August 24th, 2009
Granada’s Big Fort
“I always thought King Fernando and Queen Isabella were fictional characters, like Winston Churchill, or Talleyrand.” I said, fingering my map of Granada. Espana. I liked saying that. Es-pa-na. “No, you idiot, they’re right here, at least their tombs. Winston Churchill? You dork.” My brother Andy pulled no punches but when he really got something in mind he really gets focused and I was spoiling his fun. We avoided all luxury hotels Granada or otherwise and half compromised, me the cheap skate wanting to stay in hostels, he wanting to stay in proper hotels. We didn’t know what we going to do in Granada, no reservations, no worries, we’d find something. We only had to sleep outside once, in Munich, when we could find anything during Oktoberfest. It was OK, we weren’t the only ones sleeping out that night and managed to avoid getting arrested. “C’mon, man, I like tombs and all, but let’s go to the Alhambra,” I said.
Well off we went to see the enormous Alhambra, some people’s top pick for all sites in Spain (I need more sample time to make up my mind on that one, but still. If you like Moorish architecture, and I do.) Maybe better though, from my point of view, was the Generalife gardens, and since I am an arborist I like to look at plants. That may strike some a bus man’s holiday so to speak, framed by the Sierra Nevada Mountains (not those Sierra Nevadas in Cali). Well, what I saw was just too fancy, manicured like a blue ribbon poodle, maybe a bit too tight for me, but lovely none the less. And as for the mighty Alhambra itself, it is a big and old fortress, largely empty and with nice views and incredible towers. A fort.
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