The Generalife in her labyrinth

A relatively uneventful week, since Mark and Marina left. Last weekend was a 4 day holiday, because all Catholic countries celebrate All Saint's Day on Nov. 1. Marina and Mark arrived late on Thursday, and by Sunday, when they left again, Scott and I had taken them to see Cordoba (just Marina, Mark had to work on a paper), the gardens of the Alhambra (Known as the Generalife, from a distortion of the Arabic "Jannat al-Rif"), and we just generally bummed around.

A note on the Alhambra. I want to clarify some things now. Although it is the most famous structure still remaining from the Muslim period here in Spain, it is more of a compound than a single unified structure. The foundation is the fortress, which is little more than a battery facing towards the city and a series of walls. Within, is a series of other buildings, including an inn, a world-class restaurant, the Palace of Charles V (Habsburg), the Generalife, and the absolutely incredible world-class treasure of the Nazari Palace, the palace of the last Muslim king.

The Alhambra is so popular that on Saturday morning, Scott got in line at 7:10, 50 minutes before the ticket office opened, and not only did all of the 2,000 tickets for the morning sell out, but all 3,000 did too by the time we arrived at the front. Thus, we were only able to show Marina and Mark the Generalife, which is sold separately. I must admit that I liked the gardens of the Alcazar of the Catholic Kings in Cordoba better, but this is not to impugn the Generalife. The coolest part was the water staircase




Essentially, the chutes are the handrails. Amazing.

Although this is far more prevalent inside the Nazari Palace, the Gardens are the only Muslim site in the world where the inscriptions on the walls are not verses from the Kor'an: They are instead poetry. This is important. Traditionally, secular Arabic poetry addresses itself to a female love, and the poetry within the Alhambra is no different. Seeing as how its hard to dedicate a fortress to your favorite concubine, the king's poet instead turned the gardens into the female love, and thus the subject of all of the odes to the "beautiful lover" is in praise of the natural beauty surrounding the emir. However, in a sense, it is the architect of the Generalife praising himself, having the workers inscribe these odes to the gardens on the walls of the the porticos of the complex. This vanity was not lost on the kings, and thus the garden's were given their proper name: Jannat al-Rif, the Architect's Garden, and thus distorted by the Spanish into the name "Generalife".

They left on Sunday, and I have spent the last week just taking care of business as normal. Or as normal as Spain can be. Wednesday, I had to watch 2 atrocious Spanish films in the surrealist style, which is often difficult to appreciate in English, let alone in the sheer absurdity that the Catalans have taken it to.

In another shot at my title, I have been watching with interest the events in Pakistan. Truly, history may not repeat itself but it knows how to keep a good beat. I am very curious to see how it all plays out. No matter what way you slice this one, Musharraf is going to lose and the U.S. can only hope we don't get dragged down with him. Our name has already been dragged through the mud enough these past few years.

Additionally, I am trying to set some groundwork for my return to Brandeis. Spring housing, employment, classes, even a summer job. Unfortunately, my vacation won't last forever.

On that last note, tomorrow, we're off to Cadiz and Jerez! I'll update again next week.

Vaya con Dios.