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| most popular Alhambra view |
Granada’s La Alhambra was Bita’s, mi abuelita, favorite
place she had visited. Bita passed away last November; I still cannot write this
post without crying. Bita was an incredible woman who genuinely cherished her
life and deeply loved all of the people in it. I have never heard a single
negative comment about her. She was a strong woman who must have had a heart of
gold: she put up with my opinionated instigating Bito, my pinging
short-attention spanned father (who would leave in the middle of the night to
go sailing causing her to call the Coast Guard to find him), and my studious
Aunt Olga who was often caught in the crossfire of the her dad and brother. As
a grandmother, she could not have been better. Bita introduced me to Latin
cooking, she taught me how to make arepitas, she took care of my brothers and
me when my parents were away, she taught us rumikub, and she couldn’t have been
prouder of my brothers, cousins and me—we were her 6 perfect angels and not the
monos my dad and Bito claimed us to be.
These past 9 months have been difficult for all of us, but I know she is
with us looking down smiling, still just as proud of her family as ever.
Being able to go to the Alhambra and seeing its entire
splendor was amazing. It is a masterpiece and has lasted over almost a thousand
years. From the outside it just looks like a fort, nothing special, but the
inside truly shows its beauty: intricately carved and laid wood, perfectly
planned geometric patterns, spectacular gardens, towering stained glass
windows—it truly was a palace.
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| A close up of the engravings on the Alhambra's walls |
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| decorated entryways |
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| central plaza in the Alhambra |
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| intricately carved star roof on one of the ceilings |
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| Mom and Dad in front of the lion fountain |
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| the only remaining stain stainglass from what used to adorn every window |
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| view of Granada from the Alhambra |
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| the extravagant gardens |
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| view of Alhambra from the Generalife |
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| Mom and Dad inside the Alhambra |
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| Daddy in the gardens |
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| Daddy and I in the Genaralife gardens |
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| Mom and Dad in the gardens |
The apartment my parents and I were staying at
had a terrace with a direct view of the Alhambra. At night we could see the
palace lit up and enjoy the magnificent view. It’s hard to realize just how
HUGE the Alhambra is until you see the structure from afar—it’s enormous. Yet,
despite it’s size, each room is just as intricately sculpted and planned. I can
now see why Bita enjoyed walking through this palace so much.
view of the Alhambra from our apartment as the night progressed:
Granada is speckled with vendors and shops that sell Moorish
influenced clothes, decorations, jewelry, etc. My mom loves checking out these
types of vendors, so we had lots of fun going in and out of shops. While I was
looking at the shops though, every once in a while something looked familiar to
me. Some of the jewelry boxes looked like things I had seen in Bita’s house.
Bita also loved wearing colorful silk scarves, a staple item sold at most of
the shops. I saw a particular lipstick case in one of the store that I knew had
been one of hers—Bita was notorious for always wearing lipstick and for
forbidding anyone to take a picture of her without it, which as you can
imagine, must have been difficult to enforce being married to Bito the
photographer. When I showed the case to my Dad, he recognized it immediately.
Even though Bito and Bita are gone I have incredible
memories and my parents and my visits to Bordeaux and Granada this past week
have been shown me a glimpse of their pasts.
