27 April 2011

Potential House Shopping

I've always wanted to live in the castle at Walt Disney World but I might have found another contender for my princess housing. One place I want to try and go to is La Alhambra. It's in Granada (still in Andalusia) and is absolutely stunningly georgeous with the mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada behind it. Here is a picture of it:
It's name literally translates to "red fortress" because it reflects the red clay that it's made out of. It was actually built while Spain was still under Muslim rule. It's apparently Spain's numero uno attraction and gets more than 2 million visitors annually. The architecture is what most people go to see. It was restored after the Spanish reconquest of southern Spain in 1492 (isn't that the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue? Coincidence?) An earthquake damaged it in 1821, but it was restored again. Napoleon tried to level it in 1812 but he failed.

The big architectural highlights include some columns, cursive epigraphy, ceramic tiles, horseshoe arches and water. Yes, I too, was a little skeptical about how water can be used as architecture. Well, apparently it's used "musically" (whatever that means) in canals (there's canals IN the palace?!), and also visually in some reflecting pool.

Serious y'all, go to this website and if you can't translate it, atleast look at the pictures!

I take off in a plane towards the Eastern World in 3 weeks! Ahhh!

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