Invasion of Granada

 The Alhambra

After spending a few days in Cinque Terre, Anne, Bren and Mark drove back to Rome and then flew back to Madrid (Bren's airline ticket was into and out of Madrid).  After having been out of Madrid for a couple of weeks, the trio had plenty of time to think of anything that they had wanted to accomplish in Madrid but did not during their first time there.  On their return trip to Madrid, they set about accomplishing these goals.  And what did they want to accomplish before leaving Madrid?  The same thing everyone wants to do in Madrid: Eat Chinese food.

Typical tourists: eating Chinese food in Madrid

The next day, Bren flew back to the U.S. and arrived safely.  Then Anne and Mark moved on to Granada, another city in Spain south of Madrid.  Granada is a beautiful city with tremendous historical and cultural sights and a former capital of Spain.  It was the city where Christopher Columbus approached Ferdinand and Isabella with his radical idea of sailing west.  It was also one of the last strongholds of the Moorish rulers before being overrun by the Christians.  As a result of this historical legacy, Granada has a great deal to see.  First, we saw a place where caravans on the Silk Road met and set up shop in relative safety.  The area is no longer in use, but looks remarkably similar to how it looked during the height of the Silk Road trading period.

Pretty much how the courtyard looked when caravans stopped in.

Later, Anne and Mark visited the Alhambra, a palace located on a hill overlooking Granada.  The Alhambra was built by the Moors when they were ruling the area, so it is actually a very good example of Islamic architecture.  Later, it was overtaken by the Christians.  Ferdinand and Isabella ruled Spain from the Alhambra.  In fact, legend has it that this is where Columbus presented his proposal to them, and this is the room where it all happened:

The place where Columbus uttered the famous phrase: "Issy, Ferd - listen to this:  I think we can find the east by sailing west.  Whattaya say?" (roughly translated)

Anne ranks the Alhambra as the third best castle she has visited (behind Versailles and the Royal Palace in Madrid).  The Alhambra is pictured at the top and bottom of this post.

While Anne and Mark were visiting, the Alhambra has an exhibit of art works done by M.C. Escher.  Escher was an artist with a unique view and this exhibit had some of his less well-known works, as well as some that are easily recognizable.

A work that Escher stole from the movie "Inception."

Editor's note: The management acknowledges that this may not be orientated correctly (rotate 90, 180 or 270 degrees)

But Granada was not all historical sights and cultural treasures.  It also has some other things.  For example, it is a bit of a college town.  There are several universities located there and Anne and Mark saw many university students, including a fair number of students from the U.S. studying there on exchange programs.  But not everything was great.  Anne and Mark also side the dirty underbelly of the city.  How dirty?  Hippie Dirty.

Ah, the horror of hippies.  And not just hippies, but the worst of all - protesting hippies.

Los hippies.

As Anne and Mark walked by the park, they noticed a large group of hippies setting up a camp.  It looked like they were digging in for the long haul.  Now, Granada is kind of known for its hippie problem population.  Apparently, this is where children of rich Spanish go to disappoint their parents.  However, this squatters camp was unique.  Spain has a ridiculously high unemployment level (around 20%) and it is particularly acute among the youth.  On top of this, the country is going to institute austerity measures, which will lead to even more unemployment, especially among the younger workers.  Their response?  Bring out the hippies.

In fact, throughout Spain, Anne, Mark and Bren saw protests against austerity measures.  There was also an election in Spain while they were in Spain, so there was a large amount of organized chanting pretty much everywhere they went.

But, at least in Granada, the protests were limited to a fairly small area, just around the park.  Anne and Mark saw it, but then moved on to St. Nicholas Church overlooking the city for a nice view of the sunset.