Today was Alhambra (Apr 9). We set our alarm for 5:30 AM because we had to catch the bus around 7:00 and be at the gate to pick up Amelia's pass at 8:00, then be at the entrance to the Nasrid palaces at 9:00 sharp. If you miss your entry time, you don't get in! So one of the several times I woke up during the night, I happened to glance at my clock and realized it was 5:32. The alarm hadn't gone off, but I'd woken up just two minutes late! Another tender mercy to help us not be crazy and in a hurry all day. We caught the second bus running up to Alhambra, played in the courtyard at the entrance for about half an hour until the ticket office opened at 8:15, and another 15 minutes for the gate to open, then made our way down to the entrance of the Nasrid palaces and had croissants so the kids wouldn't be hungry during our palace tour.
We were told there would be no strollers allowed inside, so we left ours at the apartment and borrowed a baby carrier instead. At 2 1/2, Amelia is STILL just under the weight limit. That doesn't mean she's easy to carry, particularly when she doesn't want to be carried. However, she stayed pretty content as I fed her chocolate cereal and told her stories about the adventures that the princess of Alhambra had building the castle with the help of bees and fighting a water monster until it got eaten and spit back out by the lions at the lion fountain. Elliott continued his fountain count diligently (today our grand total reached 176!), and valiantly resisted the urge to touch things. It helped a lot that they had a few carved replicas made of all the different materials used in the palace that he could touch all he wanted and see how yucky they got from everybody's finger oils. He also liked the slow but steady stream of chocolate cereal, and almost never complained. Both of them were outstanding, over all.
After getting a photo of us with the church we visited yesterday in the background (to get the other end of the picture we took there of the Alhambra), we stopped for a bathroom break and ended up having lunch, then we went to the Alcazaba next, and climbed to the top of the watch tower. We saw the bullfighting arena at the center of the Palace of Carlos V and skipped the rest of the museums inside in the interest of time, Rachel's strength, and the kids' sanity. Then we saw the Church of Santa Maria de la Alhambra, skipped the Convent of San Francisco, went through the lower and upper gardens on the way to the Generalife, and hit the motherlode of fountains inside it. Finally, we strolled back down through the upper gardens and I made one more round trip around the plateau's whole perimeter to return the baby carrier.
We caught the bus back down to town and let the kids watch "UP" instead of "Frozen" for the (literally) 7th time on this trip while we rested and I caught up on this travelogue.
We decided to visit the Capilla Real where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, and then the cathedral right next door. These were two sites I wanted to visit on my own when I came last year with the students, but both were closed when I had the chance. They weren't open when we arrived, so Rachel decided to do her souvenir shopping, and we did our best to keep the kids entertained while more and more people showed up to get in a line we didn't realize was forming until we were at the end of it. I was really impressed with the cathedral and with the giant marble monument in the chapel. I was surprised to find out that we could go down some steps and see the actual caskets underneath, too! The kids were pretty tired of wandering around looking at things at this point, so I spent more time making up stories about what we were seeing than I did actually appreciating those things or figuring out what their real history was. Still, it was a lot more fun having the kids satisfied and distracted than having them whine and be bored. They wouldn't let us take photos inside, but here's the entrance.
At the end, we just went home, had some spaghetti for dinner, and then put the kids to bed. Then we made our plans for getting to Madrid the next day and did some preliminary cleaning before our departure the next morning.
We were told there would be no strollers allowed inside, so we left ours at the apartment and borrowed a baby carrier instead. At 2 1/2, Amelia is STILL just under the weight limit. That doesn't mean she's easy to carry, particularly when she doesn't want to be carried. However, she stayed pretty content as I fed her chocolate cereal and told her stories about the adventures that the princess of Alhambra had building the castle with the help of bees and fighting a water monster until it got eaten and spit back out by the lions at the lion fountain. Elliott continued his fountain count diligently (today our grand total reached 176!), and valiantly resisted the urge to touch things. It helped a lot that they had a few carved replicas made of all the different materials used in the palace that he could touch all he wanted and see how yucky they got from everybody's finger oils. He also liked the slow but steady stream of chocolate cereal, and almost never complained. Both of them were outstanding, over all.
After getting a photo of us with the church we visited yesterday in the background (to get the other end of the picture we took there of the Alhambra), we stopped for a bathroom break and ended up having lunch, then we went to the Alcazaba next, and climbed to the top of the watch tower. We saw the bullfighting arena at the center of the Palace of Carlos V and skipped the rest of the museums inside in the interest of time, Rachel's strength, and the kids' sanity. Then we saw the Church of Santa Maria de la Alhambra, skipped the Convent of San Francisco, went through the lower and upper gardens on the way to the Generalife, and hit the motherlode of fountains inside it. Finally, we strolled back down through the upper gardens and I made one more round trip around the plateau's whole perimeter to return the baby carrier.
We caught the bus back down to town and let the kids watch "UP" instead of "Frozen" for the (literally) 7th time on this trip while we rested and I caught up on this travelogue.
We decided to visit the Capilla Real where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, and then the cathedral right next door. These were two sites I wanted to visit on my own when I came last year with the students, but both were closed when I had the chance. They weren't open when we arrived, so Rachel decided to do her souvenir shopping, and we did our best to keep the kids entertained while more and more people showed up to get in a line we didn't realize was forming until we were at the end of it. I was really impressed with the cathedral and with the giant marble monument in the chapel. I was surprised to find out that we could go down some steps and see the actual caskets underneath, too! The kids were pretty tired of wandering around looking at things at this point, so I spent more time making up stories about what we were seeing than I did actually appreciating those things or figuring out what their real history was. Still, it was a lot more fun having the kids satisfied and distracted than having them whine and be bored. They wouldn't let us take photos inside, but here's the entrance.
At the end, we just went home, had some spaghetti for dinner, and then put the kids to bed. Then we made our plans for getting to Madrid the next day and did some preliminary cleaning before our departure the next morning.
1 comment:
I loved, loved, loved reading about your trip and seeing all the pictures! Makes me want to go to Spain sometime. One of our neighbors has a wisteria vine over their fence and it is beautiful. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
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