La Alhambra Granada and the Sierra Nevada mountains!

Sitting at the base of the 11,000 foot high Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Alhambra has stood guard over the city of Granada for centuries.  Mohammad I al-Ahmar the founder of the  Nasrid dynasty, started the construction on the Alhambra in 1238.  Other Sultans lived and rule there and added their own flares to the construction of Palace/Castle/Fort/Honeymoon suite! The honeymoon hide away was chosen for that purpose by Charles the V for his bride, Isabella in the early 1500's after the Spanish had taken control  from the last of the Nasrid Dynasty Sultans in in1492.  The snow covered Sierra Nevada mountains provided year-round running water to Granada and  the Alhambra ( not to mention some decent skiing I understand!)  Architectural styles were as different as round vs square night vs day,  in vs out, or Arab vs Christian!

The Sultans built round turrets on the walls....

The Catholic monarchs made theirs square!

The Sultan built this country house primarily for the horses and the garrison
that took care of them.  Although the gardens were beautiful,  the outside of
their buildings were fairly plain!

Compare this squared off, ornately decorated interior of the palace of Charles V

Even the present day  street light reflect the cubist
tendencies of the Catholic occupants of Granada!  

Inside of Charles V palace.....SURPRISE! It's round!

The pool in front of the Sultans Palace of Lions shows the plain exterior.

The interior is incredibly ornate !

  

This 12 lion fountain, a gift to the Sultan from a prominent  Jewish family,
represents the 12 tribes of Israel.   It makes an interesting commentary on
the Arab and Jew relations of the day. 

The balcony overlooks the queens gardens

 Washington Irving is credited with saving the Alhambra!
He discovered the abandoned palace in 1829 while
serving as Ambassador to Spain.  His book, "Tales of the Alhambra"
helped to bring the historical site to the worlds attention
and in 1870 it was declared a national Monument!

 This will be the last blog for a few months.  I am flying home in the morning.  The next installments will not be until June when I go the Ship the NCL DAWN which sails between Boston and Bermuda.
Thanks for letting my share my travels with you

Madeira! the Vertical garden island

I am not sure what the mortality rate is for farmers, but I am certain if you are a banana farmer or a vintner - especially  if  you imbibing  in you wine or banana rum while working  in your fields its got to b e pretty high.  Why?....   because while the Island of Madeira has nutrient-rich soil,  it  is arranged  vertically, in terraces, rather than horizontally.  A simple slip and fall can  result in serious injury or worse......  you could break your bottle of Madeira wine!

Madeira has an impressive elevation of  6100 feet!  Not bad for an island that is
 14 x 35 mile in its  widest and longest section

The bananas are bagged on the plants  to protect
them from damage and to act as a  mini "green house"
for the cooler months of the year

Several small harbors dot the shore line

The sea cliff in the background doesn't look that steep from
this perspective...

But looking over  the edge,  it appears to be at least straight vertical!  Our guide said it is the 2nd highest  Sea cliff
in the world !
 

The most impressive sight of the day was the wall of clouds off the island the indicated the edge of a low and high pressure front.  Fortunately we were on the high side of the front, and had beautiful weather!

Barcelona; Christopher Columbus, ?founder of the DNC?

Barcelona Spain: A culturally diverse city with many
famous residents over the centuries.  In the port section of the city is a rather imposing statue of Christopher Columbus who is rumored to have not only "Discovered" the "New World" but also to have been the first documented Democrat!  As far as discovering the New World goes, I think there are some Norsemen and a some native American Indian tribes who would question his claim of "discovery".   But as for being the quintessential Democrat,  the evidence speaks for itself!!

"He left on his voyage of Discovery without a clue as to where he was going. Once there he didn’t know where he was.  When he returned, he had no idea how he had gotten there!  And he did it all on a government grant, funded by hard working  taxpayers"!

    On my last visit to Barcelona I encountered a few hundred Spaniards demonstrating against the government and its fiscal policies etc.  They were blocking the roads and making noise but were not violent as far a I saw.

The police were watching and trying to route traffic to avoid any major problems.

















The city of Barcelona is an interesting city to explore with a large variety of architectural style.

This Arch is the "Arc de Triomf"

The modern art is on the waterfront in a section of high-rise condos and offices.

There are racks of bicycles just like these all over town.  They are for the residence of Barcelona only and they can pick  one up and drop it off anywhere
in the city making cheap green transportation

Fresh fruit, vegetables and mushrooms!

 You can imagine how much food it takes to keep the  guest all fed and happy.  The supply people do a great job off-loading trash to recycle and loading food and drinks to take care of the 3500+ people for the 9 days on board!

Potatoes, unions tomatoes and Oxygen tanks

Malaga, Spain and the Castillo de Gibralfaro

Down Town Malaga with the Castillo in the background.

The CASTILLO de GIBRALFARO, like many of the Castle/Forts in this part of the world, had many designers and builders over the centuries. From the 1400's to the early 1900's, the Castillo served as a fortification to protect the town and it's famous Alcazaba (11th Century Moorish Castle in the center of the town) .  It  housed the Arabs that occupied the area in its earliest days.  Once the "Christians liberated the town from the Infidels", the Mosque was converted to a Christian Chapel and later a storage room for gun powder.

The  Castillo de Gibralfaro .

Cisterns and a well dug through 40 ft of rock , supplied water
for the Garrison inside the Castillo 

The ramparts zig zag along the top of the wall , contributing to the defensability
of the Castillo.

The interior of the Castillo is criss-crossed  with paths and streets to facilitate the
rapid deployment  of military assets to the areas of immediate need in an assault .

Panoramic view of the Port of Malaga from the walls of the Castillo

Career option # 9... ? Camel Jockey!!

Last Sunday I got to go on a shore excursion to the Fire Mountain National Park on the Island of LANZAROTE, (see the previous blog about Arrecife the capital City). Lanzarote, like many tropical and subtropical islands was born as a result of  many volcanic eruptions over the years.  Humans, being the adrenaline junkies that we are, can't seem to stay away from the danger and excitement of living on the edge of an active volcano!  While the volcano's in the Fire Mountain park have not erupted for the last 50+ years, there are places where the heat from a sleeping dragon is very close to the surface. " How close" you ask?  I am glad you asked! To answer that question our guide would scoop off the top 6" of gravel and then passed gravel around from the next few inches for everyone to hold and most people couldn't hold it! The next couple of demonstrations were more dramatic!  (see the short video clip)

The guide says that it is approx 250deg. C  at a depth of 6 ft under the surface.  I ask the guide if anyone was making any Geothermal power but he indicated that they "didn't see the situation as being long term enough to      invest the capital".

Someone did invest the capital in a whole lot of camels whose only function is to take tourists trekking around the base of one of the volcano's  and back to  the parking lot and the waiting buses.  

After a 15 minute ride the camel and I both agreed that we were glad it
wasn't longer!  It was like riding with  someone learning to drive with a clutch!

The island is very dry in fact the only water source, until the addition of a desalination  plant in recent years,  was catching rain water in cisterns.   To make it possible to grow grapes for their famous white wines,  they have come up with a ingenious design.   These semi-circular lava/rock walls catch the winds that blow in from the East and trap the sand from north Africa and moisture from the humid air!

With a little water and a few more nutrients added, they can grow about anything!!