Granada

Like most of my colleagues who teach English or history, I was that kid in my elementary school class who always won the spring reading award. It´s funny that both Jeff Nelms and Chuck Hope who teach at Tarrant County College have described to me reading the "Landmark History" books along with adventure classics like The Scarlet Pimpernel or The Man in the Iron Mask (abridged, of course) at that same age. I remember reading Washington Irving´s Tales of the Alhambra in those years sometime between elementary and junior high. Today, I was there--in the Alhambra.

Better known for works like "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" or "Rip van Winkle," Irving traveled extensively later in his life, and in 1829 he wandered into little-known Granada. He took up residence on the hill overlooking town in Charles V´s abandoned palace which included parts of the 13th-century Moorish castle called the Alhambra. From there he wrote stories that are part history and part fantasy and all that a young reader could dream. Irving´s room is still there--with a plaque memorializing his stay. His book about the Alhambra excited such tourism that the Spanish government began to excavate the site in the mid-19th century. Today, it´s nothing short of spectacular. Situated on a hill overlooking a great, bowl-shaped plain that´s surrounded by mountains, 11th-century Moors began building first a fortress and later a town that would become a sultan´s seat of power. There are 13th-century baths, an network of streets, and an irrigation system that supplied not only the town and garrison but also a vast system of fountains and gardens. Remnants of the Roman occupation of the same hill are in the musuem, but even more amazing are the remains of Islamic crafts--the glass, wood work, stone carving, and pottery. The fortress itself is a system of six great towers that overlook the plain below and provide a perfect vista of the snow-capped peaks of the surrounding mountains. It was on the tallest of these towers that the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella raised the flag of Saintiago to proclaim their victory over the Moors in 1492. The Alhambra was the last Moorish stronghold to fall in Europe.

So, did I have a good day today? It took more than six hours just to walk the Alhambra and visit the museum. And, yes, I took pictures of Irving´s room in the Sultan´s palace. But Irving wasn´t the only artist to be inspired here. Claude Debussy wrote "The Wine Gate" after his visit to the Alhambra--at one of the gates during the rule of the Sultan, wine was sold without tax to the poor. The writer Garcia Lorca (whose works I teach in World Lit II) also lived in the city; tomorrow, I´ll visit Lorca´s house, now a museum. Additionally, I´ll be visiting several famous 16th-century churches and monuments below the Alhambra. Tonight, I´m going to dream about snowy mountains surrounding a Moorish castle--maybe Shahrazade will whisper a story as I sleep.