In Remembrance of Bita

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. 

A close up of the engravings on the Alhambra's walls

decorated entryways

central plaza in the Alhambra

intricately carved star roof on one of the ceilings

Mom and Dad in front of the lion fountain

the only remaining stain stainglass from what used to adorn every window

view of Granada from the Alhambra

the extravagant gardens

view of Alhambra from the Generalife

Mom and Dad inside the Alhambra 

Daddy in the gardens

Daddy and I in the Genaralife gardens

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.