Part 4b - The White Towns & Cycling the Via Verde de la Sierra

Continued from Part 4a - Ronda

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And, now for some fun. Let's tour the White Towns near Ronda, then bike the Via Verde de la Sierra.

The Area Around Ronda

Aerial view of mountainous area northwest of Ronda from Google Earth      annotations by Lee

Legend to map above:
          1 = Ronda:  largest of the White Towns, where we stayed, center of the region
          2 = Grazalema:  White town, the first that we visited
          3 = Zahara de la Sierrra:  White town, the second that we visited
          4 = Olvera:  White town, starting point for our cycling trip on Via Verde de la Sierra
          5 = Coripe:  Station and town along the Via Verde de la Sierra
          6 = Puerto Serrano:  Town where we ended our cycling trip on Via Verde de la Sierra
          7 = Acinipo:  Ruins of Roman town
          8 = La Pileta paleolitic cave paintings near Benaojan
       

The White Towns

When we were planning to rent bikes, one of the reasons we decided to rent from Hike + Bike the Sierras was that in addition to renting bikes and getting us to and from the Via Verde de la Sierra, they were also able to set up van tours. Heather took us on a half-day tour to the white towns of Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra.

Cork and Ham are Related

During the drive Heather showed us Cork Oak trees  (cork is a major industry in the area) and explained a bit about it. From June 15 to August 15 each year cork is harvested from the trees by stripping the bark. To avoid damaging the trees it has to be done very carefully and for each tree, only once in 8 to 12 years. The forests are treated as a national treasure; some of the trees are over 250 years old.  It was unexpectedly fascinating; upon returning home I read up more.

This photo story in The Guardian visually summarizes the process of growing, harvesting, and preparing cork. This post gives a brief overview, and this article explains more and some of the economic problems the industry faces.

In Ronda we had passively noticed many shops selling things made out of cork - purses, large bags, hats, coasters, etc. (This article (from Portugal) explains more about the wares.)  We're not great shoppers. Usually we tell ourselves at the start of a trip that we'll shop for souvenirs for our friends throughout the trip, but in the end, spend part of the last day frantically looking for some, sometimes at airport gift shops. But when we got back to Ronda we bought all the souvenirs we needed - cork ... and we were only half way along the trip.

The same forests contain various kinds of oak trees, each producing different kinds of acorns, including Cork Oaks and especially Holm Oaks. A great explanation of the forests of Iberia is here. These acorns are one of the three things that produces one of the most sought-after and expensive hams in the world, jamón Ibérico: (1) the native Iberian Pig, (2) its diet of acorns, and (3) its curing.  (At least, that's what I'm told - this article explains.  I'm not expert.  To me food is just body fuel ... one of the few things about food I usually pay attention to is whether it's organic and whether it comes from the agri-chemical industry's factory farms.)

Grazalema

We were fortunate. When we got to the town of Grazalema the clouds were hanging low on the mountains and it was raining.  It was lucky. It wasn't on our planned cycling day and this was the only day on our entire trip that it rained (if you exclude our first day in Barcelona when 5 drops of rain fell on us from threatening but rather dry clouds).

Since we come from drizzly Seattle; the rain didn't bother us. Likely because of the rain Grazalema wasn't crowded with tourists - the ambiance of the squares was more subdued than usual - many of the restaurants were closed, and the umbrellas were folded. (It was still warm enough that in summer in Seattle many of the umbrellas would have been up to protect patrons drinking some beer or coffee during a warm drizzle.)

We came upon a sign about about José Mariá "El Tempranillo". In the early 1800's he had been a local version of Robin Hood (or maybe a small bit similar to Poldark in PBS's series of the same name?) - a folk hero.

For those who can't enlarge the above photo enough to read it, it reads:

"The was a time when on this ground you step there were people who underwent hardship. 

"Productive farms belonged to a few and unproductive to the rest.

 

"Justice was not very fair: it favored privileged ones and it was always prejudicial to unprotected people. 

"You were lucky if you took acorns from under the Holm Oaks and ate them without being hit by a keeper or being taken to jail. Nevertheless, necessity made you lose any fear. 

"Among the most ragged and decisive people it was frequent to find people that without any fear, jumped fences, cut wire fences or forced bolts. This was because the hard work of resigned peasants or manufactures was not made for them. 

"In that field, and setting aside those who tried the world of contraband, there were others who followed the paths of crime, extortion, and robbery. 

"Some of these people are found in our mountains: Barbarán, Zamarra, Antonio Mena "El Sapo" (the Toad), Juan García Nebrón, or the furtive Pasos Largos. 

"Some of them, native from other lands, also chose our territories seeking shelter: the most outstanding case was the one of the without equal, José Mariá "El Tempranillo" 

"José Mariá "El Tempranillo" christened his son in Grazalema."

Were it people like these to whom Washington Irving was referring in the passage that I quoted in Part 4a - Ronda? 

"... even to the present day. Its inhabitants continue to be among the boldest, fiercest, and most adventurous of the Andalusian mountaineers, and the Serrania de Ronda is famous as the most dangerous resort of the bandit and the contrabandista"

This article recounts "El Tempranillo's" life. It says that apparently it may have become fashionable among a few wealthy Europeans during their "Grand Tours of Europe" in the early 1800's to be held up by the bandanistas of Andalucia from whom they "purchased" safe passage.  His fame and popularity became so great that King Fernando VII finally offered him a pardon in return for his working for the state, and allowed him to head a group of 60 mounted guards. A few years later he was killed in a gunfight while pursuing the bandit El Barbarello

It's common that people in remote, often impoverished areas out of necessity develop a strong resilience with a streak of fierce independence and a macho outlook on life: witness Greater Appalachia in the US (as defined in Woodward's book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America which posits the 11 separate cultural nations that make up the US - it rings true to me). Or in the British Isles witness Ireland and the moors of Scotland. And witness many other places throughout the world.  Maybe that independent and macho spirit is why the love of bullfighting developed in the mountains of Ronda, Andalucia, and much of Spain.

Town square, Grazalema

For those that can't enlarge the photo above it reads, in part:

"The village of Grazalema has a large number of "noble houses" all along its old quarter. 

"Most of them were built in the eighteenth century, and have arcades with half pediments at their tops. The windows are barred and dressed by colorful pots of geraniums, and have large cedar doors made with steel nails, and decorated with the most varied artistic carvings. All these details give a post Renaissance air to the houses, something very typical form this village. 

"Some other houses of this village were built during the nineteenth century by cloth manufacturers. Their coat of arms show their pertinence to the Brotherhood of the Santisimo Sacramento (with Ciboriums carved at the lintels), the Brotherhood of Veracruz, or the Brotherhood of La Santa Caridad; many of them are topped with the symbol of the Virgin Mary, other with a broken pediment and a shield with a ducal crown."

See about Spanish brotherhoods here or here - they are integral to the history of Spanish culture, but I couldn't find one simple explanation that encompassed all the aspects.

After reading the above sign I noticed that indeed, there are a large number of broken pediments, barred windows, and strong doors both in the town and in my photos - the signatures of the past. Like in many places where society has broken down with a widened gap between the "privileged ones" and the "unprotected", those with relative privilege barricaded themselves from the "others".

Perhaps history doesn't act like a pendulum, swinging between this and that, gradually coming to rest at neutral. Perhaps it acts like a teeter totter rotating on a fulcrum, with forces of nature pulling an end down. That would require diligence and hard work to maintain a neutral equally-advantaged position. In Spain, history seemed to seesaw between the rule of harsh Moorish rulers and the harsh "Catolic Kings" with a few periods of enlightened calm and balance where Moors, Christians, and Jewish where coexisted to make one of the most advanced areas in Europe during the Middle Ages (more about that when we get to Cordoba, next).

Nowadays the above teeter totter image is troubling.  With the increasing inequality and resurgent concentrations of power and wealth coalescing around a few powerful dictators, political oligarch wanna-be's, oligarchs who control capital, and the wealthiest 1% , with the growth and radicalization of the anti-tax, anti-government, and libertarian movement interested only in their own greed, everything on the teeter totter's beam seems to be beginning to slide towards the increasingly weighted lowering end.Is the new era threatening to resemble feudal Europe ? It happened to Greece. And Rome. And Moorish Spain. And during the industrialization of Europe.  And the pre-World War I  European/American world. Is it happening now?

Compare the total wealth of the bottom 40% of US households with the 4 richest people
from http://metrocosm.com/wealth-vs-income-inequality/

A local example in Seattle: The US federal government supplied trillions of dollars to help blunt the economic affect of the pandemic. The portion given to hospitals was far less, but like in other areas of the economy, that was siphoned to the richest hospitals, to the coffers of a few hospital systems that had significant capital reserves and political power, while their own staff and other needy hospitals suffered. Many of those more needy hospitals will likely not survive, making the broken US healthcare system even worse.

It requires diligence and hard work to maintain a teeter totter in balance.

The memories of the nationalism that led to the horrors of World War II and the stark memories of the deprivations of the Great Depression made many acutely aware that we're all in this together, and aware that it works better when nations and people with divergent needs and perspectives seek for ways to cooperate while working towards their varied self-interests. That enabled the post World War II Euro/American world to become as rich as it became, and enabled it to help the developing and third worlds struggle for better lives. Those memories that prompted the balance are quickly fading. What will the new world that's approaching be like? It requires diligence and hard work to maintain a teeter totter in balance.

But enough of that shit! Let's get on with our trip.


Zahara de la Sierra

We drove down the mountains (hills to me, being from the mountainous American Northwest) to Zahara de la Sierra.

The tinted windows of our van distorted the color

Zahara de la Sierra is much like Grazalema (though I'm sure a local would point out many differences).  Both are stunning. The whole area is on what had been the fluctuating edge of between Moorish Spain and Christian Spain. But Zahara is lower, nearer the mountain passes. So Zahara has more ruins of significant old fortifications.

This article contains much more about Zahara de la Sierra, or as it was called prior to the 1970's:  Zahara de los Membrillos.

In the distance: the Church of Santa María de la Mesa, built between the 17th and e8th centuries

Months after we got home, after the pandemic was ravaging Spain, we were reminded of Zahara when we read that they had devised their own approach to safety. I haven't yet heard how well it worked in the end.

Biking the Via Verde de la Sierra

Fortunately the next day was perfect for cycling. The rain was gone and the temperature wasn't hot.

Heather drove us to Olvera (another of the while towns) where the route starts (or ends). We didn't have time to look around the town, but from the little we saw and from things I've read since I think that's where I might choose if I were to spend a night or a day in one of the white towns. I especially like the pictures that scroll across the first page of Olvera's website.

The Via Verde de la Sierra is an easy bike route on an old abandon railway grade; its grades are consistently very gentle - it's quite usable by the entire family.  (Incidentally, some of the rails removed from it were used in some of the early construction of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.)

A great website by its sponsoring foundation, with lots of information about it is here and a downloadable leaflet with map is here..

There are some videos on youtube, including one showing a few highlights without explanation (3:45 length) here,  my favorite is in Spanish but with English subtitles (4:32 length) here, an 8:25 long collection of still shots of a father and young son's trip made into a video here, and a lengthy video (14:13 long) featuring a group having a great time on the trail here (they must have had a camera drone along with them).

In short it is 36 km long, crosses 4 viaducts, runs through 30 tunnels, has 5 stations to rest at (3 or 4 of which have facilities, 3 have cafe's, and a couple even have accommodations.)

Heather from Hike + Bike the Sierras unloaded our two bikes and fitted them to us. They were both electric (a surprise and a first for us to try).

Here I apologize. When walking I take far too many pictures. But when biking I can't be bothered by them. So following is just a taste of the route. If I were younger and were intending to ride hard for many years I'd definitely get a GoPro video camera. Some of the commuter cyclists in Seattle use them front and back for, among other things, evidence if they get hit by a car's driver. But most just enjoy making videos of their trips and exploits - and they serve well in demonstrating the need and advocating for roadway improvements for bike safety.

A panorama of some of the country side we passed through.

Here's Ginny riding across one of the bridges.

We periodically passed, or were passed by, a large group of riders. We kept leap frogging past each other during the entire trip.

At Zaframagón there is a large colony (perhaps the largest in Europe) of  Griffin Vultures - a huge bird with wingspans between 240 & 280 cm - 7.8 & 9.2 feet  - nesting in the nearby crags.

Most of the tunnels are short and don't need lighting. A few are long enough that lighting systems have been installed (they usually require riders to push a button to turn them on.) The tunnel below is very long and curves so you can't see the end ... without the lighting it would be pitch black.

For the most part the lighting is very dim. By riding in the center you can "feel" the slight crown to the roadbed. But when passing an oncoming rider or walker and trying to get closer to the edge it becomes a bit more concerning and the slight crown feels like its drawing you to the edge. In Idaho in the US I've ridden through long former railroad tunnels that had drainage ditches on each side that you had to stay away from. You needed a good headlight. Remembering those, I was always nervous about getting too close to the edge of any dark tunnel. But happily the roadbed here was relatively flat with only minor gentle swales for drainage in a few places.

Shortly before the end of the trip at Puerto Serrano one of the tunnels is blocked and one has to ride up a short climb on the detour around it.  Anyone who cycles knows that you try to take advantage of any flat area to build up momentum to help take you up any steep hill, especially on gravel or earth where you have less traction.

Just when we were trying to gain momentum a goat appeared on a hillside above us. Then another, and another. Uncertain, we slowed down. We were already beginning the climb then they decided to bound and leap and slide down the hillside onto the trail. A whole herd of them. We stopped. Quickly. After sauntering along the trail a short distance they disappeared down the other side. Our bikes were out of gear to easily start back up on a hill, but we made it.

At Puerto Serrano while having lunch we met both Heather (who was there to pick us up and take us home) and the other group of cyclists (from Scandinavia). To our surprise Heather and they knew each other. They had rented their bikes from her for a multi-day ride.

The guy at the counter didn't know English, but we both pulled out our iphones to use the screens as translators. We were able to have a brief conversation. The modern world really helps in some instances.

On the way back to Ronda we passed some interesting signs - I had noticed them in a number of locations in Spain, enough to make me wonder why the warning needed to be made.

A Third Day?

We had only planned two days in Ronda, but we wished that we had a third day to work in visits to the following:

Roman Ruins at Acinipo

Prior to the establishment of Ronda during medieval and Moorish times the largest city in the area was Acinipo. It had been established by the Phoenicians and eventually was ruled by Carthage. After Rome destroyed Carthage in the Punic Wars in 208 BC it became a Roman city. It was an important enough city to have a population of 5,000 at the time, Roman theater (photo below), a coliseum for Roman blood sports, and even the authority to mint its own coins. Not much is left today besides a portion of the theater, some foundations, and various stones. An excellent explanation of the town, its archaeological site,  and its area is here.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons © Jan Hazevoet under share alike license
at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

An excellent map of the major Roman roads in Iberia is here. Notice the important cities of Cordoba (which we will visit next) and Augusta Emerita (currently named Mérida) which we will visit later - the site of impressive Roman ruins and a major museum of Roman antiquities.

La Pileta Cave Paintings

Many of the tour books highlight the La Pileta paleolitic cave paintings near Benaojan. If we had more time we would have definitely gone there to see the 20,000 year old paleolitic cave paintings, probably on a bike tour.

Biking more

I might mention here: biking is an excellent way to tour while maintaining social distancing and getting outside. You can experience so much more by biking than from a vehicle. And during the coronavirus pandemic biking is surging in popularity. There are even shortages of bikes developing in parts of the US. All this may portend well for the future of cycling tourism.

Newer Ronda

Except when getting to and from the train station we didn't get into the newer parts of Ronda. If we were there for longer we would have tried.

Off to Cordoba

We caught a morning train to our next stop, Cordoba. There we might even meet up with Seneca, the great Roman philosopher, statesman, and writer who was originally from Cordoba.

To return to Part 1 - Overview of the trip, click here.
Up next: Cordoba. I'll post a link here when that report is done.

Part 3b: Granada: The Alhambra

continued from Part 3a - Granada's Albaycin and Old Town
See maps in that part to understand locations mentioned here

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A Brief History of a First Rate Place

"The Ornament of the World" by María Rosa Menocal summarizes the history of Moorish Spain on its pages 15-49 in a chapter called "A Brief History of a First Rate Place".

A 2-hour PBS TV program based on the book is available for those who 
  have PBS Passport, and short clips from it are available for others here. 

Each of the individual periods that ebbed and flowed lasted for more than the 254 years that the US has existed as a nation.

After Rome fell to the Visigoths in 410, the Visigoths ruled and procreated in Iberia for 3 centuries. Under their rule Roman civilization in Iberia collapsed; Iberia languished and fell into disarray.

In 711 Abd al-Rahman arrived in Spain's Al-Andalus from the Arabic world.  The Moorish culture spread, intermingled, and flourished throughout most of Iberia for 300 years, centered in Cordoba.

During the period from 1009 to 1031 Cordoba gradually collapsed and fragmented under the pressure of Christians from the north and internal Muslim civil war. 

During that turbulent period various cities became independent, including Granada. The Zirid dynasty was founded in 1013 in Granada which began the period in which the Alcazaba Cadima and the Zirid Walls in the Albaycín blossomed and then faded.

In 1212 the disunited Christian factions in northern Spain united, and with help from other European armies began to overwhelm the Moors. Cordoba fell in 1236, Seville in 1248.

As a reward for siding with King Ferdinand III of Castille in the battle for Cordoba in 1236, Ferdinand III granted Granada's Ibn Ahmar some autonomy, starting the Nasrid dynasty.

During the next 256 years Granada, the last toe-hold of Islam in Spain, blossomed -- the city expanded (the Nasrid walls were built to protect it), and The Alhambra was built, the last, late blossom of the Moorish culture in Spain.  Finally, in 1492 Boabdil was forced to hand its keys to the Catolic Kings, Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella, and embark on his exile.

The Last Flowering of Moorish Al-Andalus

The Alhambra as seen from the Casa de Castril - The Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Granada

"Such is the Alhambra—a Moslem pile in the midst of a Christian land, an Oriental palace amidst the Gothic edifices of the West, an elegant memento of a brave, intelligent, and graceful people who conquered, ruled and passed away."

- Washington Irving as quoted by Cullen Murphy in his article "Tales of the Alhambra - The lost Islamic world of Southern Spain—and its modern echoes" in The Atlantic, September 2001

I wish I had read that article in The Atlantic before our trip. It encapsulated our experience in Granada and later, in Cordoba and would have prompted me to read more in preparation of our trip.

Washington Irving

After breakfast, we walked along the Darro River to the Plaza Nueva, thence along Cuesta de Gomérez, past the Puerta de las Granadas, up the hill to The Alhambra's Justice Gate (Puerta de las Juctica) . (From the plaza it was only a little over a kilometre with an elevation gain of about 87 meters = 320 ft..)

Puerta de las Granadas

It has always been a pleasant and welcome surprise when travelling to unexpectedly run into a friend from home. It has happened to us a couple of times.

But this time, sadly, he wasn't friendly to us. He was as cold as bronze.

Washington Irving became enchanted with the Alhambra when he visited and possibly camped in it with a friend during 1828, - a story well-told here.  His collection Tales of the Alhambra was instrumental in imparting (in his words) "the witching charms of the place to the imagination of the reader" and, I might, to the imagination of future generations.

During his time in Spain, he also wrote A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada. Both of those books are now online thanks to The Project Gutenberg.

His well-read writings popularized a fascination about Moorish Spain and seeded an interest in The Alhambra, which led to increasing tourism to it increasing conservation efforts for it.


The Alhambra

There are many websites about the Alhambra, its tickets, photographs, and history.  I've linked to some of them at various points in this blog. But the one official website, especially for tickets, is https://alhambra-patronato.es/en/. Most (not all) of the following links are to its various pages.

When planning the trip we had been a bit confused by the descriptions of tickets needed. The confusion was resolved when we walked through the Justice Gate: we could just walk in - no tickets needed.  Much of the Alhambra was free,. But you did need a ticket to visit three of the most popular well-known areas. We had bought tickets online directly from alhambra-patronato with entrance to the Nasrid palace scheduled for 11:30. That gave us plenty of  time to explore both before and after.

The Justice Gate

Inside the gate we chuckled at this sign. Well-fed contented members of the managed colony slept nearby.

Map of the Alhambra and Generalife

Map from the LoveGranada website here

For a more detailed map (with north in the opposite direction from the map above) click here
For an overview description of the Alhambra by the Alhambra's website click here.

The Alcazaba

The Alcazaba, the heavily fortified military complex at the point of The Alhambra, stands guard over it and all of Granada. The Alhambra's fortifications seemed impregnable. The Alcazaba (and the Alhambra) were never overcome by force. A long siege forced the surrender.

As Granada grew it needed more area enclosed by walls, hence in the 14th century the Nasrid Wall was built.

Albaycin (with the 11th Century Zirid city center (the Alcazaba Cadima) on the the left skyline - look for the white tower
with Sacromonte center rear and the Darro Valley extending to the right

Albaycin (with the 11th Century Zirid Alcazaba Cadima, on the the center right skyline - look for the white tower)
with Sacromonte far right and the old town extending to the left.

The Nasrid Palace

Even with pre-bought tickets preassigned in 30 minute increments, the line to get into The Nasrid Palace was long. The ticket managers were strict. We misjudged the line and got to the ticket manager while they were admitting those with tickets for the slot before ours; we had to go sit next to a wall with others until our time slot, then had to guess what location in the line to squeeze into for admittance during our time slot.

There is so much to experience at the Nasrid Palace; we'll pause at just a few key rooms.

Grand Hall of the Ambassadors

The Comares Palace was the official residence of the Sultan.  Perhaps it isn't happenstance that its tower is the highest in the Alhambra.  The Grand Hall of the Ambassadors was the throne room in which the sultan received dignitaries and supplicants.

It's size, the largest room in the palace, bespeaks its ceremonial uses. Its ceiling bespeaks its importance and the power of the Sultan. I could not get a good photo of it, so retrieved one from Wikimedia Commons.

It's walls are totally covered in sculpted designs and sacred quotations.

Ceiling of the Hall of the Ambassadors - Photo © by José Luiz Bernardes Ribeirofrom Wikimedia Commons licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license

Courtyard of the Myrtles (Patio de los Arraynes)

The Courtyard of the Myrtles, like many Spanish patios, was central to everyday life in the the Comares Palace. Behind it stands the Comares Tower containing the Grand Hall of the Ambassadors.

A photo of the state of the courtyard in the late 1800's is contained in a photo album of  England's Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), here.

Courtyard of the Myrtles (Patio de los Arraynes)

Courtyard of the Lions

The overwhelming importance of water to  the Alhambra can not be overstated. An essay about water and the Alhambra is here. Of all the links that I reference, that is the one I most encourage you to read.

As the website of the Alhambra states: "On a small scale, the Fountain of the Lions represents the entire technical concept behind the creation of the Alhambra, a structural conception rooted in human and constructive experiences developed creatively over many centuries."

The fountain was so important to the rulers (it served their own house) that it was fed by a separate water system than that for the rest of the Alhambra and Generalife.

I think I remember reading somewhere that at some time after the 1494 conquest the fountain and lions were in part disassembled in an unsuccessful attempt to figure out how the fountain worked. It was not until a major restoration between 2007 and 2010 that how it works was rediscovered and it was made to work again. (But I can't find that reference, so I'm not sure if its true.)

That 2007-2010 restoration won a European Heritage award.

Hall of the Abencerrajes

This is one of the more notorious rooms. But more importantly, it presents a chance to investigate the Mocárabe seen in so many of the Islamic spaces.

It's notorious because of one of the legends (or a rendition here) that Sultan Moulay Hacén (father of Boabdil) invited 30 or more guests of the Abencerrage family to a dinner where he had them beheaded, in this room. (Washington Irving, among others, didn't believe the legend - he offers a different explanation in his Tales of the Alhambra.)

Mocárabe (pictorial explanation here, or more detailed explanation here) is the technique that creates the cloud-like formations in Islamic architecture (The formations are hard to photograph - their details tend to blur, like a trying to photograph the details of a cloud.) Mocárabe is said to be a symbolic representation of the cave where Mohammed received his revelation.

Below is a series of various photos I took in various places trying to describe in more detail what Mocárabe is. Can you imagine what it must have been like laboring at creating ceilings like that?

(How does one keep them free of dust and cobwebs? If I were a spider, I would think it to be heaven.)

The Palace of Carlos V

King Carlos V was Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy from 1506, King of Spain (Castile and Aragon) from 1516, and Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 until his death in 1558. His many titles had him travelling around Europe, among other things defending royalty, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Roman Catholic faith from the protestants and the reformation.

In 1526 he decided to have the Palace of Carlos V  built inside the Alhambra for his occasional use. It was designed as a Renascence building, its plan is a circle inside of a square. The work went on past his death until work was finally abandoned in 1637, unfinished. In 1923 Leopoldo Torres Balbas, curator of the Alhambra at that time, devised a plan to finish it.

Partal

The Partal in the oldest palace in the Alhambra (dating from 1303-1309), but much of what you see in The Partal is more recent. The Casa de Partal was a private property until 1891. While in private ownership  it underwent various changes.

The Grounds

After vising the palaces we wandered through the grounds, including the archaeological excavation of the Palace of the Abencerrages (Remember them, possibly headless, for whom the Hall of the Abencerrajes is named?).

Pink = Tower of the Hall of the Abencerrajes,  Tan/Gold = their palace,  Green = its central pool.

We wandered past some tourist shops within the Alhambra then stopped for a late lunch at the Parador de Granada San Francisco, one of Spain's historic hotels conveniently located in the grounds of The Alhambra.

Mid-afternoon  we wandered through the landscaped grounds, towards the bridge that connects Generalife to the Alhambra, stopping on our way at  The Infants' Tower - The Tower of the Princesses.

The Tower of the Princesses

After wandering through the grounds toward the bridge to Generalife, let's pause at The Infants' Tower - The Tower of the Princesses and linger a bit with Washington Irving.

Photo of the Ceiling of the Tower of the Princesses (The Infant's Tower) from the Alhambra's official website

The Tower of the Princesses prior to restoration from The Alhambra published by The Guteberg Project

During his months in the Alhambra Washington Irving could have camped in the Tower of the Princesses. If so, perhaps that's how he became so intrigued by it and wrote his Tale of the Three Princesses. I can imagine that in relation to one of my own experiences.

One of my favorite memories was when I was bivouacking in a high-alpine meadow surrounded by glaciers during a multi-day hike/scramble. A buddy and I watched the alpenglow darken, turned off the hiss of our small gas stove, poured the last of our hot chocolate into cups of whisky, then used flashlights to wander to our sleeping bags. I folded my clothes to use as a pillow then got into my bag, squirming while trying to find a position that wasn't too uncomfortable on the hard lumpy ground. Then we lay back and gazed upwards, letting our thoughts roam amidst the crowded starscape. Awareness slowly dimmed to black until in the pre-dawn morning the sky started to glow. I remember the chill when I got up nude, wandered nearby to piss, and stood there, watching the sun rise from beyond a nearby ridge.

I wonder how Washington Irving and Mateo Ximenes visited.  Did they sleep inside the buildings of the Alhambra or outside, or in a guest house nearby? Did they cook over campfires and light their way with oil lanterns, or dine with the caretakers, or eat with the strange denizens of the Alhambra whom he describes?  Did they sleep on the ground or on cots or in beds?

I can imagine Washington Irving laying there, gazing up at the ceiling of the Tower of Infants as the daylight dimmed to black, then in the morning wandering over to the window, watching the sun rise, and imagining his Tale of the Three Princesses.


Generalife

A bridge over the Cuesta del Rey Chico connects the Alhambra with the Generalilfe.

Generalife served many functions.

Water was foundational to the the Alhambra not only for its necessity for life in a hot arid climate, but also it was central to the culture and spirituality of Islam.

Generalife was the hub of the water system for water from the sultan's canal, the Acequia Real, which brought water from a dam on the Darro River six kilometers upstream. From its termination in Generalife the water was distributed to the Alhambra and the gardens and farms of Generalife.

Generalife was a source of food the Alhambra, with orchards and farms.

And Generalife served as a cool summer place with cool pleasant gardens and pools and the Generalife Palace.

We wandered through the gardens and the palace

Over looking some of  Generalife's orchards. The Alhamra is in the background across the ravine

Court of the main canal

Cuesta del Rey Chico - The Slope of the Boy King

Most of the guidebooks give short shrift to the "backdoor way" to get to and from the Alhambra. But it was our favorite route (it's much easier when going downhill - to some people, parts of it may seem steep, though not to people who walk a lot) - Cuesta del Rey Chico - The Slope of the Boy King (also known as 'Cuesta de los Chinos').

Between Generalife and the Alhambra there is a ravine with a broad path that runs down to the Darro River, terminating near the Paseo de los Tristes (The Path of the Grieving.) It is so named because during the middle ages it was the route of funeral processions to the graveyards above the Alhambra. Some would pay their last respects and turn back at the plaza rather than trudge to the top of the hill.

Aerial view from Google Earth, annotations by me

Proceeding downhill, the path begins under the bridge that connects the Alhambra to Generalife.

Our last view of the Tower of the Three Princesses:

The Aljibillo Bridge at the base of the Cuesta del Rey Chico crosses the Darro River to reach the plaza Paseo de los Tristes where its time to stop for dinner (early for Spaniards, late for us).

More of the Past

Before we leave Granada I must mention the The Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Granada in the Casa de Castril just 130 meters (~426 feet) from the Paseo de los Tristes down the Carrera del Darro towards the Plaza Nueva..

It has a collection of artifacts on display that encompasses the history of the area around Granada from prehistory and the Bronze Age;
through the gradual development of various primitive cultures;
through establishment of trade and settlements by the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Punics;
through when the Iberians of this area, the Bastetanians, for a time resisted the Roman invasion;
through the era of Roman colonization;
followed by the era of the Visigoths;
and the Islamic era;
into the Christian era.

One of the best things about the museum is its many explanatory signs concisely describing the history, accompanied by easily comprehended timelines.

A segment of a mosaic tile floor found in a Roman villa in Granada

The Future of the Past

Any large complex requires lots of continual work to avoid falling into disrepair.
It's even more difficult when the work is in part restorative and archaeological and requires special expertise.

All of that requires a continual source of funds.  Throughout the world, monuments such as The Alhambra depend on the wealth and willingness of governments and patrons, and equally importantly, the tourist industry. The financial and tourism impacts of the current COVID-19 crisis presents a troubling threat to the world's heritage..

Escape from the Past

We spent all of our time in Granada in historic areas, but most of Granada is a modern city.

Granada has a reputation for wild nightlife (reportedly one of the best in Andalusia) lasting until after dawn. It is driven in part by the tourists, but especially by the 80,000 students at the University of Granada. See here, and here, and (especially if student age) here.

We were totally wiped each day from our walking, and at our age, didn't care about the nightlife. We didn't even get to the Botellodromo to mingle and pre-drink before going out for a late night/early morning of serious fun. But if younger, and especially if still single ..... well, .....

We left Granada heading to Ronda.  Renfe was not yet done with their new very high-speed rail line to Granada. so they provided a bus to the modern station at the rail hub of Antequera-Santa Ana where we transferred to a train for the remainder of our trip to Ronda..

From the bus we could see the new high-speed rail line running through olive groves

The next stop on our journey, Ronda - 3 nights, two and a half days - will be less concerned with history and more purely physical fun, especially our bike trip. So it should be easier and faster for me to write the next part of this blog.


To return to Part 1 - Overview of the Trip, click here.
Up next: Ronda and Biking the Via Verde de la Sierra: click here.