Granada is a lovely city with a very nice atmosphere. It is a university city and we were serenaded last night by some students from the music school.Unfortunately we only had time to visit the Alhambra here. It is sited on the hill above Granada.On the way up we saw some cave dwellings!
The Alhambra ( meaning 'red fortress') was amazing. It is a splendid example of moorish architecture built in the 12 th century constructed of tiles, stucco, plaster, bricks and wood. It had richly decorated rooms for concubines and is the last symbol of Muslim power in the Iberian peninsula and one of the most visited tourist attractions in Spain. 23 sultans reigned in the Alhambra before the Christians took it over in 1492. It had extensive gardens requiring 55 gardeners. We could have spent longer here, but it was teeming with tourists . Today we drove through La Mancha, well- known through Cervantes' Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote. In the book DQ thought that windmills were giants that he had to fight and we saw several in La Mancha! The landscape today was dry and hilly with olives the main crop, also vines where it was flat.There are over 200 varieties of olive in Spain.
Apparently Spain was one of the few countries which adhered to the Kyoto Protocol and there are more than 30,000 companies working in solar heating. I saw a whole paddock of solar panels ( see photo)We also saw lots of wind turbines on the Costa del Sol yesterday.
No wonder Spain is in crisis. Miguel pointed out a huge new development just outside of Madrid. It was row on row of apartments , complete with schools and shops, but a ghost town with no inhabitants. Apparently Manchester United paid 94 million euros for the soccer player, Ronaldo!
Anyway 4,000 miles later and it is off to England on Monday. I hope to go to the Prado Museum tomorrow and have a quiet day.
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