21st
Jan 2016
An amazing
Palace, and then almost to Africa !
After our fact
finding visit last night, our plan was to be at the Alhambra bu as close to
8.30 am as we could, so we could not only (hopefully) beat the crowds, but also
be finished in time to hit the road on south by about noon so we could reach
Algeciras this afternoon in time to buy tickets for the ferry to Tangiers the
following morning. So we were up at 6.30
am (almost unheard of), breakfasted and showered by 8 am, and on the road by
8.10 am (totally unheard of !). And as
we drove off through Granada in the dawn light, the cloud formations over the
Sierra Nevada were more like some kind of supernatural happening than a normal
cloud formation. Fascinating.
We made it to the
Alhambra without getting (too) lost, passing rather sad cave houses as we went
up the hill. While cave houses are not unknown in this part of the world, these
ones really are more like the favelas in Rio than acceptable cave houses. We had met an occupant last night when they
tried to beg off us in the car park, and they did leave a little to be
desired……..
We were in the
car park and off through the start of the Alhambra by 8.50 am, so time wise we
were looking good. And although a few
coaches had already arrived, there didn’t seem to be too many people, and none
at all at the ticket booths, which was a good start.
The Alhambra is a
mixture of Palaces, military defenses, gardens, and churches. Dating from 1237 when Muhammad I founded the
Nasrid dynasty and began the construction of the Alhambra, it continued in
Muslim hands until 1492 when the Catholic Monarchs defeated the Muslims. The
Alhambra was declared a National Monument in 1870, and a UNESCO World Heritage
site in 1984. Over the years many parts
were knocked down, “improved”, or superimposed on top of, but the resulting
Alhambra of today is the most amazing mixture of cultures, religions, and history.
As usual, photos
(mine anyway), fail to come even remotely close to capturing the beauty and
essence of the place, and words do not do much better. All I can do is try to portray some of the
incredible beauty of this place, despite the fact that at this time of year the
gardens are almost bare, and the temperatures are low (it was about 5 deg C
when we were wandering around today.)
But on the plus side, there were very few people to contend with,
especially for the first hour or so, and it was only by the time we were
leaving at about noon that numbers and queues were starting to build. I can
only imagine what it must be like in
July or August when the crowds and the heat are at their worst, even though the
flowers and gardens may be in bloom at that time !
After we had
covered most of the grounds, including the gardens, by about noon, we headed
out and turned SW towards Malaga. An
long time friend of ours from Dubai days, Di Howard, has a house in the hills
near Malaga, and Janet had visited her here a few years ago. Di now lives in NZ but we thought we would
try to fin her house in Alhaurin if we
could. Suffice it to say that we got
within about 100 yards before the roads got too narrow, and Janet couldn’t
remember the way, so we stopped in the village to make some lunch in the
sunshine before continuing on our way south.
Weather was warm enough that I even put sandals on !
We then headed
along the coast from Malaga – Mile after mile of hotels, apartment buildings,
and so on. Hmmmm !! You know my thoughts
on this by now ! I was also surprised
that the road signs were starting to include instructions in Arabic ! We got to Algeciras by about 4 pm just as
businesses were opening up again after lunch, just in time to go an hunt for
ferry tickets for tomorrow morning to Morocco.
We stopped at a few of the many offices alongside the road that were
offering “cheap tickets”, but most of them were either closed, or were offering
only passenger ferry tickets, not car ferry tickets. So we ended up going straight to the port in
Algeciras where there are lots of booths offering tickets, and we bought our
open return tickets there for a ferry at 11.35 am tomorrow. The crossing to Tanger Med is about 90 minutes,
but as we save an hour due to no day light saving in Morocco, we effectively
arrive about noon, which will give us the rest of the afternoon to get out of
Tangiers and head down the road a bit.
Once we had
bought our tickets, we headed for the nearest camp site about 20 kms further SW
in Tarifa, where we found a very nice little amp site for the night. Full of Europeans, mostly Germans with a
smattering of Swedes and Finnish, none that we spoke to seemed to be Morocco
bound. SO we had a few beers in the bar,
had some supper, and tried to catch up on email etc so we could cross into
Morocco tomorrow with everything up to date !
No comments:
Post a Comment