spain trip day 6
Saturday 26 november 2005 6:36pm s’pore time
11:36am spain time
This morning went to the world renown palace of the Alhambra. If u haven’t heard of it, it just goes to show how much of a frog in the well u r. no just joking. B4 this also never heard of this building.
Anyways, just some background. The Alhambra was built dong noe how many centuries ago by the moors when they conquered the whole of spain. Their chose Granada as their seat dur to its beauty and strategic location high up in the mountains. And the Alhambra was born. I wasn’t really very much looking forward to this visit as my impression of such midde eastern stuff is just sand, mosques, plain walls and dah dah. Generally very plain and austere stuff. And indeed the Alhambra looks like that outside. An ordinary castle-like structure.
And as u expected, all that changed. I shall stop describing and just let the pictures tel the story. And trust m, the impact of all the deco on u is tenfold if u really go there and stand in the luxuriously carved rooms wif soaring cupolas above u, carved as an expression of the muslims’ interpretation of the heavens. Spectacular stuff.
And last time the king really got gd life. he’s the only person who can chose his wifes and concubines. And the selection process was done wif the women nude in the big baths. He wd stand on the balcony above and chose of above where he can have a gd view of all the chio bus. Of course today no such thing anymore.
and rewind back to yesterday. I shall go in chronological order, as usual though I have the urge to describe the flamenco experience first. The whole day was basically spent traveling on the bus to Granada. From Valencia, we cexited the valencian province into Andalusia. Along the way u can see a change in the landscape. In the outskirts of the city, u see mainly industries and hills, then after a while, just acres and acres of agricultural land, then just huge areas untouched by man. stopped at this ulu ulu town somewhere in between almeria and Granada called Guadix.
Historically it was inhabited by gypsies. And when the catholic monarchs philipp and Isabel expelled the moors from spain after the Christians took back almost the whole of the peninsula from the Moslems, these Moslems, gypsies and all that went into hiding into those caves, which became their homes. They also built fortresses around their settlements in the home of regaining their military might and wrestle spain from the Christians. Of course until today such a dream still remains a dream and so these gypsies stayed onand continued living in such caves. Guadix is one of the more beautiful and well preserved example of such cities.
In the olden days, these caves were very basic but now in the 20th century, many have electricity, lighting, water supply, and have been nicely decorated wif the typical blue, yellow, orange hues of andalusian ceramic tiles. U see these kind of tiles everywhere in spain by the way.
We were allowed to go into one of these humble dwellings. Walls on the outside and inside r whilewashed. Its something like the size of a 3 room flat, wif the kitchen separate from the rest of the house. And they only have one toilet. Its very cosy inside, contrary to what u might expect. Got tv somemore. And they preseve some kind of the original rustic charm. Nice. And the town’s very quiet. Small houses…the streets r also very cosy. A far cry from the moise, pollution, and faced-pace existence of the city.
And the flamenco show was very very gd. I have a desire to desribe this once in a lifetime experience in detail. Do a proper write up on this. But dong feel like doing it now. We’ll see la. Flamenco is a dance and music form originating from the region of Andalusia, and so if u want to watch some authentic rendition of it, where else better than at Granada.
It was born out of arab and gripsy influences, after both were expelled and sent into hiding in the country by the Spanish monarchs years ago. The Spanish flavour comes from the use of the classical guitar. But the rhythms and melodies are middle-eastern inspired. Gipsys by the way, I have learnt, r believed by many to have come from northern India, where they split into 2 camps. One settled in Romania and scattering across eastern europe, others went further to settle in the Mediterranean coasts like turkey, and the Iberian peninsula (spain) and others to italy. So harshal is a gipsy haha.
The flamenco performance was performed in one of the cave-like dwellings I talked abt, and this one has been converted into a restaurant. And the performance was really….lost for words. Cd really see that learning the flamenco techniques r a LIFELONG commitment. The older u r, they say, the more zai u r. Every part of the body is used in the dance, from the face (where u see the changing expressions), the hands, hips (shake ur bon bon) and the feet (fo moving from point a to b of course. Other that the very difficult dance steps they have to master, such dancers also have to achieve to near perfection some scintillating feet-rhythm tapping. All very difficult. It even looks difficult.
Dark harmonics. Darkened room. Hypnotic rhythms. Atmospheric guitar accompaniment. So exotic. And the music and dance steps range from conveying the poignant, the mysterious, to the boisterous to the jubilant. Therein the flamenco lies the long, tragic and difficult history of the gipsy people. Sometimes the music soars to a climax and the clapping crescendos to an almost unbearable pitch. At times the music seems to take control of the dancer, who somehow becomes hypnotized. At the mercy of the mysterious strains of the music. U have become the music. Very aptly I leave feeling that flamenco is journey into the nebulous and unknown. I finally understand what the dancers were trying to convey to me. Life. an undertaking that is sometimes arduous but can sometimes be very satisfying.
An unforgettable experience.
alvin ong dozed and watched the sawdust trampled night @ 10:03 PM
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