Alhambra, Andalusia

A few months ago.....Monkey was flipping through a really thick book - 1,000 places to see before you die....it was my birthday gift from my loveliest roomies...
and in Spain, there is ONE and ONLY ONE place to go.....Alhambra

I lurve the name so much already!!!!! then after a few tapping here n there on my ipad, I've got the whole idea where is Alhambra, what is Alhambra..though we all have learnt it in school history, I guess my knowledge already gone...dissipated the moment I left my school >.<


Part of Alhmabra from another palace....Palacio Generalife
JS was so so so accommodating and sporting for doing this with Monkey...it's about 2.5 hours train ride from Seville. There's nothing to do here except visiting this palace in a city called Granada.
But we sure found good hotel and great food and yummy tapas :)))) huhuhuhuhuahhahahahahhaha

a lil info about Alhambra:
built back in 889 as a fortress high up on the mountain during the Islam conquest. Oh don't forget Europe was conquered by Muslims. Known as the Nasyrid Dynasty, this is a very important place and palace in the history of Islam. Soon it was converted to a beautiful palace in 1333 by Sultan of Granada. Throughout the years, it was reconquered and conquered between the Muslims and Christians and finally the last muslim ruler was ousted....he actually cried having to leave this pearl set in the emeralds....

it's really really really so beautiful and totally worth the trouble coming all the way....JS even insisted he would like to visit Alhambra again....O.O




Weather wasn't too kind to us...we were hiking up this mountain by 6.30am in the rain!!!!!
story was...visitors are supposed to make reservation to visit this palace..and Monkey must have missed that in her lil research...she only found out a week before the visit...by then nobody could help us to secure reservations bcoz it's fully booked and there's only XX number of ppl are allowed to visit this place. Following a tip, Alhambra do have extra tickets for blur visitors like us hahahaha...but the thing is...they only dispatch them for sale from 8.00am to 8.30am....only a 30 minutes windows!!!!

arghhhh we didn't wanna missed that...so by the time we reached the top at the ticketing counter at 7.00am sharp...there was already a queue!!!!!
we were alarmed!!! oh damn!!! I thought we gonna be the first!!!! and so we queue up with strangers, chatting up, sharing umbrellas and breakfast. I was with a lone woman-traveller from Egypt, giving me free history classes about Alhambra...woohooooo!!!!!! This is even better than my old history books :)))))))))




Carlos V Palace
u must be wondering why is this so Roman....coz it is!!!!!
in fact it's Renaissance, built by Emperor Carlos V who was a ruler of America then. He spent his summer here and decided to built his residence next to the Arab palace...it's so "next" that both his palace and the Arab ones are connected -_-"
let's take some time to digest this.....Spain conquered America last time...OK? still with me???

Spain found America...remember Christopher Columbus???
Ok he's not spanish...he's Genoese from Genoa...present day Italy...or some say he's Portuguese...watever it was he worked for the Spanish Monarchy. It was also him who introduced Christianity to America....arghhh let's not go into a different chapter of history...
come back to Alhambra :)))))

despite the rain the wetness the coldness....Monkey was so so so so happy...
and she's not even in the Arab castle yet!!!!
there's a time stamp on the ticket....you are only allowed into the most important part of the Palace once for a maximum of 30 minutes. If u missed your time allocation.....then that's it :P


there!!!! this is it!!!!!

Queue-ing with other curious tourists....snapping pics for each other....as usual we were early for our 9.00am window of time allocation...just in case...hahahahha. In Singapore this is called Kiasu-ness.

Once the machine read my ticket and the bar was raised for Monkey to enter...she was so ecstatic..
yeah just to see some stones and history -_-"
JS was no better....he was bz snapping away...he decided he won't need the umbrella anymore...and so there I was....carrying our unglamorous umbrella....

We went berserk!!! wow look at the Moorish windows!!!!!
look at the view!!!!!!
I wished this is my bedroom...or study room...even if it's a kitchen I don't mind...hmmm even if u put a bath tub next to those moorish windows it's gonna be so awesome!!!!!!

the intricate artwork!!!! and stone carvings...they must have really good masons then
We were WAH-WAH-WAH-ing our way in :P

WAH WAH WAH
no words can describe the artwork...look at the Jawi alphabets carvings, it's 3D, u can touch them :)))
In Islam, you can only do geometries and flowers....no animals or humans

and then we saw IT!!!!!! it's there!!!!! THERE!!!!!!
u have no idea how difficult it was to shoot this pic with no tourist nearby....patience is highly needed at this juncture....just stand there and wait for that opportunity. No one is allowed outside the courtyard...we were constrained to the perimeter within the building.....

Ladies and gentlemen....the reasons we were here.....
The Lion Palace!!!!!
so so so so so beautiful and the highlight of Alhambra

The courtyard housed the private rooms of the Royals, there's water feature everywhere with more Moorish designs.....those cute lions spouts water outta their mouth, at the exact angle onto the smaller drainage system.....each orientation north south east west wings of the courtyard have more lil fountains that flow into the center of the courtyard...

The effect??? Soothing zen water sounds with such splendour view....
aaaaAAAAaaaaaaaaa no wonder he cried when he was kicked out fr here. I think I'll do more than crying...hahahahaha

There are 12 lions in total....each representing the 12 tribes of Israel...so errr I think the lions are Jewish???? From the 11th century, 2 special Lions have got triangles on their head representing Juda and Levi, the chosen tribes. Yeah don't ask me why are the Jewish Lions sitting inside a Muslim Palace which has been conquered and reconquered between the Muslims and Christians....I should have paid more attention in my history lesson -_-"

One for the album.....
We were here!!!!! 

Monkey tilted her head in pain......
wwwwooooowww~~~~~~~

Honeycomb ceiling they called it
this was the Comares Palace, perfectly square.
The largest hall at the palace, it was also the Throne Room/hall for the sultan.


this bath house must be almost a thousand years old.


In between buildings and palaces, there were many gardens like this...
one can really get lost here.

Such magnificent view from the Alcazar....
Alcazar is one of the oldest part and was for military use....afterall it's a HUGE fortress up on this hill. From here u can see the whole Granada.

a fantastic view of the snow capped mountains - also known as the Sierra Nevada
the highest peak of the whole of Spain lies in this mountain range at about 11,411 ft

Later we were off to the last bit of Alhambra - the Generalife
this place is huge isn't it??? hence u will need almost a day.

From Generalife, u have a spectacular view of all the other palaces we visited.

so cantik!!!!!!
I wished I could read wat's on the wall :))))))))

JS was so happy and mesmerized with this place that he actually took the late afternoon off.
off fr Monkey...and climbed another different hill at a different part of the city to photograph this entire hill from a different perspective. I called him MAD

For more info:

www.alhambra.org

Mercado San Miguel, Madrid

It gets dark pretty early during the cold months, by 6pm the sky is pitch black except for the neon and city bright lights shining everywhere, screaming for attention....but this is more evident in Hong Kong as compared to Madrid.

Somehow things in Madrid were done more subtly in view of the economy crisis and the huge demonstration by unhappy citizens. Even polices have their own demonstration to demand for higher wages. So u see even developed EU countries have their own lil problems so now reflect your own and be grateful.

Mercado San Miguel has been newly renovated so it's all glass and steel with the typical Spanish market feel. Hence it has become more touristy but locals still go there for lil bites and drinks. I am not too sure about locals shopping for produce there but it did sure looked fresh and yummy to me :)))

No trip to any country is complete without visiting their local markets...Right?? :))


Fresh produce from the deep sea....really fat octopus
I really like their octopus bcoz it's fat, creamie and sweet....definitely not chewy as u can imagine


The favourite stall has to be seafood coz both of us really lurve it and it's educational bcoz it is from the market that u learnt the local words for each and every item

Langoustine = cigala *remember our episode here in Seville trying to order cigala???
Razor Clam = Navajas
BIG Prawns = langoustine *don't ask me*
Shrimps = gambas


My dearie Cigala.....I will alwiz alwiz remember your name in Spanish now
in Malaysia, you can get frozen imported langoustine from Classic Fine Food. JS make awesome langoustine oil from them....yeah he just extracted the flavours for his oil to cook pasta/ just for fying vegetables...all the meticulous hardwork but it's really yummy...coz friends who don't eat vegetables ate the most just bcoz the oil used were langoustine oil.

If u ask me to cook for JS...I can't even differentiate all the types and sorts of oil he has in the pantry. To me oil is oil....>.<


then we saw Percebes.....
ugly aren't they???
We have seen Percebes so many times in our lives but never have the guts to try
*we have tried worse stuffs but never Percebes*

Widely consumed in Spain, it is a very very expensive snacks/delicacy
Euro 16 for 100g is about RM 64
per 100g mind you...

anyhow we did try some a few weeks later in Paris...not here in Spain
hahahahahahahhaha will blog about it soon to let u know how tasty it was hahahahhaa
and yes if you are still curious, u eat them RAW

favourite prawns...yup it's that red even before it's cooked.
Usually eaten raw on its own, it's the bestest and sweetest prawns on earth.


Really fresh and shining sardines
JS bought so many canned sardines home.....not just any canned sardines...Grand Cru premier sardines. I have yet to taste any coz I think he's saving them for another World War or prollie End of the World Saga. Where we'll enjoy Grand Cru sardines with Grand Cru wines. :P


All the produce were so fresh and beautifully merchandised


One of my fav shellfish has to be Razor Clams....oh yumsss!!!!
at this lil stall u can select wat u want...and they'll cook them on the spot for u....for those meant to be eaten fresh and raw, they do cleaning/prep service with slices of lemons at no extra charge.


so Monkey got these 2 to prepare some fresh yummy goodness from the sea
hehehehehehe

Fresh Sea Urchin......yummmmsssssssss

3 pieces for Euro 6 = RM 24
yes I know...cheap beyond words


HAMSSSSS
there's a few ham stalls here


all sorts of stuffed olives with anchovies, sun dried tomatoes and also sweet peppers
the size of their olives were like.....prunes???
really HUGE


more tapas everywhere....
the idea is to come here...get a glass of drinks from the bar and walk around the market...
selecting wat u wanna eat and pay as u go from stalls to stalls with ur drinks.

in the middle of the market, there's also a sitting area if u prefer to sit and eat. But to do it the local way means....balancing act between chomping ur food and ur drinks :)))

eggs over cooked sweet peppers and onions topped with flat leaf parsley
there's so much of food everywhere, we just didn't know where to start.

in the end I saw these!!!!!!!
WAHHHH I want!!!!

JS said...look at that Monkey Sorcerer face!!!!
so eppy :P >.< -_-"

Cripsy deep fried pork skin....just like pop corns
downed with a glass of Manzanilla, a spanish dry sherry

woi!!! didn't ur mother teach you not to be so rude, snapping pix of ppl enjoying their food
hehehehhehe

As u can see it's a very very clean, organised and simple market
which also spells really touristy
By far the best market in Spain that we have visited was La Boqueria Market in Barcelona
Read about it *here*

Mercado San Miguel
Plaza de San Miguel
28005 Madrid,
Spain.