One week in Spain: The Alhambra

We visited La Alhambra, an ancient Moorish palace. In Granada they say, "If you die without seeing the Alhambra, you never really lived." Mayyyybe that's an overstatement, but it sure is beautiful.

The ceiling models stalactites and stalagmites.

The rooms are haunted with legends of the fair princesses and chivalrous knights who once lorded it in these rooms.

Every room has a story. An entire royal dynasty was murdered in a room with a fountain. Legend claims the fountain ran red with their blooooood. We decided to re-enact the scene. We're really sensitive like that.

Visiting The Alhambra brought back all my childhood love for the mythical Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving... highly recommended for fairy tale reading. It brought me back to being 10. My inner age is actually 6 I think, and the Moorish palace fulfilled all my pretty pretty princess dreams.

Kisses, Tess

One week in Spain: The House in Granada

In the charming ancient neighborhood of El Albaicin, where houses are packed together close as teeth... off the Plaza of San Miguel Bajo... is a mysterious door in an ivy-drenched wall.

It opens to a leafy, sunlit garden and quaint white-stucco house. This is where my great-aunt and -uncle live.

 You can't imagine more warm, welcoming people. They tucked Lillian and I into their daughters' old bedroom - they have twins too! This is the same room we slept in 10 years ago, the first time we came to Spain with our grandparents. Then our great-aunt served us mountains of Spanish food and our eccentric great-uncle, a professor and poet, recited poetry for us.

Our room had a balcony that overlooked the city of Granada. I miss waking up to that view.

My great-uncle's poetry adorns the wall outside. A rough translation: "The fountains of El Albaicin, amongst the cypress and the rose, have made song the murmur of the dark water that weeps."

I can't wait to go visit them again! Anyone interested in a jaunt to Spain?

One week in Spain: Catholic Mass

I like to go to Mass every day, when I can. As my sister says, we like our Masses short and frequent. And my Spanish is rusty but I was not about to let the language barrier in Spain stop me.

Orgiva, my ancestral home, has a big, famous Cathedral that hosts a festival during Holy Week (the week before Easter) every year. Here we are in front of it.

See the lady in the black leather jacket, 2nd from the left? That's my Grandma Elsa. Don't be fooled by her age -- she is unquestionably the coolest person in this picture. She raised 6 children, and then went back to college to become an engineer. Now she travels the world with her 20 grandchildren (NOT all at once). I just hope that someday I can be half as awesome as she is.

This is Our Lady of the Pillar. The Spanish name "Pilar" comes from this statue.

This is the central altar, with its huge Crucifix. During Holy Week, the townspeople march Jesus through the town in a procession. Then they bring him back and yell out all their prayer intentions. THAT must be a sight to behold.

One day the Cathedral ("La Catedral") was closed, so we hiked to the top of the town (Orgiva is built on a mountain side) for Mass at the tiny Hermitge of St. Sebastian.

I've always loved St. Sebastian, the only saint to be martyred twice. Mass there should have been amazing, but I was sad to see that most of the people present were old ladies. The religious crisis in Spain and England has me convinced that mixing Church and State only leads people to rebel against religion. Separation of Church and State, baby. It's the only way to go.

I love my Church AND my State, Tess

One week in Spain: The Orgiva Market

My grandpa was born in Orgiva, a tiny town of 6,000, where his cousins still live. It's weird to visit there and think, "This would be my life if my family had stayed in Spain." We did our part for the local economy by spending all our remaining euros at the town market. Awesome.

 

 

Here we are with Mari Angeles, our cousin's wife. We don't exactly share identical political and religious viewpoints ("extremely liberal" is the term I'd use), but she is such a sweet lady nonetheless!

I am back in the States now, home with my family, so I've been a bit busy. More posts to come!

Love, Tess