaurants are scattered among the well-tended gardens.  Most of the buildings are very well maintained, & the city streets are very clean.  I enjoyed seeing the lovely hanging baskets that decorated many of the lamp posts.  We walked past a butcher shop, & I couldn't resist taking a photo of the "hamo'n" in the window.  We had a couple of hours to roam around the city, do some shopping, & grab some lunch.

The Cathedral of Granada.

Back to our bus & a short ride up the mountain to The Alhambra Palace.  The first hour of our tour was the gardens outside the Palace walls.  The 2nd photo above was some kind of lush vine that had created a beautiful ceiling.  Every square inch of the gardens was sensory-overload -- colors, smells, beauty!

The Alhambra was constructed during the 14th century.

Beauty abounding!  The patios, courtyards & reflecting pools were built for the sheer joy of relaxing in beautiful surroundings.

We were told that each & every design had meaning, that none of the exquisite carvings, as in the above room, were done just for the beauty.  It all had significance.

Looking down over all that The Alhambra would have protected.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for this tour.  The sun was shining, but it was just cool enough for a light-weight jacket.  Between our stroll around Granada & The Alhambra, we've walked over five miles today.  I think we will be very ready for Sangria when we get back to our hotel!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm having so much fun sharing our little vacation adventure with all of you.  Stay tuned, there is more to come, but not too much more....lol!

~CAS~

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to every mother, daughter, sister and friend!  You are all very special.

Best wishes for a glorious day!

xoxo, CAS

The Rain in Spain Stayed Mainly in Seville....LOL!

Hey everyone!  Today I'll take you on a tour of Seville.  We left sunny Torremolinos bright & early, but about 45 minutes into our 3 hour bus ride, we started seeing lots of clouds.  This was an "uh oh" moment!

Sorry for the reflection.  I took this out the bus window.  I didn't realize olive oil was such a big product of Spain.  Those are all olive trees on the rolling hills.

The weather got cloudier & nastier as we got closer to Seville.  We were wishing we had planned for this contingency.  Never fear, we were met by peddlers just outside the bus selling umbrellas!

The rain started as soon as we entered the city & was really coming down when we made our first stop.  This is Plaza de Espana.

Beautiful even in the rain.

Don't know what the deal was with the carriage.  Really wasn't a nice day for a carriage ride....lol!

This place was huge.  It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.  It is a major example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architecture.

I love how this is framed in this massive archway.

A beautiful monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus.

Beautifully carved in marble.

This is Catedral de Santa Maria de las Sede -- Seville Cathedral.  It's the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world & the 3rd largest over all.  It was consecrated in 1507.

The massiveness is overwhelming.

I actually got this photo from the internet, because it is so much better than the one

I took.  People kept getting in front of short-stuff here!  This is the burial sight

of Christopher Columbus (or so they say....hmmmm?)  Don't know why this got a bit "spacey" here.

This looks like one of those optical illusions with the mirrors, but it isn't.  It goes on & on.

This is one of the Chapels that is still being used.

There are 80 chapels in all.  Sorry for the glare.  All the glitz is the real deal -- all gold & silver.

This photo gives you a better idea of the height & mass.

We were in the Cathedral for a couple of hours, & by then, the rain had let up for a bit.  We don't know if this was a wedding party or for some other celebration, but we kept seeing carriages with very dressy people.  The women & little girls, especially, were in traditional dresses.

We took a boat ride to see a few more sights.  Unfortunately, we couldn't here very well, so we don't know what this beautiful building is -- its architecture is stunning!

I loved all the little balconies.  They were only large enough for some potted plants.

Yep, graffiti is alive and well in Spain, too!

Can you see it peeking out through the shrubs?

This is another photo from the internet showing the World Expo of 1992 here in Seville.  Not a lot of this still remains.

Two of the hotels are still here.

  

This was part of one of the pavilions, but this is all that is still visible.

Apparently it rained pretty much everywhere in the entire region.  This was the beach scene when we got back to our hotel.

At least it wasn't raining anymore, so we strolled around the little streets close to our hotel.  Lots of the little shops have apartments on the 2nd floor.  This person certainly had a way with geraniums.

I called this "My Beach" because "Carolina" is my name in Spanish.  Oops, it started raining again!

That's a wrap for today.  I don't think I've mentioned this, but I've taken all my photos with my Nikon CoolPix.  I was afraid to take my good camera because we were warned ahead of time about thievery.  As it turned out, we didn't have any problems whatsoever, but it was certainly easier to carry the little camera in my crossover travel pouch.

I will be wrapping up my Spain tour in 2 more posts.  I'm so appreciative of the nice comments I've received, but even I'm getting a bit bored with this.  It has certainly been a great way for me to edit my photos & create a "memory timeline" for my own photo album.  That's a major "to do" project, but I think it will be so much easier now.

As I bid farewell for the weekend, I leave you with the very best wishes for a very 

Happy Mother's Day!

xoxo, CAS