Granada

We were lucky enough to head over to Granada for the day and visit the Alhambra. Now I had no idea what this place was before we went to Spain, but it is pretty famous since it's been around since the 9th century. That's not a typo for 19th, we're talking a palace and fort that is old. You can read about it here.

 The views from the top made it easy to see why they chose to build on that location.

These were the barracks at one point in time. One can only hope the walls were taller or the ground lower.

We had to wait in line to go see inside the palace because they stagger the crowds every half hour or so. In the meantime PopPop had fun teaching J different hops and jumps.

 We waited happily in the shade.

They don't allow strollers in the palace, but they offer a place to store them and check out a baby bjorn to you. How cool is that? The States aren't nearly as accommodating. PopPop sported it well.

Inside they had the most elaborate mosaics and plaster work. Husband said he felt like he was in Assassin's Creed. I had heard all about the Moors and Moorish architecture before but it never clicked. Moors as in Morocco. As in Arabs in Africa, a 3 hour ferry ride from the tip of Spain. It made sense that they invaded Spain periodically over the last few thousand years.

These are shots looking up. The wood work is on the ceiling.

Imagine the poor young apprentice assigned to cutting out all those lovely iridescent tiles.

The plaster designs have Sanskrit words and prayers worked into them. The window shapes are extra pretty to me.

The scale is overwhelming.

 We decided to take some family pictures while we were there but it was tricky with the crowds and, you know, two kids to get looking at the camera.

 There were such lovely fountains everywhere, you could see how it was an oasis.

This fountain in the main courtyard is one of the icons of the Alhambra with it's 12 lions holding it up. Everyone was sort of looking at the camera.

Here is another elaborate wall and ceiling. Some of the knobs have been broken off. I want to see what it looked like when all the colored paint was on it. You can see remnants of the blue.

There is an impressive view of the city from the palace as well.



A newly 3 year old started to get bored of all the things to see, probably how you feel with the pictures. Fortunately Cinderella was there to help her out. (I bought a set of princess figures and individually wrapped them. A couple came out on the flight, but most came out whenever a tantrum was about to hit. "Happy girls can open a new princess" was enough to quell tears on more than one occasion)

There are amazing gardens for miles around it but we have two kids and decided not to push our luck. The paths were all paved with beautiful patterns made from different stones.

They had a cutout at the end that we got a kick out of.

There is also a palace constructed in the 19th century right next to the fortress and Moorish palace. The catholic kings weren't to be outdone.

This was the inside courtyard.

 These pictures were all on the grounds on the back to the parking lot. Again, check out the cool stones

Someone was done with pictures at this point. I'm tempted to make this one our New Years card. Maybe for the back

They have a million cypress trees along the walks cut out in fun designs.

The views from there were great too.



I love my sweet parents and couldn't ask for better travel partners and photographers. Having 4 adults makes traveling internationally with small children doable.