The Rain in Spain - And the Alhambra

For the first few hours, we almost regretted having left the buzz and excitement of Barcelona for Granada. The approach from the airport was through an industrial area, with dirty furniture warehouses and gritty factories. The approach into the centre of town reavealed a quiet small town, with one main street. Not much was happening, even at five in the evening. We were told that the town shut shop at siesta time.

This is not one of those "boutique" small towns that you visit for the souvenir shopping or the local art. What it does have however is character. As a visitor to Granada, you learn to slow down, to let the attractions of the place grow on you, instead of the constant whirlwind of sightseeing that is any normal vacation.

As you wander through the back streets of town that lead up to the cobbled alleys of Albayzin, you begin to appreciate the unique history of this place. Granada was the last bastion of the Muslim (moorish) empire in Spain, before the surrender of the last of the Nasrid kings - Boabdil- to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in the 15th century. The settlement in Albayzin dates to as far back as the 11th century, it became the extension of the "medina" or the marketplace for the Nasrid kings who made Granada the seat of the kingdom. It retains much of its historical character. Most tourists pass through the Albayzin to reach viewing points to the top of the hill, however this historic quarter itself deserves some more attention, such as the Palace of Dar al Horra (residence of the first queen Aisha) and the Muslim baths. The fascinating blend of Muslim life and architecture with the catholic influences of the Castilians makes this a unique site to visit.

And then of course there is the Alhambra. A lot of superlatives have been written about the Alhambra, and I was curious to see if it really lived up to the hype. It did. With socks on. We spent almost an entire day there, and we still managed to see about 80% of the place-we had to stop because our feet gave out.

The Al Hambra is a walled fortress town, broadly clustered into the Nasrid official palaces, the Generalife (the king's private palaces), the various towers, the unfinished palace of Charles V, the Alcazba. The fortress is designed so one flows from one building to the other through exquisitely designed gardens and water fountains. We were assisted through our exploration of the Alhambra by an audioguide which contained excerpts of Washington Irving's "The Tales of the Alhambra", who actually lived in the palace for a few months, during his journeys theough Spain.

Many stories and legends revolve around places within the Alhambra. The more powerful ones relate the discovery of the infidelity of Zoraya in the garden of cypresses, or Queen Isabel recruiting Christopher Columbus to sail around the world in the Salon de los Embajadores.

I am not even going to try to verbally describe the beauty of this place, or the feelings of mystery and romance it evokes. I will only say that the Alhambra has to be on any list of places that one must visit in a lifetime.



(The Alhambra and the Albayzin quarter are UNESCO world heritage sites. They are an hour and a half flight away from Barcelona, cheap tickets are available on Vueling and Ryanair)

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The Boot Signal

Batman had one to let him know when Gotham was in trouble. The three wise men saw one in the sky when the Big J arrived.Something always went wrong every time Harry met Sally.

It was a sign. One that we choose to ignore. 

We first started seeing it in the last week of September.Every woman on the street (and quite a few men) were wearing boots. Short ones, long ones, stiff ones and slouchy ones. It was like the autumn fashion fairy had come in and gobbled up all summer footwear from the city of Geneva.

In fact we even laughed about it as we walked to dinner this weekend. " Trust the Swiss do everything like clockwork." October has begun. Must change footwear. It didn't really matter that there was no snow. In fact it wasn't even that cold. There we were, ambling through the streets of Paquis in our denim jackets. Inside the restaurant, it was positively toasty.

That is until we got out. The chill seemed to have seeped in through the strong denim of my jacket. "Brr, its really cooled down," I said. "Nah, its nothing." P said. If P had a superpower, it would be a body temperature ten degrees higher than normal human beings."Lets get a gelato and walk down to the car." 

I was shivering by the time we got to the gelateria. " I'll have hazelnut," P looked at me expectantly. " Unn nnnnoissette, s'il vous plait." I'm the official translator.

"Nothing for you?" P normally looks forward to finishing my ice cream cone in addition to his. " No, I'll pass. I can't feel my ears. It's gotta have dropped down to 5 degrees"

" Nah, it's not that cold," he said. "I'll give you 500 bucks if its lesser than 15 degrees. We'll check it once we get to the car."

By the time we were in the car, I had lost all sensation in my face. We turned the ignition on. 26 degrees. "It's because we're dddown in the pparking lot." I cut P off before the inevitable "I told you so"

"Bet's still on. 500 bucks if it goes below 15 by the time we get home"

It hit 21 by the time we drove out of the parking lot, dropped another five in the seven minutes it took to drive home.

I'm going to use the 500 to buy a thick overcoat. And boots.

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Theres more to October than pumpkin!

Voila, almost in a flash, we enter the best part of the year. I love this part of the year, it has joy and affirmation, excuses to celebrate crammed into its nooks and crannies.

In October then, a month of metamorphosis, where sunny days turn overcast, warm breezes turn chilly, and nature changes her wardrobe from nautical greens to more vibrant hues,as if preparing for the celebrations ahead. The dominant theme in this month is the harvest, with grape crushing, chestnut warming, wine harvesting happening all over Europe.

 

Here's some interesting and alternative ideas for ways to celebrate this month :

Vendages de Montmartre (Wine Festival) - Paris - 10 -12 October. The quirkiness of Montmartre, the beauty of Paris and wine. Need I say more

Eurochocolate 2009 - Perrugia Italy - 18-26 October. A ten day chocolate festival with "Break Ranks" as its call to arms, it challenges participants to creativity with chocolate. They had me at chocolate.

Electronic Dance Festival -Amsterdam - 21-24 October. Think of this not as a festival of electronic music (eventhough it showcases the best, including David Guetta, Paul Van Dyk, Fatboy Slim), but rather as a place to go and dance your heart out to some great music. Amsterdam has some great attractions of the non hedonistic sort, the Van Gogh museum has the world's largest collection of the master's work.

Modial de la Biere - Strasbourg - 16-18 Oct - For those who missed the Oktoberfest or just can't get enough, here's the french equivalent. The fact that its located in the Alsace winegrowing region presents interesting sightseeing and wine tasting opportunities.

Festival des Arbres Lumieres - Geneva - 30th Oct - 29 Nov - Artistic light installations will be put up throughout on trees in the city centre. From what I see of last years edition, we can finally look forward some flair in Geneva.

(Gypsy invites readers to try at least one or more of the above locations and narrate their comments and experiences. Great stories will be featured as a guest blog on this site)

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This is not a shameless plug

and I'm not making money off of this (I wish!)

I'm linking to this great article I found on th Huffington Post. Do take the survey on the sidebar - I think it works for men as well!

What The Happiest And Most Successful Women Do Differently

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