Today turned out awesome, but it didn´t start super well. I booked tickets in advance for the Alhambra through our hotel and received a confirmation months ago, but when I saw a charge on my credit card for a sporting goods company in Barcelona, I thought my card had been hacked, so I disputed the charge; once I figured out it was OK, though, I called the company to have the charge reinstated, and it was. I thought all was well. Yesterday the concierge tells me he´ll give me a voucher to pick up the tickets and that our entry time for the Palacio Nazaries is 12:30. This morning I was using the computer in the lobby at 11:20 while Sean was showering and he came up, handed me the voucher, and mentioned that I would need to go immediately, since the tickets needed to be picked up an hour before the entry time. So I freaked out, fly upstairs and tell Sean to meet me there by 12:30, and then run outside to look for the bus, which I didn´t see, so I hopped in a cab.
At the ticket office I give the guy my passport and the voucher like the concierge said. First he couldn´t find the reservation, then he tells me it was cancelled. If I had had the card on me --it was at the hotel--he probably could have seen that the charge was put on there again, but there was no explaining that to this guy. Fine: I paid 24 euro for new tickets. Then I look and see that the entry time is for 12pm, and there´s no way Sean will be there in time. I ask if I can have a later time, and he says flatly "no." I asked another woman if I could change to an afternoon ticket, and she, also, said no way. Great. So I spent a little while freaking out over the fact that either we go in the Generalife gardens and skip the Palacio Nazaries (which is the main Arab building that you think of when you think Alhambra), or I pay for the tickets a THIRD TIME. Sean gets there ten minutes early, which is pretty impressive, but still too late for us to use the second set of tickets, so we just decided, screw it, they get 70 euros from us, fine! Shit happens, and if that´s the worst thing that goes wrong, well, that´s awesome, right?
Still, a little part of me was grumbling that this had better be pretty freaking amazing to make up for me paying for six tickets, and happily, I can say that it really, truly, was worth it. The architecture was just so different than what I´m used to--the delicate scrollwork, the elaborate muqarnas (stalactite) vaults, the friezes of Kufic script, the multi-colored tilework on the lower parts of the walls, the marquetry ceilings, the serene courtyards with fountain after fountain...it was exquisite. The views over the city of Granada and the Sierra Nevada were spectacular, and there were gorgeous gardens within the Palacio Nazaries itself and also the Generalife, though that was more rigorously laid out, which I´m not over-fond of. I should also mention the Alcazaba Fortress, which was probably the highest outlook point over the city. The only let-down was the famous court of the Lions, which is supposed to have a fountain supported by twelve lions in the center, but they were all out for restoration! Booooo.
You could certainly tell that it´s Spain´s most visited monument when you saw the bathroom complex, a full two stories of bathrooms: caballeros downstairs and damas upstairs! There were plenty of cats roaming about, including a black one that had cleverly flopped down in the air-conditioned gift shop. The Alhambra also sported the first real water fountains that we´ve seen in the entire country, which really excited Sean, who is part camel. Anyway, the point is, I don´t care how much I had to pay to get in, it was definitely worth it. It´s not my absolute favorite monument like it is for Phyllis, but it was memorable!
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