Spain, Andalusia – Trip for Romance I

I set off in a plane from Vienna to Valencia. Near the airport, I started hitchhiking. My nomadic soul cheers up when it travels long distances, alone, on its own. It becomes free, unleashed traveler. It requires courage to step off the circle of everyday safety, leave everything what one knows, take the first step towards the unknown. You will get the most beautiful feeling that the world is yours. Of course, along come many worries and troubles. But uncertainty is part of life, beginning, expectations...

I traveled as far as to Murcia. It has a beautiful cathedral. Francisco took me there and he also showed me around the city. It is Semana Santa (Holy Week) today and the city is sunken it celebratory spirit. In the morning, I continue to Granada. Landscape changes. I drove through the villages of Baza and Guadix. There are beautiful canyons, and houses carved into rocks like in Cappadocia. And finally turned to Granada. The Sierra Nevada it was beautifully covered with snow. There is even a ski resort.

Granada was absolutely exciting. Alhambra, the Arab palace, reminds Topkapi palace in Istanbul. Such vast residence with so much water flowing in small streams, and low palaces with corridors lined with columns. It would fit greatly to the One Thousand and One Nights collection.

The oldest part of Alhambra is Alcazaba fortress. Its construction began under the rule of Muhammad I of the Nasra dynasty when they made Alhambra the royal residence instead of Albacin after the fall of Sevilla in 1248. Only 30-meter tower is what is left of the former citadel. The tower is called Torre de la Vela. On January 2nd 1492 a Castilian flag was hung up to make a sign that the last Maur fortress became Christian.

Alhambra consists of three parts. First: Mexuar – there court cases were resolved, and the sultan received there his subjects. The second: Divan – there bodies of government were located. The third: Harim – the center of which was the Yard of Lions. There the sultan and his wives had their private residence. The yard was lined with columns and arcades of unseen beauty. In the center, there was a fountain.

Fines of the Granadian style comes from fine way of living of its inhabitants. A nomadic tent became a palace, a spring in desert became a fountain. And lions, harsh reality for the Berbers, metamorphosed to gentle animals around fountains. As a poet wrote- who doesn’t hear the voice of Alhambra can get far but wouldn’t enter the promised land...

The hall of Abencerrags hides a crime – a noble man invited members of the House of Abencerrag to let them be murdered. I admire the fountain, fragile arcade, and galleries in the shape of octagonal star. 

On the other side, there is the Hall of Two Sisters that is even more beautiful for its decoration. Arabesques change walls to a muslin veil that looks like evening fog...

Next in palace, there is Mirador de Daraxa which is full of light and nice smell. Inside shines like a box for jewelries. I could live here… But you can be a while in a dream, not live there...

To be continued…

Text and photo: Sylive Halouzková