Granada and El Alhambra-Spain

Granada and the Great Alhambra “The Pearl Set in Emeralds”

Today, we took a tour with SpainDaytours to visit The Magnificent Alhambra, a 1.5 hour drive from the port of Malaga, Spain.

The Alhambra palace, the greatest Moorish palace in Europe, was built for the last Muslim Emir during the mid-14th century.

The complex demonstrates the grandeur of the Moorish civilization of Andalusia with its signature features including busy stucco, plaster "stalactites," colors galore, scalloped windows framing hillside Granada views, exuberant gardens, and water, water everywhere. Water — so rare and precious in most of the Islamic world — was the purest symbol of life to the Moors-so, the Alhambra is abundantly decorated with water: standing still, cascading, masking secret conversations and drip-dropping playfully.

At one time, 2000 Muslims lived inside the Alhambra walls

The Alhambra in Four Parts

The Alhambra consists of four sights clustered together atop a hill: 1. The (Non-Moorish) Charles V's Palace (Christian Renaissance palace plopped on top of the Alhambra after the reconquest), 2. Alcazaba (fort with tower and views), 3. Palacios Nazaries (exquisite Moorish palace, (the jewel of the tour), and 4. Generalife (beautiful, lush gardens and summer palace).

1. Charles V's Palace
Conquering kings often built their own palaces over their foe's palace, and that's exactly what the Christian king Charles V did. The Palacios Nazaries wasn't suitable for Charles, so he built this new home, considered Spain's most impressive Renaissance building, on top of it. Charles' palace was designed to have a dome, but it was never finished. His son, Philip II, abandoned it to build his own palace, El Escorial. Yes, it’s another case of pure European royal greed and waste.
We visited the adjacent Museo de la Alhambra, showing off some of the Alhambra's best surviving Moorish art, along with one of the lions from Palacios Nazaries' fountain (under construction till 2012).

2. Alcazaba
The fort — the original "red castle" or "Alhambra" — is the oldest and most ruined part of the complex, offering spectacular city views. At one time, this tower defended a town (or medina) of 2,000 Muslims living within the Alhambra walls.
Of note, in the 19th century, Napoleon stationed his troops at the Alhambra, contributing substantially to its ruin when he left.

3. Palacios Nazaries, the Moorish royal palace
At 1:30, the entry time slot stamped on our tickets, we entered the jewel of the Alhambra: the Moorish royal palace, Palacios Nazaries, built primarily in the 14th century. We toured three basic sections: royal offices, ceremonial rooms, and private quarters.

We visited rooms decorated from top to bottom with carved wood ceilings, stucco "stalactites," ceramic tiles, molded-plaster walls, and filigree windows. Open-air courtyards in the palace feature fountains with bubbling water like a desert oasis, the Quran's symbol of heaven. The palace is well-preserved, but the trick is to imagine it furnished and filled with Moorish life...sultans with hookah pipes lounging on pillows on Persian carpets, tapestries on the walls, heavy curtains on the windows, and ivory-studded wooden furniture. The whole place was painted with bright colors, many suggested by the Quran — red (blood), blue (heaven), green (oasis), and gold (wealth). And throughout the palace, walls, ceilings, vases, carpets, and tiles were covered with decorative patterns, mostly calligraphy writing out verses of praise from the Quran.

As I wandered, I kept the palace themes in mind: water, no images, "stalactite" ceilings, and jagged pathways that zigzag (to prevent enemies from storming the place).

We toured Court of Myrtles (Patio de los Arrayanes); Boat Room (Sala de la Barca); Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones); The Hall of the Ambassadors (Gran Salón de Embajadores); Hall of the Two Sisters (Sala de Dos Hermanas); the Hall of the Abencerrajes (Sala de los Abencerrajes); Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones); and The Hall of the Kings (Sala de los Reyes)

Here are highlights of three of them:

The Hall of the Ambassadors (Gran Salón de Embajadores): During the 15th century, a visitor here would have stepped from the glaring Court of Myrtles into this dim, cool, incense-filled world, to meet the silhouetted sultan.

There is finely carved Arabic script throughout. Muslims are forbidden from making images of living creatures — that is God's work. Instead, they are allowed to display decorative religious messages. One phrase — "only Allah is victorious" — is repeated 9,000 times throughout the palace.

In 1492, two historic events likely took place in this room.

1.Culminating a 700-year-long battle, the Reconquista was completed here as the last Moorish king, Boabdil, signed the terms of his surrender before eventually leaving for Africa.

2.Columbus made his pitch to Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand to finance a sea voyage to the Orient, making his case that he could sail west to reach the East. Although most in the audience of the greatest minds from the University of Salamanca scoffed and called him mad, Queen Isabel said "Sí, señor."

Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones): This patio, the Patio de los Leones, features a fountain that's usually surrounded by 12 lions. One of the lions is on display in the Museo de la Alhambra inside the Charles V palace, while the others were under construction.

Why did the fountain have 12 lions? Since the fountain was a gift from a Jewish leader celebrating good relations with the sultan (Granada had a big Jewish community), the lions represent the 12 tribes of Israel. During Moorish times, the fountain functioned as a clock, with a different lion spouting water each hour. (Conquering Christians disassembled the fountain to see how it worked, and it's never worked since.)

Washington Irving Room: We visited the room marked with a large plaque “where Washington Irving wrote Tales of the Alhambra”. While living in Spain in 1829, Irving stayed in the Alhambra. His "tales" re-kindled interest in the place, causing it to become recognized as a national treasure. A plaque on the wall thanks Irving, who later served as the US ambassador to Spain (1842–1846). Here's a quote from Irving's "The Alhambra by Moonlight": "On such heavenly nights I would sit for hours at my window inhaling the sweetness of the garden, and musing on the checkered fortunes of those whose history was dimly shadowed out in the elegant memorials around."

Washington Irving is virtually celebrated as the contemporary patron saint of Granada because his writings sparked renewed worldwide interest in The Alhambra.

4. Generalife Gardens and Summer Palace
It is considered the most perfect Arabian garden in Andalucía. Generalife, (the sultan's vegetable and fruit garden and summer palace), is a short hike uphill near the palace. The 2,000 residents of the Alhambra enjoyed the fresh fruit and veggies grown here. Most importantly, the sultan enjoyed a quiet escape from a busy life governing in the summer. Of note, the Sultan never stayed overnight (security concerns).

This summer home of the Moorish kings, the closest thing on earth to the Quran's description of Heaven, was planted over 600 years ago — remarkable longevity for a European garden.

Many tourists never get to see the Alhambra because entry is limited and tickets sell out quickly. The Alhambra admits 7,800 visitors a day. Six thousand tickets are sold in advance and the rest are sold each day early at the Alhambra ticket window. The Alhambra complex's top sight is the Moorish palace — Palacios Nazaries. Only 300 visitors per half hour are allowed to enter there. Tickets cost 12Euros in March 2011.

Next time, I will visit after May when all the flowers are in full bloom!

Madeira-A Feast for the Eyes

One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

Funchal, Madeira’s beauty simply took my breath away. It is the perfect port city to visit because it combines beauty, history, hospitality, and ease of access, all into one spectacular package.

It is eternally spring in this small, peaceful, volcanic island that features soaring cliffs, clear blue water, stunning mountains, deep canyons, and prolific city gardens with breathtaking displays of flowers rarely seen outside Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. There are beautiful gardens EVERYWHERE and Funchal was awarded the 2000 competition for Greening and Flowering of Towns. Also, it was recently voted cleanest city in Portugal.

We took the full circuit of the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour. The bus transported us through the beautiful harbor, through the winding streets of the old quarter, then, high into the mountains atop all the lush green flora and past beautiful residences that overlook the harbor. We climbed as high as the cable car ride.
On the tour, we learned about how Funchal was an important supply point on transatlantic trade routes leading to the Americas, Africa, and India because the predominant trade winds naturally led ships here (and to the Canaries).

I am simply stunned by the beauty of this city that is a continuous feast for the eyes. I would visit Funchal, Madeira again in a heartbeat.

Canary Islands-- Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

The Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean, close to North Africa were at the crossroads of 14th century explorations of Africa, transatlantic trade, the sugar trade, and was even a stop by Christopher Columbus en route to the “Asia”. The Archipelago occupies a position that facilitates navigation toward the west due to its Trade Winds and sea streams. That is why expeditions would land here to stock up on supplies before crossing the Atlantic. Fought over and colonized by Italy, Portugal, France, England, and Spain, and ravaged by bands of pirates and buccaneers, it was eventually proclaimed a Spanish province in 1821.

Today, we visited the largest and most popular of the 7 Canary Islands, Gran Canaria. With its balmy, sunny climate, lots of coastline, laid back feel, and outdoor lifestyle makes it ideal for tourism, which produces 80% of the islands revenue.

Via Hop-On-Hop-Off tour bus, we toured Las Palmas, capital of the Eastern Provinces of the Canaries, (Santa Cruz de Tenerife is capital of the western provinces). First we took the entire hour long 9-stop (15 Euro) circuit tour. The scenery of the layers of multicolored houses across the mountain side was spectacular. This is a popular beach vacation destination among Europeans. The 2nd time around, we got off at stop 4—The Old City—where we visited the 16th century Cathedral de Santa Ana and the Casa de Colon. Casa de Colon is a museum that houses scale models, panels, nautical maps, navigational instruments, 15th century globes, caravel models, and geographic documentation of collections on 1) Christopher Columbus and his Voyages, and 2) Gran Canaria and the city of Las Palmas.

I especially enjoyed hearing (again) about how Columbus made 4 expeditions to seek a new route to Asia (NEVER KNOWING he arrived at lands unknown to Europeans), the role that trade winds played in guiding Columbus’ routes, the secret treaty (by the Pope) that gave most of the Americas to Spain and only Brazil (and a few small islands east of European mainland) to Portugal, and how entire families from the Canary Islands were forced to emigrate to various parts of the Americas to help Spain maintain its control of the region. The most popular emigrant destinations were Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Caracas. Venezuela is often called the 8th island of the Canaries and a high proportion of Cubans can claim Canarian ancestry.

By the way, it is believed that the Canary Islands’ name is derived from a kind of dog, popular on the island.

Tree-climbing goats en route from Agadir to Taroudant, Morocco

From our ship, we took a private excursion from the resort town of Agadir to Taroudant, a former imperial city called "Little Marrakesh". An hour-long bus ride complete with majestic scenery through a landscape of wild beauty with lush plains and past the snow-topped Atlas Mountains (as much as 1800 meters high) took us to Taroudant, a city surrounded by pink/tan mud walls, founded in the 16th century.

Unlike most Moroccan cities, such as Fez, Meknes, and Marrakesh, Taroudant does not have a real ville nouvelle; rather, almost the entire city is contained within the wall-- so you really get the feeling of stepping back in time and you gain a sense of what rural Moroccan life is all about.

The focal point of our journey was a stroll thru the walled-city filled with colorful images of streets lined with djellaba-clad woman and men, fish vendors, produce carts, cafes filled with men in gandouras relaxing with a cigarettes, and vendors selling wares from bike baskets—all with the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains and city ramparts. The streets were so chaotic and narrow, that at times, we had to constantly avoid cars, horse-drawn carriages, bikes, and other vehicles. Of note, the ramparts span 4 miles.


We felt rather conspicuous as a group of pale westerners led by our The djellaba-clad tour guide. The women, colorfully covered from head to toe, seemed particularly curious about me.

Our trip inside the central market was a treat for all the senses. As with all Moroccan towns, life here revolves around the market or souk, which buzzes with life amidst a mosaic of sights, sounds, smells, and textures. The daily Berber market sells spices, vegetables, clothing, household goods, pottery and other items. In the Arab souk, the emphasis is on handicrafts, terracotta, wrought iron, brass and copper, pottery, leather goods, carpets, and jewelry. Hassan directed us to certain stalls where spices and argan oil where specialties.

One of the highlights of the tour was seeing goats climbing Argan trees en route to Taroudant. We stopped to see the goats and were amazed that they actually climb up into the Argan trees. These special trees (unique to this area) produce a fruit with seeds that are rich in Vitamin E and important in the cosmetic industry, although the locals use the oil to replace olive oil. Goats are particularly fond of the trees and actually climb up into them to feed, which is quite a sight! In town, we visited a shop that sold a variety of healing products and cosmetics made from the prized Argan oil. On sight, were women grounding seeds from the argan fruit.

Of note, Agadir was completely ruined in an earthquake in 1960. Our tour guide, 2 years old at the time, was deeply affected by its impact his entire life, as the city took decades to recover.

On the way back, we drove up to the old Kabash that overlooks Agadir. The view of the coastline is spectacularly breathtaking. Camel owners offered rides and photo shoots with their colorful animals. I should have taken a shot while sitting on a camel with the blue sea and coastline below. Next time!!......

Our tour guide Hassan made it clear that Moroccans are Berber people, not Arabs, and therefore don’t harbor anti-American sentiments. Moroccans love their King and are generally satisfied with their traditional ways.

Just to think…..we almost did not visit Morocco. The last cruise did not stop because of country-wide protests held on February 20, a week before their sailing.

Abdou’s website with photos:
http://www.freewebs.com/khettabi/taroudant.htm

Casablanca

Today’s visit from our cruise ship: Casablanca, Morocco

With 3.5 million residents, Casablanca is the 2nd largest city in Africa after Cairo. It serves as the commercial and financial capital despite its relative young age as a major city. It was only during the French protectorate of 1912-1956 that the city assumed its pivotal role in the Moroccan economy and grew from a village of just a few thousand to over 3 million inhabitants. The dream of a French governor in the early 20th century, the city is a modern, bustling, cosmopolitan center with skyscrapers, modern government buildings, and planned urban enclaves. Although very westernized, men and women are still segregated in most facilities.

The highlights of my day here were as follows:

Mosque Hassan II

First we took a taxi to the world’s 2nd largest mosque after the one in Mecca. Casablanca’s skyline is dominated by this massive edifice. It holds 25,000 worshippers inside and 80,000 outside. It also holds the world’s largest minaret. It was partly constructed on the water; we saw it emerge as the ship entered Casablanca waters. At one point, you can see the water through the glass floor.

Old Medina

Next, we took a taxi to the old Medina, a colorful market where merchants sell a conglomeration of fruits, vegetables, spices, meats, beans, grains, olives, clothing, pottery, crafted wood, fragrances, fabrics, shoes, berber crafts, jewelry, and many other items. “Mustafa” insisted on guiding us through the web of tiny streets that were a confusing maze of passageways. I enjoyed taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells of this lively medina.

I found the Moroccans to be warm and gracious.

In addition to their currency, the dirham, Moroccan vendors accept Euros, British pounds, and $ dollars.

In case you were wondering: Humphrey Bogart NEVER came here and the film Casablanca was shot entirely in Hollywood.

To Go Or Not To Go--THAT is The Question

It is possible (and maybe likely) that my Morocco/Canary Islands/Granada cruise will not go to Morocco. Since my only reason for choosing this cruise (on the Jade) was to add Morocco to my growing list of counties and places I have visited (55+), the prospect of not seeing Morocco is extremely unappealing.

Inspired by the recent nationwide protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and others, Moroccan youth, used Facebook to mobilize citizens frustrated by status quo.

The result: On February 20, citizens in 52 Moroccan cities, in their “movement for dignity” protested the frustration of some Moroccans with a government they believe has done little to combat corruption. The protesters are demanding constitutional reform, the dissolution of parliament, and the lowering of food prices, among other things. Although it was reported that protests in al-Hoceima and other towns and cities were peaceful, acts of vandalism and looting took place after the rallies.


There are also many confirmations that the King of Morocco is loved by the people because of some of his progressive moves and, he is considered, after all, a descendant of the prophet Mohammed.

Later, I scoured the internet and discovered that future demonstrations were planned for every Sunday leading up to the grand protest (and ultimatum to the King) day: March 20. Guess who was scheduled to arrive in Casablanca on Sunday, March 20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Of note, this did NOT make mainstream news in the US)

At this point, I was convinced we would not touch Morocco.

Many of us on Cruise Critic (CC) discovered this news and began to chat and worry. We subsequently discovered a blogger on the February 25 sailing (on our Jade itinerary) who revealed The Jade DID NOT make it’s to scheduled Morocco stops on February 27 (Casablanca) and 28 (Agadir). They found out upon boarding the ship in Barcelona.

We all understand the cruise line’s decision to avoid Morocco for safety reasons. Yet, with the Mediterranean surrounded by 23 countries with more than 70 great port of call options, they substituted 1) a sea day and 2) Lanzarote, a teeeeny volcanic Canary Island that even Spaniards have never heard of and its part of SPAIN. We all felt this is unacceptable.

A CC campaign began where we mobilized to try to procure information directly from the cruise line while many expressed their views about the cruise lines LAME choice of alternates for Casablanca and Agadir: a sea day and Lanzarote!

Here are some of the Comments from CC posters: “I am only taking the cruise for Morocco”, “they should take us any way and we will use our judgment”, “why not Cadiz, or interesting ports in Italy or France”, “We Europeans don’t mind visiting more Canary Islands”, “Moroccans love their King so it’s not a dangerous protest”, “I have private pre-paid tours that I can’t cancel”, “I am calling the travel insurance company for a refund” and so on……


I must have invested more than 12 hours researching alternative ports, contacting the cruise lines, hotel, and Malaga private tour company, clarifying my insurance rules, calculating cruise and airline penalties, and even found two different and great cruises for great prices (that I put on hold).

I was MENTALLY exhausted.

After realizing how much trouble it would be to cancel, and the cost would be 20% of the total cost AND I’d be left with cruise line and airline credits (not cash) I decided to stick with the original plan.

Many others on CC agreed we will keep a positive attitude and enjoy whatever happens. We will all meet on our first sea day (March 19) in Le Bistro at 11AM

I will board my flight for Barcelona on March 15, spend 2 nights in that vibrant city then board my cruise on March 18 at 7PM. Only the crystal ball knows where it will take us on March 20 and 21.