We are booked today to visit the Alhambra at 1.30pm. Bookings are essential and can be made online - 15 euros per person. After breakfast we decide to take another wander around the streets but only make it around the corner to a fabulous eyewear shop. Can't find any shoes I like, too fat for clothes - so glasses it is! I choose a fabulous pair of Fendi and a pair of Miu Miu! Not to be outdone, GC decides he also needs new glasses (as if four suits isn't enough!) . Very accommodating optician who will have them ready this afternoon by 5.30pm.
Taxi to the Alhambra - and into the queue for the 1.30pm slot - it isn't a tour per se - it's just that they only let so many people in each time. The Alhambra is amazing! An incredible history starting from AD889 as a fortress, renovated in the mid C13th, home to many kings (Spain was an empire for 800 years) it is one of the most remarkable feats of engineering/architecture I have ever seen. It is now a UNESCO wold heritage site and, judging by the number of people there today, probably one of the major tourist attractions of Spain! The walls are all intricately patterned with an Islamic influence and the ceilings are spectacular - you can almost sense where Gaudi found his inspiration for La Famtiia Sagrada. You can still see hints of the blue that decorated the walls and ceilings - it must have been truly beautiful centuries ago with such vibrant colours. There are many reflective pools and the constant sound of running water within the gardens that surround this incredible structure. And let's not forget the cats! Cats everywhere - reminded me a little of being in Rome .... maybe this was their legacy!
We dine in the hotel restaurant for our last night in Granada - the food is sensational - and with our bags packed .... we are on the move again. NB: I haven't captioned these photos but you get the idea, although the photos fail to do justice to anything that we saw.
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