Oh Isabella! (And Ferdinand)

More Alhambra photos!  If you ever get to Spain, this is one of the "must see"  places.

I just thought these doorways were pretty cool.

Our great tour guide Gerardo gave us a lot of great "insider" stories about the Alhambra. It was a great balance to the more leisurely but not as informative self-tour we took last year. 

This has a really interesting story.  After King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella took Granada with an overwhelmingly superior force (without having to attack the Alhambra itself), the palace/fortress gradually fell into disrepair. Finally the American writer Washington Irving (think Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow) visited and fell in love with the Alhambra, and actually moved into rooms there in 1829.  His Tales of the Alhambra stimulated so much interest in the old fortress that it was gradually restored to where it is today.

Something I didn't know, the name Granada comes from the Spanish word for pomegranate, which is grown in the region. This is one of the pomegranate trees in the Alhambra.

Love these flowers!

Love this lady! Elder and Sister Wiscomb are the ones who took the pictures that I'm in. Thanks!  :)

One last view of the Alhambra. A very beautiful place!

After the Alhambra we went all had lunch together (The Wok - delicious!)  then I went with Hermana and Elder Guffey to explore downtown Granada. First up was the Cathedral. I got this picture off the internet because I only saw pieces of it.

Like this.

This is the interior. Very ornate and HUGE! 

The Capilla Mayor.

I loved the ingravings. Especially the horse :)

But what we were really looking for were the final resting place of Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs who financed Columbus. We finally found them in the Capilla Real, out the door and around the corner from the main Cathedral entrance. 

They didn't allow pictures there, so this is an internet picture. You could take a stairway to where you could see into a room under these horizontal statues. There you could see the lead caskets that housed their remains. History was thick in the air :)

Then we visited the little markets that surrounded the downtown area. There were a lot of really neat stuff, and yes, I did buy some!

One last look at our little group: myself, the Redds, the Guffeys, and the Wiscombs. We are gradually disbanding, and I will (and do) miss them very much, along with the Coombs, Frosts, Andersens, and all those who have already gone home. Great people!