Granada Pt. 2

Today I didn't have a whole lot on my agenda other than a 6pm train back to Madrid. In the morning, I hiked up the OTHER big hill in Granada, up to the old Moorish neighborhood, the Albacín. In medieval times, this was one of the liveliest sections of Granada, and it used to have a sizable fortress as well; during periods of internal strife an opponent to the ruler established in the Alhambra would usually set up camp in the Albacín. This was what happened during the 1480s and early 1490s; depending on how the war against the Spanish Christians was going, the most successful ruler, either Boabdil the Unfortunate (who ultimately turned Granada over to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492) or his uncle, El Zagal the Valiant, would be installed in the Alhambra and the lesser one would take quarters in the Albacín. More than once the gates of the Albacín opened for an army bound for the Alhambra. Having climbed both of those hills now, though, I have no idea how someone in full battle gear could make it up either in decent time at all.

Anyway, I climbed to to near top of the Albacín quarter for a postcard viewpoint of the Alhambra on the next hill. At the plaza outside the St. Nicolas church, I found that viewpoint and spent two hours just sitting there in the sun, legs dangling over a tall wall, soaking in the view of the Alhambra with the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada behind.

I never wanted to leave that place, but I figured I ought to do more with my last day than just that. So I made my way down the hill (a lot easier in that direction) and went to the Capilla Real, or royal chapel. Though a small, simple space in the context of medieval churches, the Capilla Real is notwithstanding the burial place of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella. They, along with their daughter - Juana the Mad - and her husband, each have marvelous marble sepulchres in front of the high altar. Descending below them into the crypt, however, you get a sense of the piety that Isabella - if not all the others as well - deeply felt. Although the first to die, Isabella chose the means of her and Ferdinand's burial; all four of the monarchs lie in simple wooden caskets and share a single room in the one-room crypt, decorated only by a crucifix above them. Also in the chapel was a magnificent painting of Boabdil handing the keys to Granada over to Ferdinand and Isabella on January 2, 1492. One day I'm going to get a canvas copy of this painting as well for my library room!



After that, I took a lengthy lunch break, had a feast, and then dozed off for a little while in a park waiting for the Cathedral to open. That was the last remaining thing I really wanted to see. It was a lot different than others, I've been to, but i really liked it. It was more baroque and Spanish renaissance than Gothic, having been started in the 1500s under Charles V. The main alter area was a circle, modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, with an ambulatory aisle encircling it. The whole thing is whitewashed, as well; the columns and arches and vault bearing no color whatsoever. At first it thought it made the place look incomplete, but then I warmed to it's simplicity and how it seemed to bring more light into the space than cold, uninviting stone would. Another thing I enjoyed was the lack of a choir section, so that the whole massive space of the inside of the structure can really be sensed, in addition to giving exponentially more worshippers the hands at seeing the alter. Too many churches, especially Westminster Abbey, provide a miserably small space for actual services to be held; this one was wide and would've been a lovely place to go to Easter service, I lament in hindsight.

Now that I was done with all that, it was time to hop back on another train - returning to Madrid now!