If Alhambra is the diamond of Andalucia then Granada is the Treasure Chest.

We were sitting on our balcony nibbling the legs off our gummy spiders. I felt like a queen presented with the greatest of gifts (not the gummy spiders)…Granada at our feet and Alhambra at our back. What a view!

Alhambra reflects the magical heart of cultures thru the ages. Paradise created by the Muslims, opulence and privilege by the Royals, blending by the religious orders, and finally stabilized by UNESCO. For most tourists; Alhambra is part of the must do pilgrimage. I loved a comment made by a new friend at breakfast “We’re going to do what we can with the Alhambra today”. Ha, well put!

Alhambra; the Palace is fantastic beyond words, the Gardens are beautiful, the Museums are fine, the Fort looks substantial, and I would like to have taken a bath in one of those great Moorish Baths listening to someone sing a few bars of a beautiful song. Speaking of historic monuments this is it.

Day 2: Granada; here is where we leave the confines of UNESCO and enter the Treasure Box. We hike down off the hill into the city center. It is buzzing with the young, the young at heart, and the happy. Another comment from a fellow at breakfast; “Im naut going too spent one more mooment in a shu shoop”. (I’m not going to spend one more moment in a shoe shop). Oh my…the shopping! Down little alleys, plazas, behind and around the cathedral. Every street highlighted by yet another historically significant plaza, statue, church, Moorish arch, and beautiful old and new tile. Good thing we got an early start this was going to take a while.

The Cathedral was large and had an excellent self-guided audio tour. The architecture being Gothic Renaissance is quite different from what we have been exploring. The place is especially rich with paintings and sculpture. My favorite; a sculpture of Adam and Eve busts facing each other across a side chapel. So fine you want to take Eve. The head of Saint John the Baptist on a silver platter. That one will stick around in my head for a while. And there is a room full of treasure. Outfits the Popes wore; Mike says they are called vestments but they have other names. Lots and lots of gold. Old beautiful gold. I loved this place.

Throughout the day we toured the sites and monuments, shopped, hung out in the café’s eating free food. In the evening we watched impromptu street theatre. Who are these people? Mike and I laughed until we were silly doing an American translation of what these actors were saying. “What’s wrong with my tent?” (she shakes out some kind of tarp, then she screams at her boyfriend, her boyfriend runs away) “and don’t come back you bum!” “Oh but you, you little bitch, you stole my boyfriend!” I think you had to be there.

Love this place.