No longer lonely in Granada

First of all, We're feeling much better since so many of you responded to our plea for comments. Mysteriously, several of you protested they had sent long responses that we hadn't credited - but they haven't shown up in the comment section. Lost in translation?
Here's how we spent Monday:



- We climbed a shady green road up to the great fortress of the Alhambra. Most of our visit was spent in the enchanting Nasrid palaces, an architectural paradise of extraordinary stone, tile and plaster decoration








We decided that, even with the wonderfully cool and verdant courtyards, we would rather have been servants or craftswomen than the sequestered women of the court, who spent their whole lives inside the walls of the palace. After our leisurely tour, we skipped the not so wonderful palace of the Christian king Charles V in favor of the baths where we speculated on the hydraulics


Then we walked to the Parador where we recuperated with a pitcher of Sangria and a plate of olives and local cheeses as we sat on a tree shaded terrace with a view of the Generalife summer palace gardens.




The Generalife was in full bloom: wisteria, pansies, poppies, iris, climbing roses and all sorts of Mediterranean plants we see in California gardens. Lots of pools, the sound everywhere of trickling, falling running water. Also feral cats, who spend their afternoons waiting for the goldfish to swim too close to poolside.

As we headed back we had a grand sight of snow covered mountains - again reminding us of our Sierras. Below is a photo taken in our local barrio.

Location:Granada