Granada

As per usual, Joe and I have made a critical error.  It's the same one we always make when traveling.  We jam so much into every trip, we barely have time to rest.  And while I really wouldn't change a thing, I do like to take a moment to bitch about it.  Okay, I'm done.

Granada has so much rich history (like most of Spain), but it is the most Moorish of the bunch.  The Alhambra is a 13th century church, palace, city, military hold, and now tourist attraction.  I can't even begin to tell you all the history - there's just too much of it - but I will tell you that the sultans and their entourages lived in beautiful surroundings: four palaces/houses and small quiet gardens.

But Granada isn't just Moorish!  There are many Christian icons here, as well.  The Royal Chapel was built in the 1500s and houses a very royal couple.  King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.  Yep - the ones who gave Christopher Columbus the green light to go off and discover India.  And we saw their tombs.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen.  The church is also pretty cool.

My favorite story of the day is about this fountain.  The Fountain of the Twelve Lions.

It is said that an evil sultan came to the Alhambra.  He brought his daughter with him but left her every day alone in the palace while he was off being mean to his newly conquered subjects.  She wandered around all by herself all day long and got very lonely.  

One day while she was in the garden, a man jumped over the fence and surprised her.  "Who are you!?  Why did you scare me?"  He replied that his name was Arthur, and that he had been watching her every day for weeks and had fallen in love with her.  He said that since he was Christian he knew their love was forbidden, but that he would make her fall in love with him.  Sure enough, after months of him coming to visit her every day, she fell for him.  

Then one day, the evil sultan returned from battle early and caught his daughter with Arthur.  The sultan threw Arthur in a cell to await his execution.  The girl searched and searched for a way to rescue him, instead, she found a journal the sultan had been keeping.  It turns out that she was not his real daughter.  The evil sultan had killed her parents when she was a baby.  He kidnapped her and stole a beautiful amulet - which he placed around her neck for safekeeping.  

When the sultan returned from battle that day, the girl confronted him.  He told her that it was true, and that she really wasn't a sultan's daughter and therefore had no power.  He said that if she didn't want to accept that, she would be thrown into the cell with Arthur to await her death as well.

The girl was so angry that she threatened to kill the sultan herself, but he just laughed and said that no one could hurt him - not with his 11 soldier guards behind him.  The girl held tight to the amulet and screamed her displeasure at the sultan.  She squeezed the amulet so hard that suddenly a bright flash came from it and transformed the evil sultan and his guards into lions.  

Oh, and she and Arthur lived happily ever after.