La Alhambra

There really aren't any words to describe La Alhambra.  It's huge.  And beautiful.  And amazing.  Unbelievable.  Delightful.  Exquisite.  The exterior is plain, but when you walk through the gates...WOW.  According to the book Art and Architecture of Andalusia (Andalusia is the southern region of Spain) that Olivia gave Tim for Christmas, La Alhambra is more famous than any other monument on earth, attracting millions of visitors every year.   The Alhambra is a complex (almost like a small city) with palaces, gardens, a fortress and a citadel.

A view of Granada from La Alhambra.  The Sierra Nevada mountains are in the background.

The Generalife

We walked through the entrance gates and into a part of the Alhambra called Generalife.  Not General Life.  It's heh-neh-rah-lee'-feh.  Or something like that.  However you say it, it comes from the Arabic words Jinnah al Arif and means "the noblest of all gardens".

The Alcazaba
This is where Ferdinand and Isabella hoisted their flag in 1492!  You can see beautiful views of Granada from here, and you can see the interior of the citadel with the foundations of the barracks exposed.

Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles)

This courtyard was named for the myrtle bushes that frame the reflecting pool.

Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions)

The Palaces

La Alhambra was amazing, and definitely a highlight of our trip. Olivia had tried to explain how magnificent it was, but there's just no way to explain it.  The Moors built unbelievable structures in the eleventh through fourteenth centuries, with architecture and art and details that really are unbelievably beautiful, and the "Christians" came in and took them, in many cases destroying what the "barbarians" had created.

We will return to La Alhambra some day.