La Alhambra

I first heard of La Alhambra in High School sitting in certain Spanish teacher that-shall-not-be-named’s class. I had a bitter taste in my mouth, and the bitterness didn’t go away. Miguel Angel made us climb La Alhambra early in the morning. It started off with a good natural incline and then it just exploded into a horrible 60-degree incline. I should have guessed it had to be hard it was a fort to defend against attacks. I think the phrase, “I left my ass back” there doesn’t begin to describe the feeling that I had climbing. By the time I had reached the half waypoint of the climb I had two thoughts. The first was that I was completely soaked in sweat from just 15 minutes of climbing and the second was that I hated Miguel Angel—a freaking bus passed us by and had the sign ALHAMBRA EXPRESS, I swear if I had enough energy I would have shanked someone. Unfortunate for us we still had to climb more. My Sra. also had something to say about this, check out the Chronicles of Conchi under La Alhambra.

When we finally got up the zenith our tour guides greeted us for the day; and we began our excursion through La Alhambra. Just a quick overview of what La Alhambra is, and why it’s so important. Back in 711 A.D. the Muslim world began to expand into Spain. Not yet a unified country, Spain was ruled by principalities and small kingdoms. The Muslims ruled most of the Peninsula, and La Alhambra was constructed as a separate city, fort and palace for the ruler. As the last strong hold, La Alhambra was seen as a source of power because of its splendor Isabella and Ferdinand converted it to their palace. Their grandson Charles V became the Holy Roman Empire and he too converted it to be his palace. Ok, now that I’ve boarded you to death with history back to the story.

The view from La Alhambra down into the city, following towns, and as the sun set it was spectacular.