Granada to Ronda, May 10

Tuesday, May 10

We have tickets for Palacios Nazaries at 9:30.  This is the only part of the Alhambra complex (in Granada) that requires a timed ticket and they give you 1/2hr leeway.  Great to have tickets in hand and not have to wait to get in.  We were fortunate that our hotel got tickets for us, because everything I could find on line said "sold out" two weeks before! It is one of the two most visited sites in Spain, World Heritage, UNESCO site etc.

The Alhambra is the last and finest Moorish palace showing the splendors of this 13th and 14th century civilization. Some beautiful gardens as well - more on that later

What an entrance!

- as we head for Alcazaba, the oldest part from the mid 13th century.  There was probably a Roman fort here even before that.

We wind through passageways and courtyards and climb the tower where 4 flags fly - the blue of the European Union, green and white of Andalucia, red and yellow of Spain, and red and green for Granada.

We can look back at the city and see St. Nicholas Church where we hiked to yesterday for the view looking this way.

Church is center of photo.

Ronda Rooftops.

 It was 1492 when the Moors were driven out of Granada, their last stronghold.

Time for the Royal Palaces.  The line is somewhat long, but we are in before our 9:30 time and WOW!  It is amazing from the get-go!  Courtyards with bubbling fountains, orange and myrtle trees,  and amazingly decorated rooms.  Most all of the walls are covered in intricate designs with beautiful arches, windows and vaulted ceilings.

This shows some of the stucco stalactites.

There are carved wooden ceilings and doors, actual stucco "stalactites" and many ceramic tiles. The Muslims did not approve of using figures of living things, so most of the designs are floral, calligraphy and geometric patterns.

This says Allah is Great and is repeated some 2000 times on walls, ceilings, etc.

A Lot of tile is used also.

One of the rooms, the Grand Hall of the Ambassadors, is where Christopher Columbus made one of his last pitches for sailing west to reach the Orient.  There is also a Washington Irving room, which is where he wrote Tales of the Alhambra, which some say re-ignited interest and subsequent preservation of the complex.

And then it is into the Gardens, where sculpted greenery, orange and other trees, hedges and a huge variety of flowers (many roses) grow.  We can only imagine the army of gardeners it takes to maintain it so beautifully! We see several cats throughout the complex.

View of gardens from path above it.

The sultan's vegetable and fruit gardens wind across a valley and uphill to the to Generalife, which sounds like a life insurance company, but is actually the name of his little Summer palace retreat, also sumptuously decorated. It begins to rain lightly as we finish Generalife.

We visit some Arab baths, a church and a few other buildings before heading back to the Guadalupe Hotel where we pack and have a pleasant lunch - the Plate of the Day - which is pork loin, a couple of sausages, potatoes and a large roasted pepper that looks and tastes like a poblano - oh, and a fried egg. Very tasty.

We say adios to the Guadalupe, retrieve the car, and head towards Ronda, one of several White Hill Towns that we will visit. Our Tom-Tom that we brought from home with Spanish maps is working well, mostly :)

 The drive there is about 2 1/2 hours and unfortunately it is mostly all in rain.  The scenery is hilly to mountainous with many rock formations, olive and other trees.  We actually see some trucks hauling lumber. We were going to stop at Guadalteba Parque  (similar to National Park) but when we turn off and climb into the mountains we are climbing into clouds and visibility is very poor on this windy, un-lined road.

 We finally give up and head back down out of the mountains. It is clearer at lower elevations and we pass some sheep and cattle.

 This is another town we passed.  Many of them seem to have a main castle and Greg says he'd like to have the concession for white paint in this area!

Ronda is a much smaller town which is perched on a deep gorge, which we'll walk tomorrow.  We find Hotel San Francisco, our home for the next two nights, but have to park in an underground garage five or six blocks away. Nice Room and friendly staff. It is a short walk to the old town and the Plaza del Toro bullring, along a pedestrian street with  plenty of shops and restaurants.  We walk to town and check out the gorge and the bridge which connects the old Moorish part of town and the "new" part which only dates to the 16th century.

We choose a restaurant called Restaurante Quino, where we have a homemade cheese salad which features circles of goat cheese which have been lightly carmelized - yum!  We follow this with our first paella, which is also tasty.

 We have a great waiter named Diego who takes a picture of our paella and then one of us, and Greg takes one of him.

We wonder the streets a bit more and then head back to the hotel for a wonderful hot shower.  It has been chilly and somewhat rainy, so we enjoy getting warm and having a good night's sleep!