Last Friday, the school group and I went to the Alhambra. I believe it's the top visited thing in Spain, and it was beautiful. I will probably have hundreds of photos of it by the end of my trip. The Alhambra is hard not to notice because of its position on the hill that overlooks Granada. From the 13th to the 15th century it was used as a palace and fortress by the Arab muslim Nasrid dynasty. This can be seen by the different artwork from the walls to the ceilings to the beautiful windows. Our guide told us that we were lucky because we were able to see ceiling paintings that had not been previously shown to the public. This can be seen in the Alhambra Part 1 video. Granada was the last city in Spain that was under Muslim control. The Spanish Catholic Queen Isabel had slowly conquered cities in the Andalusia area (southern part of Spain), such as Sevilla and Cordoba. It wasn't until 1492, when Queen Isabel and Muhammad XII, the Nasrid sultan, negotiated a treaty. This treaty is called the Treaty of Santa Fe which is a couple of miles outside of Granada. That was a big shock when I saw a town called Santa Fe. I think I remember one of the guides mentioning that in the treaty the sultan demanded that the Alhambra not be torn down and destroyed. Thankfully, the Alhambra has survived the many centuries since!
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![]() Sorry for taking so long to post this! I was going to finish the pre-Spain trip posts before I started the Spain posts, but I'll probably be living here for a whole month before I get to it. So to get you up to speed, we flew into Malaga airport around 9 pm on Tuesday, September 11th. Flying from Edinburgh, Scotland to Malaga, Spain was a huge temperature difference. In Edinburgh, I was wearing always jeans, shirt, sweater, and a rainjacket and the wind would still make it nice and cool. So that is what I was wearing when I boarded the plance, and I instantly regretted it when we landed. Malaga was hot and humid because it is located on the lower coast of Spain near the Mediterranean Sea. |
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March 2019
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