Granada & Alhambra

As I said in the last post, Granada was one of the places that put Spain on the map for me. My mum was watching an SBS doco on the Alhambra and I was mesmorized by its colourful and detailed enchanting beauty that I just had to visit it even if it was quite out of the way.

Stylistically Granada was quite different from Barcelona and other parts of Europe. It was ruled by the Moors for over 700 years and therefore has a strong Islamic influencewhich is apparent in its buildings, food and side streets. Of course Alhambra is the best preserved Islamic building in all of Europe! I was quite disappointed by Alhambra - perhaps it's my mistakened memory, but I thought it was a very colourful place! But actually all the colour emblazened on the walls and ceilings have since faded into nothingness through the passage of time, making the palace not as visually interesting as I thought it was. Also the fact that you walk into a bare room with no furnishings whatsoever stirs little imagination as to what it would have looked like in its heyday. And the Lion Fountain (supposedly the most famous icon of Alhambra - now restored) has been displaced from its original location to an indoor location. We thought it would have been better if they made replicas so tourists get an idea of what they look like. It was not as extravagent, like Versailles, as I expected, so in that regarded I was disappointed. 

Ceiling of a dome - looks like a bat's cave, no?

Granada is also the traditional home for the famous Spanish dance, the flamenco. Traditionally, it was danced in the caves that line the hills behind the city of Granada, and accompanied by a wailing, screaming style of singing. We went to see a show that was recommended by our hostel (it was so cheap! the entrance fee was like 3 or 6 euros!!), but the focus was on that wailing and screaming singing, which Heeyul enjoyed because it was alike traditional Korean singing. He wasn't impressed by the dancing at all! He said the dancer he saw in Barcelona was better with stronger and more crisp movements. In Barcelona, there was also partner dancing and the girl adhered to the traditional imagery of a flamenco dancer (ours was a blondie). However I really liked the dance we saw (afterall I had nothing else to compare to) - so 震撼！