Almeria and Granada, Mmm these castles are a bit Moorish?

The trip to Almeria was in total contrast to the epic voyage to Almerimar. It was only twenty miles and the sea was smooth with the slightest hint of a southwest wind. It was a good way to enjoy our beautifully shiny prop pushing us speedily through the water! We got the jib out anyway and spotted Kasara about two miles ahead. About halfway, cutting close into the coast we undertook them reaching 6.4 knots. Zephyrus was already in the marina and radioed to say the harbour master was a bit funny about them staying but there seemed to be plenty of space. We sped on, under a blue sunny sky, barren brown mountains forming the backdrop. The Alcazaba and Cathedral came into view although it was difficult to make out the walls of the spectacular castle as they had been built with the local rock and blended into the mountains! Just over three hours after casting off we pottered into the Club de Mar de Almeria and moored bows to in a space two boats down from Zephyrus. True to Ian's word, the harbour master was in a bit of a flap, saying we could only stay for one night because a boat was due back in that space. We said "No, dos noches!" and he reluctantly agreed and we went to sign in!

One of the reasons for stopping at Almeria was so that we could use the direct train to get us to Granada in about two hours. With potentially only two nights we would have to go to Granada the following day so we set off into Almeria to have a look around and gather train information. The tourist information office was extremely helpful and we had everything we needed within five minutes, including a large map of Almeria with details on places to visit in English. We headed straight off to the Alcazaba. It was a fantastic sight, the burnt orange colour of the stone highlighted by the balmy evening sun. We should have taken our passports for free entry but the £1 each (!) was well worth it. We had the place almost to ourselves and looked down over the terraced valley to an animal sanctuary (no visitors allowed currently due to the foot and mouth disease which has hit Britain and parts of Europe). We could also see cave dwellings from our vantage point, apparently still in use! 
We meandered back to the centre of town and decided it was a good place to be, much better than Almerimar! It had a real bustle and such an amazing array of shops on a wide tree lined "Rambla". (We recently found out this means it is a dried river bed!) We had offered to do dinner for Zephyrus and Kasara so we had to go shopping before returning to the boat. It seemed a shame, at the time, that we would have to move on in two days. I cooked up a large quantity of chicken pilaf and Chris prepared strawberries and cream for desert. Every plate and bowl was left clean so we assume the meal was a success, although tired sailors will tend to eat anything put down in front of them!

The next day, Thursday, we went to Granada. Ever since I first read about the geometric patterns in the Alhambra when I did a study of Maths in Art as part of my college course, I have wanted to visit Granada. We had been looking forward to this trip for some time, and with the warmer weather picking up we assumed it would be a real treat. I debated whether to wear shorts, as I had done around Almeria the previous day but decided that the Alhambra was not such a casual place and opted for trousers.

The train left at 0900 and we got to the station with plenty of time in case it was busy. There was no queue and the tickets reserved specific seats and because we didn't know our return journey time we were told to take our tickets to the office in Granada once we knew and the seats would again be reserved. Such a good system and at only about £12 return each, for a two hour journey we were left wondering how come the rail system in Britain is so appalling and expensive. The train was only two carriages only stopped once, all the way to Granada. We passed through desert (Europe's only), snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevadas and an amazing town called Guadix, where the houses were carved into solid rock. The doors and front windows looked like those we might use in a house, but the house was in the side of a hill, with the car parked outside!

Unfortunately we had not taken into account that Granada is not on the Costa del Sol and the temperature gauge in the carriage was decreasing. By the time we arrived it was only about 14 degrees Celsius, overcast and distinctly chilly. We had not brought coats, only a jumper, and I was so relieved I had decided against shorts! After a short walk to the city centre we stopped for coffee and toasted sandwiches while we studied the guidebook. It warned of two-hour queues in high season, but we thought that we'd be OK in early April. We meandered our way up to the main entrance of the Alhambra, enjoying the back streets more than the main wide commercial areas. It reminded us a bit of Oxford. The pathway up the hill took us beneath a wonderful canopy of trees. Welcome shade I am sure on a hot summer's day, but the cloud was forming a bit of a mist around us and we were pretty cold.

When we got to the main entrance at around 12.30 there were a few people milling around and a short queue at the ticket counter. Relieved at the sight and thinking we were likely to catch the earlier return train (around 5pm instead of 9pm) we started to queue. Then I noticed one of those scrolling LED information displays above the counter and it was announcing that tickets bought at the current time allowed you entrance into the grounds at 2pm and into the palace itself at 6.00pm! WOW! We considered our options briefly and decided to get our tickets anyway. Having come all that way to see the beautiful Moorish architecture we were not going to miss it!

After a bit of a stroll around, a stop for further refreshment and a bit of time reading some of Washington Irvine's "Tales of the Alhambra" we were allowed into the grounds. To avoid the crowds who were heading into the Alhambra's main area, we went straight into the "Generalife", (translates to mean "garden of the architect") the gardens and summer palace of the sultans. It was beautiful. Many of the walkways and stairs were bordered with stone waterways, and Chris was particularly taken with the Patio de los Cipreses, which was an almost maze like garden of sculpted junipers, the secret meeting place of the Sultana Zoraya and her lover! The summer palace, on a hillside across a gorge from the Alcazaba, centered on a water garden patio (which would have Charlie Dimmock from TV's "Ground Force" squealing with delight!) The buildings had an artistic quality we had only previously seen in Seville, and there were hints of the intricate geometrical designs I had come to see in some of the stonework.

From the Generalife we went in through the castle walls and into the grounds of the Alhambra. Between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries this would have been a thriving community within the safety of a huge circuit of walls and towers. It seems that if it wasn't for Washington Irvine's book, published several decades after Napolean's forces had damaged much of the palace (1812), it would have been allowed to fall even further into disrepair. The Spanish authorities, however, decided to declare the Alhambra a national monument and its restoration is still going on today. I felt a bit sorry for Emperor Carlos V, who built himself a Renaissance Palace within the grounds, which in any other place would probably be greatly admired, but here it looked cumbersome and out of place.

We enjoyed our slow but chilly wanderings and by about 4pm decided to go into the oldest part, the Alcazaba, built in a reddish coloured stone giving the whole place its name: Al Qal'a al-Hamra in Arabic literally means "the red". We climbed the towers, which afforded great views over the rooftops of the city, but I was getting frustrated at not yet having seen the palace! We went on the off chance to the palace entrance and found an indoor exhibition of the Alhambra's history which we were more than happy to peruse out of the cold! A great hoard of people (the 5 o'clock lot) had gone through the entrance and since it was quiet now we showed our tickets to the guards and they let us in! It was perfect timing because we were ahead of our 6pm group but behind the others, giving us a much quieter and better view of the simply stunning rooms and courtyards. At last I could see first hand the Moorish mathematical based designs that inspired such artists as MC Escher.

Perhaps the most famous image of the Alhambra is the Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions), which forms part of the Harem. I have read, recently that the marble columns were probably gilt, which would have made an even more impressive sight! Disappointingly the lions were not spouting water and the sun only just managed to put in a brief appearance for us. Some of the palace was closed to visitors as part of the renovation scheme, which I suppose is to be expected but I was pleased to have fulfilled the dream of seeing this monument to Moorish architecture.

We did not get back until nearly mid-night and were not keen to go the next morning and were easily persuaded to stay by the poor weather forecast and the temptation of a BBQ with Paul and Anita on Saturday and then Sunday dinner with Ian and Jo. We asked at the Club Office whether we could stay and they were more than happy. The harbour master must just be a bit of a grump! That gave us more time to explore the town and do some shopping. We also spent time catching up on logs for the web site and perused the charts and pilots for the next few hops, round Cabo de Gata and up the coast to Cartegena.