La Alhambra

Last Wednesday, I got to take a tour of La Alhambra when I came to Spain in high school, Granada was my favorite city out of the six we visited and the main reason it was my favorite is La Alhambra. It is this incredible palace that was built in the mid 14^th century by the Moors, who had control over this area of Spain at the time.  It was conquered by Isabella and Ferdinand (the same ones who gave Columbus the money to sail the ocean blue) in 1492 (when Columbus sailed the ocean blue).  Two of the most important parts of La Alhambra are The Hall of Ambassadors and the Court of Loins.  The Hall of Ambassadors is the room in which Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand gave Columbus their support to sail to the New World.  The Court of Loins is probably the most famous part of La Alhambra.  It’s a large patio with a fountain that has 12 lions surrounding.  In Spain, lions are very symbolic of strength and courage.  Loins are pretty much everywhere here. The fountain is being renovated right now so we couldn’t see it so I took this picture from Wikipedia.  The walls of the palace are covered in stucco carvings.  One Arabic phrase is repeated many times throughout the whole palace. It means “No winner besides God.”

It’s really hard to describe the feeling you get when you walk through a place like La Alhambra. It’s just like to think about everything that has happened where you are standing makes you feel so insignificant and really lucky at the same time. The first thing that ran through my head was “Wow, this building is 700 hundred years old and I’m 19.  That’s like 30 something times my age.”  I really never felt so young and inexperienced in my life.  Then the next thought I had was “I am so lucky to be here. So many people will never get to experience this.  I am standing in the same place as Christopher Columbus!!!” I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world to be here.

One of the first nights I was in Granada I was walking around the city with some friends and someone asked if we would ever get use to living in a place like this and one of my friends said “I don’t think I’ll ever get use to beauty.” I made so much fun of him when he said that, but I get it now.   I went into the Alhambra tour expecting to be a little bored because I’ve already seen, I have the pictures, I know the history and I was completely wrong.  I learned so many new things that I didn’t hear last time and the beauty of a place like La Alhambra is something that you really don’t ever get use to.  Pictures can never even begin to show how beautiful it really is.  I will probably get use to living here eventually but I will never get use to the beauty of Granda.