The Red Fort

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Today we had tickets to tour the Alhambra! We got an early start, which was a good thing, because as the day progressed it got more and more crowded. Even this late in the season, it was quite crowded. Rick Steves says it gets 8,000 visitors a day.

The Alhambra complex sprawls across the top of a hill opposite the Albayzin neighborhood. Upon entering the complex, you find yourself on a park-like plateau where lovely buildings and landscaping greet the visitor, much as they must have greeted visitors 500-800 years ago.

Yesterday we “oohed” and “aahed” at a view of the Alhambra from Mirador (viewpoint) de San Nicolás. Today we got to see the Mirador from the Alhambra.

The Plaza San Nicolás/Mirador is marked in yellow

Our tickets included an early timed admission to the Palacios Nazaríes or Nasrid Palaces (300 admitted every half hour), so we went there first. This is the “must-see” sight in the Alhambra complex. It is a stunning building, consisting of royal offices, ceremonial rooms, and private quarters. The palace is filled with carved wood, stucco, plaster, and ceramic tiles. Courtyards showcase fountains and plants. Everything is covered with geometric patterns, floral decorations, or stylized calligraphy of verses from the Quran.

Inside the palace it was hard to juggle listening to the audioguide, finding our way around the massive palace, avoiding bumping into all the other people, remembering to take pictures, and trying to get good images in rooms without enough light. In other words, don’t expect a lot of photos. Go look on the internet if you want to see more of the inside of the palace.

Of course, the courtyards had lots of light, and they were picture-worthy in their own right. The elite women of Moorish society were generally cloistered and did not leave the palace much. At least they had courtyards where they might be able to get some fresh air and walk among greenery. They also had locations where they could sit behind a carved wooden screen and see without being seen.

Lower class women in this society had to work or keep house and go to the market every day and get the laundry done. They probably did not have the privileges (and limitations) of upper-class women with regard to being veiled and going out in public.

 

The Courtyard of the Myrtles

The Courtyard of the Lions

Another pleasant courtyard

Many rooms had elaborate stalactite ceilings and arches made from molded plaster.

Carvings in the Hall of the Ambassadors

The Hall of the Ambassadors is believed to be the room where Christopher Columbus asked Ferdinand and Isabel to finance his a journey to establish a new route to the Far East.

The Hall of the Abencerrajes is the setting for a tale by Washington Irving. (We also passed by the room where Washington Irving stayed in 1829 while he wrote Tales of the Alhambra.) Irving told of the massacre by the father of Boabdil of 36 members of a North African family who had been invited to a banquet in this hall.

The ceiling in the Hall of the Abencerrajes

After we completed our tour of the Palacios Nazaríes, we had time to visit other parts of the Alhambra complex, which includes the Palace of Charles V, the Alcazaba (fort), and the Generalife Palace and Gardens. At one time there was a self-contained city of 2,000 within the walls of the Alhambra complex, with a mosque, a market, public baths, and a water system. 

We saw lots of pathways paved with black and grey stones all over Granada

The Church of Santa María de la Alhambra was built upon the foundations of the Great Mosque of the Alhambra in the 16th century

Reflection of the Damas Tower

Inside the Palace of Charles V

 Our visit to the Alcazaba, the fortress, consisted mostly of climbing up to various vantage points to see different views of Granada. The fort is mostly in ruins, so there isn’t much else to see there.

The Granada Cathedral

Our final destination was the Generalife Gardens. This is where the Sultan’s vegetable gardens and fruit orchards were found, as well as his summer palace, called Generalife. The 600-year-old garden is still lovely to stroll through.

Orchards

I am amazed that the structures and gardens are in such good condition. They have at times been left to fall into disrepair, but the Moors knew how to build and the people of Granada and all of Spain know they have a great treasure here to protect and maintain.

The Moors occupied much of Spain, especially Andalusia, for almost 800 years and it is important to be able to see what life was like during those times and to understand what traces of this culture still exist in modern Spain. Moorish art and architecture persists. Their ideas about gardens and courtyards and fountains are still evident in Seville, Cordoba, and Granada, and many other places, I am sure. Many aspects of Moorish culture have survived despite the unflagging efforts of the Catholic rulers of Spain to eliminate Muslims from Spain from 1492 on.

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Today’s fabric is a “tapestry-type” fabric from telas.es. Tapestry is a piece of thick textile with pictures or designs formed by a specific method of weaving (weft-faced weaving) or by embroidering on canvas. Tapestry is often used as a wall hanging or furniture covering. 

I believe this is a Gobelin fabric, which would make it a tapestry-type fabric. It was likely produced on a jacquard loom using weft-faced weaving. Some people would not consider Gobelin a true tapestry because it is machine-woven, rather than hand-woven, hence, “tapestry-type.”

I could not determine a name, artist, or source for this tapestry beyond https://www.telas.es/p/tela-decorativa-tapiz-tejido-de-alfombra-terracotta-rojo-fuego/“telas.es”,  but for me, this particular fabric captures the spirit of the Alhambra (Arabic for “The Red One” or “The Red Fortress or Castle”).

 

Olive the Way to Granada

Monday, November 17, 2025

Leaving Madrid on an early train, we arrived in Granada three-and-a-half hours later. The trains in Spain are nice, especially if you can find a route that does not require you to change trains along the way. We passed an awful lot of olive trees on the way. Miles and miles of them, as far as you could see. 

Once we arrived, we took a taxi to our hotel, Palacio Mariana Pineda. It was a little quirky, but it had a great location and great views of Granada’s main attraction from our rooms. The hotel sits on the edge of the Albayzin district, close to Plaza Nueva. It was once a palace, or mansion, and had the typical central courtyard that is such a delightful feature in so many Spanish residences. The beds were very comfortable, but the hotel was disappointing in other ways. For one thing, the heat didn’t come on until 8:00 pm. It was chilly all day and we wanted heat before 8:00. We also think the heat was turned off in the middle of the night. Our “junior suite” consisted of a bedroom at one end of a long hallway (inside the suite) and a private bathroom at the other end. A number of things in the room and bathroom were in a state of disrepair. Things in the shower fell off when you touched them, for example. The breakfast was mediocre and the breakfast room was too small for the number of people using it. The bedroom did have a sort of funky Boho charm with some antique furnishings.

We forgot to take photos. This one comes from the hotel’s listing on TripAdvisor,
under “From management”

We ate a late lunch at Bodega Castañeda, a place that we had enjoyed very much on a previous visit to Granada. It was outstanding.

A fabulous tapas platter

It is known that the Iberian peninsula was, at different times long ago, occupied by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Celtic peoples. Before that, unknown groups left cave paintings behind. By 1 CE the Romans had arrived in Hispania and had established olive and wheat as major export crops. The Romans stayed for 500 years. After the Romans came the Visigoths, from the north.

In 711 CE the Moors showed up, and they would remain in control of Andalusia (the Moorish name for Spain) for nearly 800 years. They were Muslims from North Africa and their culture had developed expertise in mathematics, astronomy, sciences, literature and architecture. Their legacy can be found in Spain today - in the Spanish language, in architecture, and in music, for instance.

Moorish architecture features horseshoe arches, ceramic tiles, geometric patterns, fountains and gardens. The Alhambra, a palace/fortress complex dominating a hilltop in Granada, is one of the best preserved and most famous examples of historic Islamic architecture. It is why most visitors come to Granada. The Alhambra was begun in 1238, and periodically different rulers added on to it. 

In 1492, the Reconquista swept the last of the Moors out of Spain and the “Catholic Monarchs,” Ferdinand II and Isabel, unified Spain, expelled the Jews, and sent Christopher Columbus to look for a new route to India. They brought their Royal Court to Granada and made the Alhambra their official residence. It is at the Alhambra that Christopher Columbus obtained financial backing from the monarchy for his historic voyages of exploration.

It is remarkable that Alhambra survived. Instead of tearing it down and building a something less Moorish, which was a frequent pattern, the Catholic Monarchs and their successors chose to move in and use the Alhambra themselves. Did they recognize it as an architectural treasure?

To get a sense of perspective on the Alhambra, we went to Mirador de San Nicolas, a viewpoint in the Albayzin, to watch the sunset. We arrived before sunset, but the small plaza was already full of tourists ready to watch the sun go down and the lights come on.

Alhambra before sunset

The Generalife Gardens

Half an hour later

Ten minutes later

Another ten minutes, and some of the lights have come on

Part of the crowd at the Mirador (Viewpoint)

We walked back down to the river and enjoyed several unexpected views of the Alhambra. The Albayzin is primarily comprised of very narrow alleys, twisty lanes, tiny plazas tucked in here and there, and cobblestone surfaces.

Upon reaching the river we found a plethora of restaurants on both sides and we picked one out. It was delightful.

Anchovies in tomato sauce (boquerones)

Eggplant with bonito flakes

Gnocchi and “Russian” potato salad

Taken from our little balcony at the hotel

Today’s fabric is Euclidean Star Watercolour Geometric Gold Historique Large by ronya_lake for Spoonflower.

An I-NFL-ux

Sunday, November 16, 2025

When we first arrived in Madrid, I noticed a few people walking around wearing shirts with a large “W” on them. These people were obviously Americans. I was trying to figure out what college they went to. I knew it was not University of Washington or Washington State. Every day we were here, I noticed more people with “W” shirts. 

Then I began to notice a surprising number of people wearing Miami Dolphins fan gear. It is unmistakeable, with bright turquoise blue and orange colors. 

After a couple of days I mentioned it to Ken and he said an NFL game would be played in Madrid on Sunday (today), between Miami and the Washington Commanders. This would be a regular game that would count as part of the regular season and would count toward the playoffs, etc. (I have now written everything I know about football.)

By Saturday, people from the US had arrived en masse for the game. We saw them everywhere we went on Saturday and on Sunday morning and early afternoon. They were all over our hotel. A whole family came to breakfast this morning wearing Miami Dolphins one-piece pajamas. So much fan gear.

Stealth photography at breakfast

It surprised us to see so many football fans come to Spain for what amounts to a long weekend. But, Spain is closer to the East Coast than Alaska is, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. The game was played at the big “soccer” stadium used by Real Madrid. (ICYMI, Miami won, 16-13 in “historic overtime thriller” says miamidolphins.com.)

And there you have it. Everyone in our paella group, other than our family and the two Italians, had come to Madrid from the US for the NFL game.

This morning we walked around and took in some of the sights on Rick Steves’ Gran Vía Walk. This area grew up between 1910 and the 1930’s. The reasons to come here include architecture, shopping, and a trendy vibe. In addition to the Art Deco buildings, you can see a bit of the ugly Brutalist architecture from Spain’s Fascist period.

Banco Bilbao

Centro Canalejas

Circulo de Bellas Artes

Metropolis Building

Plaza de Cibeles

Edificio Grassy

This is called the Royal Oratory of the Knight of Grace (Real Oratoria del Caballero de Gracia) but I don’t really understand what it is or why it looks like this

Gran Via Metro Station

Cine Callao

The Schweppes Building is is an Art Deco classic

Hotel Mayorazgo

We took a break to do laundry and rest. Scott and Keisha had some free time, and walked around on their own for a while.

We had dinner at a hip little place with a fusion menu called Lola Sí Mola in the Barrio de las Letras behind our hotel. Good place. 

Pan bao de carne mechada

Today’s fabric is Art Deco Scallop by whimsical_brush for Spoonflower.

Personal Note:

It is December 7 and I have now been sick for six weeks with an epic sinus infection. A couple of times I was almost better and then took a turn for the worse. Last week I felt quite good, but I started to lose ground about five days ago and have had a couple of days of very bad sinus congestion. For logistical reasons, I did not go to a doctor until yesterday. I am now taking antibiotics (again) and starting to improve. We just went through the Straits of Gibraltar, so I have some easy, restful days ahead.  I haven’t felt like blogging for several days, but I am still planning on it.