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Grenada, November 8, 2007
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Grenada stayed in the hands of the Moors 250 years longer than any other portion of Spain. It was after the marriage of Isabelle and Ferdinand that a massive effort was made to finish the conquest. The completion of this was primarily proof that they had learned how to provide logistics for an army over miles of mountains (4 hours of travel) and how to maintain an army in the field longer than the summer season. During this period Isabelle was often operating as the military leader on one campaign while Ferdinand was doing the same on another campaign. The city was actually conquered on January 2 of 1492, but Isabelle and Ferdinand made their triumphal entry into the city on Epiphany Eve (the arrival of the wise men). They would have done it on the 6th, but that was Saturday, thus a religious holiday for both the Jews and the Muslims. |
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We had our mandatory bus tour of the city (3 times around 2 streets, or was
it twice around 3 streets), parked the busses where we could, and took off
by foot. We walked through the old silk market (Grenada had imported
silk worms et. al. and was a major source of silk) and ended up at the doors
of the cathedral. Between 1492 and the construction of the cathedral, Luther had done "his stuff" and this cathedral was built to sell the central point of Catholicism that the reformist's refuted-the centrality and importance of Mary. |
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At the request of Isabelle she was buried in Granada. She
specifically requested that when she died a simple headstone was all she
wanted. Instead, shortly after 1500, Ferdinand had a chapel built
there for her burial, a chapel with ornate tombs for herself, for Ferdinand,
and for their daughter and son-in-law, a rich altar, and much art work. The chapel has beautiful sculptures all pointing to the importance women played in the scriptures with analogies to how Isabelle was an equal to Ferdinand. We have no photographs; they were expressly forbidden. This photo is taken from the exit from the chapel (thus of the gift shop). |
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The Cathedral is located next to- but is separate from-the Chapel. As
mentioned, it was built in the mid 1500's by a successor to Ferdinand and
Isabella; it is a true imperial church. It was built with the supervision of
the new school of theologians developed in Spain to contest the ideas of the
Protestant Reformation and demonstrate the importance of the Virgin and it
definitely carries out this theme. I've attached photos of the central organ and the center of the church. The side aisles are about the same width as the center, so you are seeing only 1/3 of the church. (Both photos required PhotoStitch to cover the height with the available distance.) |
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We then walked downtown through many small streets. In the distance is the original place that they put traders up when they came to town - I guess the first hotel in the town. |
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| After lunch they drove us up to the top of the hill to the Alhambra (the Sultan's original palace). Right next the that is a palace built by Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, grandson of Charlemagne. This reception area is all we saw. Unfortunately I got exposure changes as I panned this, so I apologize for the color and stitching variations. |
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The Alhambra shows distinct similarities to the Sultan's palace we saw in Seville. It is larger and in better repair, but looking at the pictures it's hard to tell the difference without looking very closely (or cheating, and looking at the date). |
| Just as in Seville, there is a large reflecting pool on the way to the Sultan's receiving room. In this case, the pool is 6' deep, such that you get a very dark surface and excellent reflections. I thought the reflection was better looking than the direct photo. |
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Just across the valley is the Sultan's summer palace. The garden's
of course have not survived the period, so new gardens have been
installed that are intentionally not a clone of what might have been. Still pretty though. |
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Once more we piled into our busses and headed off to Málaga.
The original intent was that we would arrive at the boat at 5:30, have a
leisurely evening with dinner on the boat. The boat wasn't ready
for us so we had stalled on our tours, arriving at the boat at 7:30 with
dinner at 8:00. I was able to get pictures some of the
lighthouses but I haven't included them here. We set sail at 11:00 PM for Gibraltar. The distance isn't far, so it was an easy voyage. |
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