La Alhambra, Granada Spain

 Palace of Charles V.  Which we did not get to see when we visited La Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia Spain.  Purchasing tickets for La Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Spains major tourist attractions is a bit of a feat.  Though we had pickets for the whole area, entrance into Nasrid Palace is time stamped.  Nasrid Palace is the main attraction there so you're told to make sure you're there on time, then view the other areas.  We had been told by multiple people if you show up 5 minutes late, you will not get in.  So, we passed by Palace of Charles V.

 We had arrived a good hour ahead of time, but the queue to pick up our tickets (even though we had purchased them almost a year ahead of time) was HUGE.  You walk from one of the many parking areas, to get in line to either purchase your tickets or pick them up at will call.  The line for will call didn't move much faster then the line to purchase.  However, they only sell a certain number of tickets each day, so you risk being turned away by not purchasing ahead.  Once through that line, we headed to the area to buy (you must in addition to the ticket price), our audio tours.

 La Alhambra is a medival complex, a fortress, and a palace and amazing Islamic Architecture.  It's a Royal Complex that's been around in part from 889 ...the 9th century when Sawwar ben Hamdun built a small fortress there on the hill top.  This is a view out one of the windows of The Nasrid Palace at one of the surrounding Palaces.

 You can see it was pretty cold the day we toured, and then it got colder and rained which hampered our seeing much after existing the Nasrid Palace.  This is the view of Granada below in the valley.  Off to the right you can see part of fortress, the walls and walk area.

 Thankfully the Marriott Concierge told us it would be 10-20 degrees colder there even in nice weather due to the altitude so we did dress warmer.  Seeing me just in front of one of the doors gives you a feel for the enormity of The Palace.  Look at the awesome detail and colorful tiles of the Moorish Architecture.  The small fortress that Sawwar ben Hamdun built was for protection and ultimately it became not much more then ruins.  Then in the 11th century,the Moorish King  Mohammed ben Al-Almar rebuilt and renovated it.  This was The Kingdom of Granada.

 A close up of some of the beautiful details.  We were told there are both Christian and Muslim tributes in the carvings throughout the Palace.  At times the Moors were here, and times Christians.

 I imagine this is quite beautiful in summer when the bushes are out and the flowers blooming.  Many areas opened onto this beautiful courtyard.  More building, additions and renovations took place when Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada made this his royal palace in 1333.  He was responsible for the most of the additions.

 In 1492 after The Reconquista, Catholic Monarchs were in control of the area.  Though Christian symbols were added and some changes made, they didn't destroy and rebuilt.  They thought it too beautiful and so Cathedrals were often built inside, or on top of Mosques throughout Spain.

Notice this large door, the door has a door within the door.  The brass bar you see is a more normal size door to let people in and out vs opening this large very imposing door.  Perhaps it was to attempt to keep out the elements?  It's high on the hill in area more mountainous then other parts of Spain and so by nature is colder.  There were no heat sources.  I posted about the 1 and only fireplace, take a look HERE

 One of the beautiful rooms..so much color and detail.  Truly is hard to take it all in.

 In 1527 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor lived here and built his castle within the Alhambra.

 This is a ceiling that was particularly colorful.

 Looking up at the color and detail again...and the columns and arches.  Truly breathtaking.

 The Alhambra once again fell into disrepair and was virtually forgotten until it was rediscovered in the 19th century by European Scholars.  Restorations began and continue.  This is The Court of the Lions.  Water, fresh water came out of their mouths, and notice the trough of water in the center of the marble floor.  Water was pumped up the hill.

 The Court of the Lions was a favorite photo spot.  Our Dear Friend Jane, and Hubby.

 More color, and more color and through the arch windows

 one of the many beautiful gardens.

 There are examples of The Roman language in areas also.

Looking skyward to try to show you more of this incredible structure.

Alhambra means Red Walls or Red Castle, and though some has faded over time, the walls must have looked very red long ago.  There are many areas: The Royal complex, Court of the Myrtles, Hal of Ambassadors, The Court of the Lions, Hall of the Abencerrajes, General Life and many other features.

It's suggested that you allow about 3 hours to tour, however we spent well over that and didn't see much of the outside areas (those we did weren't photographed due to the downpour), The Gardens, or The Palace of Charles V.

• Allow yourself lots of time
• Don't be late
• Buy tickets ahead and print them before hand if possible.  There are only a few places you can print them, but it would have saved time.
• Dress Warm
• Wear substantial shoes.  Even in summer do NOT wear flip flops or sandals.  Even with good shoes on, we all had a hard time walkinig.  Very un-even surfaces that were really slippery when wet, AND the rough cobblestone hurt the bottom of your feet...even with substantial shoes.
• Beware of the Gypsies.  They very very aggressive and expect to be paid about 5 Euro's for giving you a sprig of Rosemary and telling you a fortune even though you don't understand their language.  The descend on you the minute you get out of your car.
• Leave the kids at home, this is a very difficult area for children and you can not push a stroller in The Palace.

Blogging a-z in May, my focus is Spain Click the drop down box to leave your name and url of your blog post, not profile page.

The Kasbah, Tangiers Morocco Africa

We went to The Kasbah...hearing those words made me think of Humphrey Bogart and the movie Casablanca.  However, the word means a place local leaders lived and were protected behind walled cities.  Often built on a hill on high ground as added defense.  We took a day trip (through Julia tours, please see previous post as you do NOT want to take their tour), from Spain to Tangiers, Morocco in Africa.  I expected a historic area of interest, almost thought of it romantically.  What I saw instead was a bit like a ghetto.  Old, dirty, poor area not well preserved or taken care of.  You can see bricks, above as there is some new construction and or rehab going on in some places.  The man with the cap is our tour guide for the African side.  You see the back of my head...I'm the one in the teal sweater.  You can get a feel for the hill, the archway ahead takes us to The Kasbah.  We were walking in the Old Medina.

 Tangiers is basically devided into 3 sections, Old Medina (center of the old town), The Kasbah...walled area, and New City...up the hill away from this area.  A small residential area.  You can see 3 doors and addresses all very close together, with a mailbox.  We were told colors have meaning, but we actually didn't see many colors, not did he tell us what they meant.  One would assume this residences are quite small but how close the doors are.

 One of prettier doors, no doubt this is a more wealthy residence.

 Notice the wall on the left and how narrow the streets/pathways are.

 We saw very few women and virtually no children in comparison to the number of men we saw.  Twice a week the peasants bring in their farm goodies and set up shop, right on the ground.  You see all kinds of dress, but the men seemed to wear more western wear then the woman did.

 Another such business area.  Hard to imagine driving here with the narrow areas, people and commerce.

 Hard to see, all pictures though can be clicked to enlarge, the sign says Kasbah.

 We saw less then a handful of pretty doors.  This Green door is photographed alot.  Seems all tours stop there to have the guides point out this is wear  HenriMatisse, the famous French painter lived.

This is in fact titled Window at Tangiers.  Clicking on the photo will take you to the info on Wiki.  Looks like it was prettier in his day, if this was what he saw looking out his window.

 The wall from the outside.  Kasbah's were also often built on a harbor...again for protection.  Here they had both high ground and a harbor so would have had a good vantage point.

 Scales and a bag of green beans being sold right in the street/walk way.

 Many little store front type shops in the narrow walk area's.

 Nothing is seems comes in containers

 Some areas were a bit wider.

 I can't take credit for these pictures of the snake and the snake charmer.  I needed to be able to run so was well back with camera away.  As a person who can't even go through the snake house at the zoo....I wanted no part of this.  The few children here in this picture were about the only ones we saw all day.

 Shortly after this the snake was put back into his box.

Another photo where you can get the feel of the up and down nature of the area.  This was a little nicer area then many.  That's hubby on the left in the black.

My bubble was burst regarding going to Africa and Tangiers and The Kasbah.

• You don't even get your passport stamped showing you were in Africa, instead you get a stamp that shows you left Spain by boat and reentered by boat at Tarifa
• "The Kasbah" was nothing like what we all saw in the movie, Casablanca.  Just a poor area that's old and dirty and fairly uncomfortable.  (however I think with a different tour, or a private tour one might actually see and learn something about the area).

Blogging a-z in May, my focus is Spain Click the drop down box to leave your name and url of your blog post, not profile page.

Don't Take a Julia Tour

Well this bus break down in a mountainous area was a bummer, but it's not the reason I do not recommend Julia Tours.  This was inconvenient and cost us about 1.5 hours of time, and we had to pay to use the bathroom facility here.

I've never had to pay to use a bathroom...but they were making some decent money on that venture.  But, as annoying as that was that's also NOT the reason I do not recommend Julia Tours.

We were picked up at our resort, Marriott's Marbella Beach before daylight.  We knew the departure time to be early and to be an estimate based on the tour description.  We were heading to Tangiers for the day, which meant a 2.5 hour bus drive, then a high speed ferry from Spain to Tangiers.    I do not recommend this tour or the Julia line for the following reasons:

• Very disorganized.  The guide, Pedro spent his time giving driving instructions to poor Paco, our driver instead of providing us with information beyond very limited tour information.  And when he gave instructions to Paco, he was anything but nice.  Very rude infact.  
• The tour could have been better to alter how people were picked up and transported to the port for departure on the ferry.
• Un-like all other tour buses I've been on, there were no toilet facilities which wasn't communicated, and should have been so folks could plan.
• Due to their poor organization, we were apparently running late, causes Pedro to be even more grumpy.
• Arriving at the port where he needed to take care of passports wasn't well done.  We sat on the bus while he went inside.  Then after his return he didn't return our passports; but waited until we were in the area to depart on the ferry...mass confusion there as there were many tour groups.  And he offered no one time to use the bathroom facilities there.  We could have been there, used the facilities while he took care of business with the passports to save time, AND or he could have passed them out on the bus which would also have saved time, been less chaotic and confusing.
• He was rude to many people in our tour group.  Treated people like they were kindergartners. 

The tour is not what it was suppose to be.  

• The description indicated you'd learn about how they make rugs...NOT That it was hardcore in your face SALES PROMOTION.  You were suppose to be able to shop in the bazarre, but they would NOT let you do that until you sat through the SALES PROMOTION.  Then there was insufficient time to actually look around at the bizarre.  Likewise at an apothecary shop, though there was a small bit of learning there it was primarily SALES.  With both situations our guide was not around and you felt at the mercy of these sales people.  
• Lunch was nice (I blogged here about it), but Pedro our guide didn't allow anyone time to eat the desert and use the bathroom.  Those who opted (like me) to rush to the bathroom had no time to eat desert as he was ushering people out the door.  Those who didn't jump to go to the bathroom got a bite or two of desert in; but that was it.  
• At each turn you felt the guide took us where he got kick backs from bringing the tourists through.
• The touts were VERY FORCEFUL, very numerous, and would not leave you alone.  Some of this should have been controlled by the tour guide/company.  It was a very uncomfortable and stressful situation.  They forced themselves between two people walking side by side, they were in front of you, behind you and beside you.  It was often hard to even walk.  AND you didn't dare stop and loose pace with the group for fear of being lost.

I've written a review of this tour company on Travel Adviser and can see many others have as well.  It has many poor ratings and very very few good ones.  AVOID JULIA TOUR Company and select another one instead.

Blogging a-z in May, my focus is Spain Click the drop down box to leave your name and url of your blog post, not profile page.

Iberian Airlines, Business Class

 That's hubby on Iberia Airlines flying business class. Thank you Pam Keystone at The Art of Vacationing, our fabulous travel agent.

That's me, as we begin our adventure flying from Chicago to Madrid.  First time we've flown business class, first time we've flown Iberia and the first time to fly over night anywhere.  What an exciting trip.  Look how space age this new design is.  You have a very private pod with all kinds of room.  It was super comfortable.  Notice the half wall to my right your left in the picture.  That way slides down if two people are traveling together and can be put in place for privacy if you're not 2 traveling together.  4 seats across with 2 aisles.  The center where we were has the double seats with singles on each of the sides.

 Those are our screens.  Everyone has one with controls, earphones, and choice of language.  You can watch movies, listen to music, or follow where the plane is in the air.  Hola...yes, you've guessed it, Iberia is a Spanish Airlines.

 Looking towards the front of the plane, you see how much head room there is, notice the 2 people standing, each in the aisle on either side of the two center seats.  The space just beyond is one of the galley's  and the bathroom.  Just 3 or 4 rows behind us was a 2nd galley and 2 more bathrooms.  Space is not an issue.

 Food was fabulous.  This was the beginning of our first meal.  We had an awesome salad, soup and cheese plate for starters, though you can just barely see the soup it was a cold gazpacho that was excellent.

 Wanting to show you how the seats turns into your bed for the night.  Here's the pamphlet photo.  This seat is one from the side.  The gentlemen is fully reclined and he would be on the aisle.  Notice the area between him and the side of the plane.  Seats are staggered, so the next person would be closer to the side of the plane.  The area by his head on the other side of the pod would be where the other person's foot area would be.  You're never leaning back into someone's space.

 Forget my knobby knees, I'm trying to show the space.  Even when sitting up you can have your legs and feet up...with the area beneath my feet as added storage.  You can see my blanket and pillow all nicely sealed in plastic...clean and neat!  Off to the left, you can see my gray sweater hanging, there's a little hook for each pod.

 Wine is served in a glass wine glass, poured from bottles!

 Newspapers in multiple languages are available.  Not the best picture both hubby and I were leaning back in order to get the picture.

 Several plugs for each pod so you can kept you ipad, kindles etc fully charged.

 A wine list!  They even did a bit of a wine tasting.  Hubby tried all 3 reds, while I hit pay dirt on the first wine and liked it so much I didn't switch.

 Snacks and beverages before dinner, water glasses constantly filled.

 Pretty snack plates and cloth napkins!

 This was lunch or snack on our return flight from Madrid to JFK.  Hubby was full and didn't take a try, but nibbled a bit on mine.  See the cute little bottle of olive oil?  That was served with each of our meals.  And look....real silverware!

 Hubby's fish meal on the flight over.  He said it was very good.

 This was cheese ravioli and was wonderful!  My main dish on the flight over.  I was sadly too full after all the other goodies to be able to eat all of it.

 The menu with 3 selections for the main dish.

Even a digestif after the meal.  Service, food, and comfort can't be beat.  We used Marriott Rewards points for this business class flight as the cost is $$$$.  Hubby says probably won't do that next time, I'm not so sure.  It take alot of points, but the flight was sure an experience.  I arrived without swollen legs and feet because they were dangling down the whole time.  I was able to move around so wasn't stiff, I did manage to sleep ........I've never been able to sleep on a plane.  He can sleep anywhere anytime.  If you have points, not just Marriott Rewards and need help using them for flights, please contact Pam Keystone at The Art of Vacating.  
  She can help you with ALL phases of your travels.

If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend Iberian Airlines!

Blogging a-z in May, my focus is Spain Click the drop down box to leave your name and url of your blog post, not profile page.