Aspire to Inspire

Generalife is a summer and leisure palace bulit for the Nasrid royalty (the last Moorish and Muslim dynasty in Spain). It is located in the southern part of Granada, a ravine away from the Alhambra.

It’s the prettiest Moorish garden I’ve seen so far! Full of everything a hopeless-romantic-who-believed-in-fairy-tales-at-a-certain-point-in-her-life could wish for! And by that I mean: whilst fountains, water channels and stairways, flowerbeds and arches, cobblestones, Alice in Wonderland-like mazes, fresh air, and tons of red and pink roses in full bloom! Making you feel like everything was in slow motion and that it was so easy to stay in love. Okay, maybe not. It was close. Somewhat.

Generalife was a place where emirs used to meet their lovers, a place where they could just get away from the world filled with nothing but politics. I could just imagine how romantic the scene made them look especially when it was newly built, definitely better than strolling around some iron lattice tower which I also fancy but comes only second in my heart. 

But I’m a girl and I doubt if guys would even get all frenzied about this. With the exception of lovers.. so into each other that even sidewalks full of spit, cigarette butts, and overflowing canal water seem pretty. Here I go again. 

The Alhambra is a palace in Granada built for the Moorish Kings in Spain. Situated on top of a hill, the Alhambra served as a good fortress-complex used against Christian raids in the 14th century. Known for its Islamic Architecture and Andalusian Art, it has been an inspiration for many artists, poets, songwriters, and even architects. 

Advanced reservation for tickets is usually advised, our professor told us she had to reserve our tickets months before our actual visit since it’s said to be virtually impossible to get tickets on the spot or a day/week before. 

The Alhambra, literally meaning “Red Fortress” in English, got its name from the somewhat reddish clay used to build the fort. There were also loads of pools (with pitiful fish swimming in green water! tsktsk!), whilst fountains, and horseshoe arches. Plus the walls of the Alhambra were either filled with colorful tiles or engraved with poems, calligraphic art, arabesque detail, or religious phrases. 

Below are excerpts of some of my favorite engraved poems in the Alhambra (via alhambradegranada.org): 

Don’t you see how the water spills on the basin, but its spouts hide it immediately? It is a lover whose eyelids are brimming over with tears, tears that it hides from fear of a betrayer. - Found below the Basin of the Lions

When the one who looks at me carefully observes my beauty, the look of his eyes is deceived by an appearance. For when he looks at my marvellous background, he believes that the full moon has established her residence here and has therefore abandoned her own mansions to find mine. - Found on the arch of entry to Daraxa’s Mirador

The stars wish to rest there, and not turn around the celestial wheel, and they wish to await submissively in both courtyards, and serve tenaciously like slaves. - Found in the Hall of Two Sisters

Only God is victor. - Found in Comares’ Gate

God has honored you and made you happy. - Found in the northern Portico near Generalife

Post about the romantic gardens of Generalife soon :)