La Mancha and Granada

From Don Quixote- Miquel de Cervantes:

"Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can enrich ourselves."

 

We take the bus to La Mancha. Javier supplies us with wine, bread and cheese. Mom says she will stay on the bus, but we all insist that she go with us. Brothers lan and Collin, who are on the tour with their folks, push Rose Anne up the hillside.

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Returning to Granada, we enjoy a dinner of wonderful food and a sunset view of the Alhambra.

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"Perhaps there was never a monument more characteristic of an age and people than the Alhambra: a rugged fortress without, a voluptuous palace within, a war frowning from its battlements, poetry breathing throughout the fairy architecture of its halls"  - Washington Irving, “Tales of the Alhambra”

 

We do get into the Alhambra, and Javier whisks my mom away in her wheelchair. She has officially adopted Javier as her grandson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The gardens, the palaces, the tile, and attention to detail envelopes the Alhambra. The question I ask is. how did these artisans do this without the aid of electric tools, and everything needing to be hand done? How did they fit all these corners together so perfectly? How is the tile cut and inlaid so there are no gaps? I make furniture, and I have tried to make concrete blocks with tile for my garden path. When I look at my craftsmanship (or lack thereof) I realize I would never have been hired as a craftsperson at the Alhambra.

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I take photos of the gardens and fountains and send them to my partner. I suggest that we change our landscape to look like this. His response: hysterical laughter.