Barcelona: The Final Day of Our European Vacation

Although we are looking forward to getting back to California and home, we made the most of the last day (Tuesday, June 16) we have in Europe.  After breakfast, we went to the Picasso Museum.  The collection focuses on Picasso's early years of apprenticeship and youth and also includes works that reflect the influences of the French artists he met in Paris while he was in his twenties, some works from his Blue Period, sketches and paintings of his personal interpretation of Velazquez's Las Mininas (which we saw at El Prado), and ceramic pieces.  The development of his style from classical and realistic to Cubist and abstract is illuminated by the collection.  Katya and I were impressed with the great skill and talent evident in the works he executed in his teens and twenties, but his later works do not appeal to us.  We particularly did not like his interpretations of the masterpiece Las Mininas, nor did we think that Velazquez would appreciate them either.  The beauty of the palace which the museum occupies was the most appealing part of our visit to the mueum.

Although we did not rush through the museum, our visit took less time than we anticipated, so we had a couple hours until our scheduled visit to the Sagrada Familia.  In the morning, the skies were clear, so we walked to the waterfront, past the Cap de Barcelona, a large surrealistic sculpture created by Roy Lichtenstein for the 1992 Summer Olympics.  The Moll d'Espanya is a former working wharf that is now a nice place to walk.  At the end is the large and shiny edifice Maremagnum, a shopping and eating complex.  Passing that, we came to the Rambla del Mar, a floating wide wooden promenade connecting the end of Moll d'Espayna and the Maremagnum with the mainland.

Sailboats at Port Vell 

Floating sculpture a seen from Rambla del Mar

Rising high into the sky at the land end of the Rambla del Mar within a large plaza is the Mirador de Colon, a tall, decorated column with a statue of Christopher Columbus on top, dramatically pointing out to sea.  Strolling past this, we came to the Rambla, a wide boulevard with a pedestrian promenade between the traffic lanes.  Vendors and sidewalk cafes on are both sides of the promenade.  The Rambla is crowded and noisy, and we cannot understand why it is an attraction.  We turned right into the Barri Gotic after a few block and found pedestrian streets which led to the much nicer Avenue Portal de l'Angel.

Christopher Columbus monument

Continuing past the areas we had explored yesterday, we entered the neighborhood of L'Exiample, which was developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.  We had tickets for 1:45 p.m. for the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia.  Arriving a bit early, we walked around the exterior.  Some of the facade can be seen, but since the cathedral is still under construction after over 130 years, scaffolding and netting obscure parts of it.  The helix shaped spires, some topped with colorful representations of fruit, can be seen among the cranes that loom over them.

Nativity Facade of the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi.  There is absolutely nothing like it anywhere else.  The forms of the structure, both inside and outside, are organic.  Gaudi, a deeply religious man, believed the contemplation of nature and its forms to be a way to understand God.  Animals and plants are integrated in the ornamentation.  Inside, the columns branch out as they near the vaulted ceilings, resembling trees.

Nave of the Sagrada Familia

Like everyone, we were astounded when we first entered the sanctuary.  The large stained-glass windows bath the interior with light and color.  The sheer size of the santuary is also awe-inspiring; it can hold 8000 people.  Utilizing parabolas and hyperboloids in the design, Gaudi created intricate geometric patterns in the ceilings high above the nave, aisles and apse.

Light from the stained glass windows 

Colorful stained glass windows

Stained glass windows and green light cast by stained glass

Below the main floor are the crypt, where Gaudi is buried, a large chapel, and a museum explicating the development and design of the church.  While the models and displays are interesting and informative, we actually preferred to just appreciate the wonder of Gaudi's masterpiece of architecture without understanding it.

After our visit to the Sagrada Familia, we walked further northwest (Unlike Katya, I am able to use the position of the sun during the day to help determine which way we should go to reach our destinations.) through L'Exiample.  Quite hungry, we were on the lookout for food and found a cafe pleasantly and simply decorated in white and purple, with brightly colored Turkish cushions on the benches where we sat.  We enjoyed sandwiches while we rested our feet.  It began to rain while we were there, and there was intermittent but never heavy rain the rest of the day.

Katya in her new outfit from H&M, waiting for lunch

After our late lunch, we continued on, and up, to Park Guell (yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site), designed by Antoni Gaudi.  The area was developed around 1900 and intended for use as exclusive estates for well-off families, providing them with fresh air and wonderful views of Barcelona and the sea below.  Because of lack of proper transport to the mountainside and other problems, the project developer Eusebio Guell halted work in 1914.  The Barcelona City Council acquired Park Guell in the 1920's from his heirs and opened it to the public.

Some of the park is still free to the public, but, in order to preserve historic structures reflecting the modernisme style of the early 20th century, access to the Monumental Zone is restricted, with a limited number of people allowed to enter at various times of the day.  We had tickets for entrance at 5:30 p.m., but, after a strenous climb, we arrived about 45 minutes before that and used the spare time to explore higher levels of the park, which include covered paths and gardens designed by Gaudi.

Park Guell, with the house where Gaudi lived and a view of Barcelona

Exterior decoration on Gaudi's house

Inside the Monumental Zone, the forested hillsides open up onto a grand plaza and gardens.  We entered at the gate by the roughly oval-shaped esplanade of Nature Square.  This level area was created by carving into the hillside and creating a colonnaded structure under part of it.  The esplanade ws meant for open-air shows, and during the first few decades of the 20th century (before the Spanish Civil War), cultural and sports events were held there.  The area is famous for the colorful, undulating bench on its perimeter, covered with tile-shard mosaic and cylindrical pieces of pottery.

Undulating bench of the esplanade and the Austria Garden

Detail of undulating bench, Porter's Lodge and Barcelona

Undulating bench, Austria Garden and Gaudi's house

After following the in and out curves of the bench all the way around the esplanade, we entered the Portico of the Washerwoman, a curved and buttressed covered walkway leading to the gardens of a former farmhouse, the Casa Larrard (which is now a public school).  One of the columns gives its name to the walkway, as the rough-hewn stones create a caryatid of a woman with a basket of laundry on her head.

Washerwoman caryatid

Curved ramp leading from the Washerwoman's Portico

This long portico ends in a spiral ramp with helicoidal columns.  This ramp ends at the former Casa Larrard, which was acquired along with the surrounding property of the farm by Eusebi Guell for his estate development.  The Guell family lived in this house until the City of Barcelona purchased Park Guell.

Past the house, we came to the main entrance to the estates, protected by iron gates designed by Gaudi.  On either side are two small, gingerbread-like buildings, built in 1901 and 1903, that formed the porter's lodge for the estates.  Their curvelinear forms use the Catalan vault style of construction, which utilizes several layers of tiles.  The roofs of both are decorated in tile-shard mosaics (trencadis), a technique that Gaudi loved.  He often used broken pieces from demolition sites and cast-off objects.

Architectural detail, Porter's Lodge

Across from the gates is a monumental flight of white steps ascending to the Hypostyle or Columns Room under the esplanade.  Along the double flight of stairs are various sculptural, mosaic-covered features including gargoyles, a fountain with the shield of Catalonia and a colorful dragon.   The Hypostyle Room has 86 striated columns.  Although the inner column are perpendicular to the floor, the outer columns slope inward toward the roof, more like buttresses than columns even though they are identical to the other columns.  The ceiling is formed of small domes or vaults, some decorated in rather surrealistic style.

Dragon on the monumental stairs in Park Guell

Ceiling of the Hypostyle Room

The last part of the Monumental Zone of Park Guell that we enjoyed was the Austria Gardens (so-called because trees were donated by Austria).  Yellow, orange, red and purple flowers created bright areas of color in the sloping, terraced garden, matching the vivid hues of the mosaics of the walls, sculptures and roofs of the structures in the park.

Outside of undulating bech and lilies in the Austria Garden

Gaudi's house and the Austria Gardens

Austria Gardens

Feeling fairly exhausted, we left Park Guell and walked to the nearest Metro station, which was much further away than we anticipated.  Rain began to fall again.  We just wanted to get back to the hotel to rest.  Finally, we made it to a Metro station and took trains to the stop for Parc de la Ciutadella, which our hotel is across from.  Unfortunately, we were disoriented when we came above ground.  The woman I asked for directions only spoke Catalan, so communication failed and we ended up taking a very circuitous route to our hotel, a walk that took us over a half an hour.  (Had we turned right--derecha--instead of going straight--derecho--when we exited the Metro station, we would have only walked about four blocks.)

But we made it back and have enjoyed the last couple hours relaxing in our elegant room.  We must get to sleep soon.  We need to get up around 6 a.m. in order to pack and have breakfast before catching a taxi to the airport around 8 a.m. for our 10:35 flight to the States.

We have had a wonderful trip AND we are ready to go home.

Granada continued, Ametlla de Mar and Barcelona

There is still so much to rave about the Alhambra and Generalife monuments. . . .

When we exited the Nashid Palaces, we continued on the designated route to the ruins of the Palacio del Partal, built during the reign of the Sultan Yusuf III (1333-54).  Still standing are the portico of the palace, the oratory (chapel) and the part of the Promenade of Towers.  The ruins of the palace are a designated archaelogical area.  In the past (perhaps 100 or more years ago), in an attempt to give the ruins a more romantic ambiance, overseers leveled off some of the walls and planted shrubery and flowers.

The large pool in the large, formal garden of Sultan Yusuf III as well as the garden plots themselves have remained or been restored to the lovely state in which they were designed and maintained 700 years ago.  We enjoyed strolling through them as we passed the Embattled Tower, the Quarter Gate, the Tower of the Captive and the Tower of the Princesses.

Palacio del Partel garden

We exited the Alhambra fortress by the Water Tower and crossed the now dry Water Channel in order to visit Generalize, just north of the fortress.  Generalife was the summer palace and country estate of the emirs of Granada.  The area includes the formal lower gardens, from which much of the Alhambra is visible, the white-walled Palace of Generalize and the upper gardens.  The lower garden is divided into a series of parallel promenades separated by carefully pruned cypresses and shrubs.  This garden leads to the entrance to the palace.  Within its walls, particularly attractive is the Court of the Water Channel, which provides a peaceful feeling with the trickling sound of water and the elegant arrangement of trees and plants. Here and throughout Andalusia, the importance to the Moors of the soothing sound of water and the scents and colors of the plants within the boundaries of their palaces is readily perceived.

View of the Alhambra from the Lower Garden of Generalife

Water Channel

From the palace, a series of stairs leads to the smaller upper garden and the Water Stairway, which used to carry water to the palace from the sultans' canal.  Above these is the Romantic Mirador, a pavillion with views of the Alhambra and Generalife and the hills of Granada.

Generalife Palace

view from the Upper Garden

Leaving the Generalife Palace and walking above the lower garden, we strolled under a long series of high, arched trellises covered with pink and white oleander which led to a quiet path bordered on each side by cypresses and woodland.

Entering into the Alhambra fortress again, we walked through the ruins of the Medina, the town of the Alhambra, which would have contained public baths, ovens, workshops, silos, cisterns as well as houses of government officials and employees and court servants.

Bouganvillea in front of a hotel in the Alhambra

Passed the Medina there is a row of shops, and we stopped there to buy souvenirs before continuing on to the last part of our tour, the Alcazaba, or military area of the fortress, one of the oldest parts of the citadel.  It includes plazas, towers and ramparts that provide great views of Granada and the surrounding area, the ruins of the military quarters, and a small garden with lovely roses, the Jardin de los Adarves.

Granada from the Alhambra

After hours at the fortress, we finally left and descended to the old town along the same shaded path we had used to ascend.  We returned to our hotel to rest for a while and went back out much later (since so many restaurants and stores are closed for siesta) to find food.  Although Katya avoided the temptation this time, the artistic and appealing ice cream displays still captured our attention.

Ice cream in Granada

The next morning (Friday, June 12), we slept in a bit and then went out to buy more Andalusian goods as well as food for the day.  Hesitant at first, I was able to ask for and understand directions to a supermercado, where it is always cheaper to buy bread and other supplies than the shops in the tourist areas.

We checked out of our hotel at noon, caught a taxi in the Plaza Nuevo to the train station, and began our journey by bus (since the tracks are ripped up in Granada) and train to Camp Tarragona via Antequerra Santa Ana.  The bus was cramped, but we were able to spread out and relax in the first class car on the train.

As we were arriving at Tarragona, I realized that I did not know how to recognize Peter's cousin Pauline or her husband Manolo, who we were going to visit for a couple days.  In the main hall of the station, we looked around for likely suspects and I even asked a couple people who were along and seemingly waiting on someone if they were looking for the Browns.  They were not, but after a couple more minutes, we saw the man I had approached pointing us out to another man, who was Manolo.

Manolo was our chaffeur for the weekend.  On the way to the Rios' flat in Ametlla de Mar, we stopped at a shop to pick up Manolo's new phone.  His son David works there, so we were able to meet him.  We then continued on from there to the small city (or large town) where Pauline and Manolo live.  Pauline greeted us from the balcony, which overlooks a wooded area, a cove and the rocky coast.  She had prepared a delicious Spanish omelette and salad for us, and we enjoyed relaxing over the meal and conversing with them as the sunlight faded.

Every weekend, they go to their country house, only a couple of miles away.  They left us at the flat on our own.  We were sated with food and tired, so we stayed in and went to bed early.  In the morning (Saturday, June 13), when I woke up around 8 a.m., I could hear rain pattering on the window panes--the perfect excuse to roll over and sleep some more!  Katya and I got up mid-morning and, though it was still overcast, went out to walk on the promenade above the Mediterranean Sea and through part of the town.

Manolo picked us up at 1 p.m. and took us to their country home for lunch.  He showed us around the property, which includes various kinds of fruit trees, fig trees and many olive trees as well as a vegetable garden.  The house is built and liveable but not finished, as they are getting the work done a bit at a time.  From the large terrace, where we ate the wonderful lunch of paella and other delicious dishes Pauline had prepared, we could gaze over acres of trees to the sea.

Pauline, Katya and Manolo at the Rios' country home

When we returned to town, the skies had totally cleared, so we took a longer walk, going to the end of the harbor and back and then through town again.  There were lots of people enjoying the beach and sea in the warmth of the late afternoon.

Probably it was because I had drunk more wine than I am accustomed to consuming, but I was still tired after our walk, so I slept some more.  I woke up in the evening, watched the storm clouds and lightning over the Mediterrean, read for a while, and then slept again until the morning.

Katya was not willing to go, but I went to the beach for a couple of hours on Sunday morning (June 14).  After a swim in the salty sea, I found a comfortable place on the large stones of the breakwater.  Their shades of ochre, sienna and cream contrast with the deep blue water beside them, and seams of white quartz sparkled in the sunlight.  I read a few chapters of War and Peace (I should finish it before returning to California in a couple days.) and, before getting sunburned, returned to the flat to shower, dress and pack up for the last leg of our European journey.

Cove at Ametlla de Mar

Requisite selfie (after swimming in the Mediterranean)

Manolo picked us up at 1 p.m. again to go to the country house.  Pauline, a very industrious person, I must say, had finished making cherry jam and was in the process of making plum jam while also preparing lunch of lentil stew and vegetables.  She had already visited her daughter and grandchildren and gone shopping--mainly to get enough French bread, since she noticed that Katya consumes a lot of it if it is available.  Manolo had been to church, run errands and seen real estate clients already.  They said they were exhausted from running their language school and were looking forward to the summer break, but I don't think they take breaks!

After spending some of the afternoon with Pauline and Manolo (and making last-minute reservations for a hotel), we said farewell, and Manolo took us to the train station in Ametlla de Mar, where we caught a train at 4:20 p.m. for Barcelona.  After two stops, the train was very crowded, with people standing in the aisles.  We were glad we got seats for the two hour journey.

We got off at the Estacio de Franca, in the neighborhood of El Born.  Our hotel is only a few blocks from the station and across from the Parc de la Ciutadella.  After settling in, we wandered through the park and then down to the waterfront.  We saw some large and expensive yachts in the Marina Port Vell.  Thousands of people were out for the evening, strolling along the streets, having drinks or dinner, going to discotecques or relaxing along the beach.  We noted that all the people were just coming out at a time when most of the people we know would be settling in at home for the evening.

Aurora on top of the Font de La Cascada (with seagull)

Parrot in the park

Sailboats docked at Port Vell

We walked until we were tired and then returned to the hotel.  For some reason--and unusually during this long vacation--I couldn't fall asleep easily.  I ignored two alarms this morning (Monday, June 15) and finally got up after 9 a.m.  We enjoyed a sumptous breakfast at the hotel and then set off to explore the city of Barcelona.

Our first stop, after wandering through some narrow streets, was the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar,  a medieval church built in the 14th century in the Catalan Gothic style.  From the outside, it seems massive, heavy and dark.  On the inside, the slender, octagonal columns soar to the the vaulted ceilings, and beautiful stained glass windows illuminate the walls with a golden light.  The rose window at the end of the nave opposite the apse in quite large with deep blues and reds predominating.

Santa Maria del Mar

After this basilica, we continued on through the neighborhood of Ribera to the Barri Gotic (Gothic Barrio), the old medieval city with its labyrinth of streets and alleys opening onto spacious, open plazas.  Roaming somewhat aimlessly, we eventually made it to the Rambla, a long boulevard with a central pedestrian area that stretches from near the waterfront to the Placa Catalunya, a central area of Barcelona.  The Rambla is one of the most popular areas for tourists.  Although it is attractive, we did find it particularly appealing, prefering the narrow streets.

Barri Gotic

We turned back into these and the Barri Gotic to find the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, the main church of Barcelona and the resting place for the city's patron saint. The outside of the medieval church was given a new facade in neo-Gothic style in the late 19th century, with large gargoyles and delicately carved spires. Inside, their are five aisles.  Along the exterior walls of the nave, as in many of the European churches we have visited, large alcoves serve as chapels.  Within these are elaborate altars in front of triptychs or other large paneled altarpieces containing priceless religious paintings within gilt frames.  Some of the chapels seem to have more gold than any other substance.  I stopped at each altar and took a lot of photos throughout the sanctuary while Katya poked along behind me, obviously bored.

Catedral de Barcelona

Turning away from the sacred as we left the basilica, we sought an antidote and found it on the wide street of Portal de L'Angel, lined with department stores as well as upscale and designer and shops.  We stopped in El Corte Ingles, a popular department store in Spain, and the small shop of Swavorski crystal next door before going to H&M.  Katya insisted that shopping is what tourists are supposed to do, so we bought a few thing for her in the shops.  The bright lights, background pop music and vibrant displays cheered her right up!

Street musicians playing jazz

Katya shopping

After shopping, we continued on our long trek through the streets of Barcelona.  We stopped to admire the Art Nouveau design of the Palau de la Musica Orfeo de Catalana and the definitive, unmistakable architecture of Antoni Gaudi as seen in La Pedrara, a house he designed in the early 20th century.  We were en route to the Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi, but a dark sky loomed ahead of us (while behind us, toward the sea, the sky was a cloudless blue).  Once the thunder started to rumble, we turned away from the storm and retraced our steps along the Passeig Gracia to the Placa Rei Juan Carlos I.  We decided to go to Gaudi's still unfinished cathedral, the Sagrada Familia.  When we arrived there, a light sprinkling of rain had begun and the wait for entrance was over two hours.  We decided to come back to the hotel to rest, since we had been on our feet for over six hours, and make plans for the rest of our stay in Barcelona.

Palau de la Musica Orfeo de Catalana

Gaudi's La Pedrera

Arc del Triomf near our hotel

Tomorrow is our last day, and we have tickets for the Picasso Museum, the Sagrada Familia and the Parc Guell.  We may even use the Metro to get from one place to another, but we like finding surprises as we walk.

Granada

Yesterday (Thursday, June 11), we walked around Granada, including the old Moorish neighborhood of Albayzin, and then climbed the hill to visit the Alhambra and Generalife.  Throughout Granada, the history of the area is evoked by the buildings, the winding streets and the monuments.  This is the last holdout of the rule of the Muslim Moors in Spain, whose rule ended in 1492 with the final conquest by Catholic Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella.  Renaissance and Baroque Spanish architecture is prevalent, but in places like the Albayzin and the monuments of the Alhambra and Genalife, the legacy of the Moors stands out, and it is still seen in the geometric designs in Andalusian pottery, woodwork and other handcrafts.

Street in the Albayzin neighborhood of Granada

Our hotel is just above the ravine of the Darro River, and we headed upstream along the Paseo del Padre Manjon to enjoy the views of the old edifices on this side of the river and the towering walls of the Alhambra above the wooded, steep cliffs on the opposite side.  The streets in the morning are less crowded than in the late evening.  People are walking with purpose along the streets and alleys in order to get places such as work or school rather than strolling as a social activity.  Nuns were sweeping the steps of their convent and waiters were setting up tables and chairs on the plazas for later in the day.

Heading back to the center of town, we went to the Catedral de Granada, an enormous building facing a plaza but otherwise hemmed in on all sides by surrounding shops, restaurants and apartments.  Although it is obvious from the outside that this church is really big, the vastness of the interior still awed us as we entered.  White columns soar to the vaulted ceilings, dividing the santuary into five naves, just one of which would make a large church on its own.  The alcoves with altars along the walls are spacious and richly decorated with intricate stuccowork, statues, paintings of scenes from the life of Christ and the saints, and an abundance of gold and silver.  The enormous, beautiful organs are placed between columns on either side of the main nave.  In the center of the apse is a stunning piece of brilliant silver.  The entire interior is a testament to the central role of and the riches lavished on the Catholic Church throughout the centuries.

Catedral de Granada 

Central dome, Catedral de Granada

Catedral de Granada

We stopped in shops displaying woodwork, jewelry, brilliant textiles, bowls and tiles as we made our way to the foot of the steep hill atop which we would explore the monuments of the Alhambra and Generlife.  Past the shops and through an arched stone gate, we entered into the leafy green woods and began our ascent along the wide, unpaved path bordered on either side by cobbled gutters burbling with fresh streams of clear water making a pleasant sound in the otherwise quiet forest.

The warm earth tones of the smooth, well-trodden road through the woods ends at wide steps leading to the Fountain of Charles V, a long, elegantly decorated trough against the fortress walls, where royalty and their retinues would pause to allow their horses to drink.  After we briefly rested there, we continued along the outside of the walls, past the main water channel for the fortress, to the main entrance at the far end, where we redeemed our reserved tickets.  Walking back down toward the Charles V Fountain, we entered the grounds just above the fountain through one of the many gates, the Cart Gate.

Inside the gate and directly in front of us lie the Palacio de Carlos V on our left and the Church of Santa Maria de la Alhambra on our right.  We entered the church, which, after the Catedral de Granada, seemed small.  The church was built by the Spanish on the site of the Moorish mosque of the Alhambra.  Behind the church are the ruins of the baths of the mosque, a warren of small rooms with traces of the decorative patterns on the walls and the arched doorways.

Church of Santa Maria de la Alhambra with deteriorated frescos

Passing through the Puerta del Vino, we stopped in the Plaza de los Aljibes in front of the walls of Alcazaba, one of the oldest parts of the Alhambra that was a military area.  Enjoying the views of Granada, we ate sandwiches for lunch, and Katya, always on the alert for animal life, chased down a skittish cat she wanted to pet.

Puerta del Vino

Next we visited the courtyard of the massive Palacio de Carlos V.  Among the graceful keyhole archways and smooth walls of the architecture of the Moors, the three-story palace is a hulking square structure built with red, roughly chiseled, massive blocks of stone.  Upon passing through the doorways, however, one encounters a perfectly circular, large courtyard with smooth, light-colored stone walls and columns and graceful, curving stairways leading to a wide balcony.

Palacio de Carlos V, inner courtyard staircase

Among the palaces and public structures of the Alhambra, just as in the fortresses in Prague and Budapest, there are smaller, ordinary buildings housing shops, restaurants and homes.  We passed through these to reach the large Convent of San Francisco, which the Spanish monarchs established after taking the Alhambra.  The convent is now a parador, a luxury hotel in a historic building.  However, the grounds are open, and we were able to visit the mauseleum that Queen Isabella, who died at the convent, chose for herself.  (According to her wishes, her remains were removed to lie with her husband Ferdinand after he died.)  The formal garden running the length of the convent building is a lovely, quiet place with flowers and fruit trees.  The paths are typical of Granada cobblestone designs, using a combination of white and black stones to make geometric patterns.

Convent garden

The Nashid Palaces--the 14th century palaces of Moorish rulers--can only be entered at the time designated on tickets.  We were able to visit them at 2 p.m.  Even though they are empty and much of the decorative detail is gone or in need of restoration, they are a visual delight with their delicate carvings, brilliant glazed tiles, series of arches, peaceful gardens, carved wooden ceilings and doors and elegant balconies.  The soft sounds of flowing water in the fountains in the courtyards can be heard throughout the rooms; even with all of us tourists passing through, the area seemed peaceful.

Palace room overlooking a courtyard

Courtyard in the Nashid Palaces

Arches and columns, Nashid Palaces

Arches, Nashid Palaces

Architectural detail, Nashid Palaces

Ornately decorated walls and windows, Nashid Palaces

Decorated wooden ceiling and stone archway

Three arches leading in from a courtyard

In one courtyard, we noticed that birds were using the openings in the intricately carved ornamentation of the walls surrounding a courtyard to build nests.

Birds nesting

*****

(I am stopping my writing now so that Katya and I can spend a bit more time in Granada before catching a bus and then a train for our next destination.  To be continued. . . .)