Granada, September 2026

Grata la voz del agua
a quien abrumaron negras arenas,
el mármol circular de la columna,
gratos los finos laberintos del agua
entre los limoneros,
grata la música del zéjel,
grato el amor y grata la plegaria
dirigida a un Dios que está solo,
grato el jazmín.
Vano el alfanje
ante las largas lanzas de los muchos,
vano ser el mejor,
grato sentir o presentir, rey doliente,
que tus dulzuras son adioses,
que te será negada la llave,
que la cruz del infiel borrará la luna,
que la tarde que miras es la última.

BORGES

Alhambra / Granada

Twinkle and sprinkle of  water, an impressive array of colour and shape, plants, flowers bushes, dance swiftly with the passing of the winds. Paradise (which etymologically, and deriving from ancient persia, means “enclosed Garden") in all its senses. On my way to the visit, I asked myself a seemingly obvious question, which is: why is the Alhambra of Granada of such importance today, as is for example La Sagrada familia in Barcelona… could it be reduced to symbolism?


Long story short, for those of you who do not know much of the alhambra (like me) it is a Nasrid (Muslim dynasty) palace-city overlooking Granada, built as a fortified royal residence, made up of the stunning Generalife gardens (which where built later), the Alcazaba fortress (13th c.), the Nasrid Palaces  (14th c.), and the Palace of Charles V  (16 th c.), where water, architecture, gardens and light come together to create a vision of heaven on earth, or so is said…

Paradise

The group gathers, and the tour starts in the Gardens of the Generalife. As a garden fanatic, and with no research done on the generalife before, I was very pleasantly surprised! Random fun fact: I have been wanting to visit the Alhambra for some time now, as it is i would say (or as the master gardener once said), the greatest reference in spain for landscape design and architecture. The day I finally bought the tickets, i went running on the retiro park as i usually do. But, that day, I decided to take it slow, and go for a walk instead. I was looking up at the trees and was delighted to see so many cute little birds, 2 woodpeckers and other species i dont know. As i was looking up in the bramches, a man approached me, and gifted me a book. Super random experience but i have to say it happens quite often. Can you guess what book he gifted me?!

In the gardens and patios, water becomes a protagonist element repeated throughout as essential in Arab culture and specifically the Alhambra, as a symbol for purity. It was very soothing as well to hear the sprinkle of water. My favourite water element was the water stairway in the generalife, walking up the stairs under the cool  shade of the surrounding bushes while dipping my fingers in the crisp water. I also loved the work on the flooring, such small smooth pebbles coming together to form geometric shapes and flowers…

As we continued our tour through the gardens and into the main patio, we came across 4 parterres. Impressed was I, oh my oh my! by the rich symbolism.  Each parterre associated with the four rivers of Paradise — water (life and purity), milk (nourishment and abundance), wine (pleasure and spiritual joy) and honey (sweetness and healing). The four parterres, surrounded by water, evoke the idea that paradise can be found on earth, and I agree. In the end we create our own reality…

Pictures do not make it justice… Each parterre also had a pomegranate tree (Granada in Spanish), which produces the pomegranate fruit, considered heavenly in Islam and representing abundance and faith. For someone who loves symbolism, I recommend a visit to this magical place…I have also noticed the pomegranate in christian paintings, maybe showing us overlaps and similarities across religions.

In contrast to other cultures, life in Arab culture is directed inwards> through patios, privacy, etc. Facades of buildings are more austere, blending in with the city. Richness is nurtured and kept inside, inwards, which I find beautiful, as “abundance” can be found within.





Continuing the tour… our guide Lucia,, is telling us of a recent big earthquake, which left almost no damages to the buildings.  It made me think of the way construction was dealt with in the past, using mostly local materials. In this case, natural elements and barro *clay, which resisted the tremors, or twerking of the ground. Lucia also mentioned that 2.7 million people visit every year (that seems like a lot!), winning silver medal, after the most visited site in Spain> la  Sagrada familia. What does La Sagrada familia  (haha I can only hear this song when I think of la sagrada familia) and the Alhambra of Granada have in common? From the outside they look very different, but in essence are they the same thing? Two languages or ways of expressing for the same message? They are apparently very different (almost contrasting) but share the same concept of architecture as a spiritual experience, something beyond the senses.

On our last part of the tour, after the gardens and Palace of Charles V (a renaissance building representing the arrival of christian dominance to the area) * We arrived at the Nasrid palaces, home to the famous patio of the lions. We notice geometry, perfection, mathematics in everything. Here, geometry is perfection, and perfection is god, or its attempt to approach god. One of the rooms, first thing we notice is it resembles stalactites*honeycomb ceiling structure (muqqarnas), and in fact, it was designed on purpose to reference the cave of Hira and Muhammad's first revelation, where angel Gabriel's revelation is explained in the quran.



And perhaps this is what makes the alhambra so interesting> it all seems perfectly calculated, as if everything had its purpose, but some things remain a mystery! We move into the patio, 12 lions, many theories on why 12, some say the months, the zodiac…  As we move through the palace, we see a christian painting in one of the niches, 3 in fact, all made before the inquisition, commissioned by Mohammed the V himself, becoming a physical record of different religious worlds occupying the same space. Which takes me to the question> do different cultures and religions really tell such different stories, or are they simply different ways of expressing something we all share?




Water twinkle and sprinkle, corner here corner there, corners everywhere (labyrinth style for protection). Flowers bloom, paradise in the room. Gated garden, paradise’s etymology. Water here, water there, water everywhere. Trees tall, shades cool. Sacred geometry. Light. Sensorial experience beyond the senses (god).


P.S.> the book was on the alhambra hahahaha


xoxo,

Cris