A magic night in Granada
a nighttime dip into history at the Alhambra
For two and-a-half weeks this past April into May, my girlfriend and I traveled to and around Spain. Part of the occasion was the marking of a milestone birthday for her, visiting her family there that we’d not seen in a few years and to see more of the country that she, nor I, had been to previously. One of those places was Grenada to visit the Albacin area and, of course, the Alhambra
It’s taken me forever to get around to figuring out which of the loads of photos I took to share and in which order to present them. In the end, it boiled down to more photos, fewer words. I had a visual and emotional experience there that has been hard for me to capture in words.
However, if you want to learn more about the history of this incredible monument, check out these links:
Tours of the Alhambra go throughout the day and into the night. Because of its popularity, we were only able to get a nighttime tour ahead of time. Not to worry, though, because it actually turned out to be pretty amazing! We were on the last tour of the day that started around 10pm and ended around 11:30pm, local time.
[a slight aside]: When booking a tour at the Alhambra online, there are really strict rules requiring visitors to bring their physical passport to the site for identification against your ticket(s). In fact, they repeat the necessity of making sure that you have your passport upon arrival several times on the booking site. Tours are led by independent tour companies and those same rules have to be enforced by tour guides.
As luck would have it, there’s always one person, in this case a couple, who decides that rules don’t apply to them and our whole group was held up for at least 20-30 minutes while the couple argued with the staff. I wasn’t close enough to hear if they’d forgotten to bring their passports or not, but unfortunately for them, they still had to leave and the rest of us continued on.
Thankfully, we had a really nice, mild and nearly cloud-free night for this tour, which took us inside and out of the buildings. As can be seen in the shots above, the dramatic interior and exterior lighting really brought the palaces to life.
The richly and ornately carved Arabic calligraphy and various patterns carved into the walls, columns and ceilings was absolutely breathtaking. I could’ve stood staring at just one part of a wall for hours. The middle row of photos above show views of some of the ceiling carvings in stucco and wood. Most of the decorations from say, chest height and lower, were made with glazed tiles.
Much of the calligraphy features poems and other writings from poets, as well as phrases from the Quran, according to Wikipedia:
The texts of the Alhambra include "devout, regal, votive, and Qur'anic phrases and sentences," formed into arabesques, carved into wood and marble, and glazed onto tiles.
I was particularly taken with this fountain in the courtyard of the main palace. According to our guide, the Moorish rulers came up with a cooling system of water filled channels that carried water to and from rooms surrounding the courtyard to keep those areas cool during the often brutal summer days. Having walked through some of the warmer rooms and entering one that had a water channel in it, there was a marked difference, even with this night being fairly mild temperature-wise.
Our tour was over by 11:30pm and we were pretty hungry, so we grabbed a car share ride back down the hill into the center of the city of Granada, where we were staying. It was a Saturday night, but many of the shops and restaurants were closed already, save for a few bars and small late night stands. We wandered around a bit and found this place that specialized in falafel and wraps of various kinds. The falafel wraps were ok, nothing special, but it enough to push hunger aside.
The next day, we tried to get a tour of the Generalife gardens that are part of the grounds in and around the Alhambra, but couldn’t. There was still a lot to see around the grounds that we hadn’t the night before, so that was still satisfying.
While there were smaller buildings here prior to the 9th century, the most significant period that’s represented by what’s left goes back to the 12th-14th centuries of the Nasrid period. Walking around the grounds in the daylight, we could see some remnants/foundations of buildings that weren’t saved, but I was still awed by standing in a place that has so much history to it. Thinking about the thousands or millions of people over time who occupied and contributed to these spaces. Also, thinking about the creative processes involved in building, decorating, rebuilding and extending the palaces for centuries still amazes me.
I’ll have to dive deeper into the history of the area. I’d be interested to know what it might have been like for the average person living in Granada in the 13th or 14th centuries.
During this trip, we also spent a day in Bilbao, Spain because by this time after Granada, we were already up north having spent five days in San Sebastian. I figured it made sense to go to Bilbao’s Guggenhiem Museum to see the Richard Serra works. I’ll share more from that part of the trip next time.
Thanks for reading!
Also, I make paintings and other things you might like.
I can see how the walls and ceilings in the Alhambra can relate to your work. What a fantastically beautiful place! Seeing it at night makes it even more special. Thanks for the photos!