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Granada - Uno

We departed early for Granada and arrived at the world-famous Alhambra - amazing series of buildings and gardens.

The first structure hosts a traditional festival of music and dance, seating 850 people.  It is very representative of the architecture of this area - with a square outside and a round courtyard inside.

Walls and ceilings of all the rooms throughout the Alhambra are covered with carvings - 9,000 individual patterns are used throughout, many using three types of Arabic calligraphy.

We proceeded to the first of three palaces - the Administration Palace - where the tax collectors were.  The second is the Political Palace and the third is the Private Palace - each more impressive than the previous.

Water is clearly a huge part of the architectural design - fountains with connecting waterways are everywhere and water is a theme in some of the carved patterns with blue being one of the predominate colors.

We then moved through the public gardens and into the private gardens, which house the summer house.  The summer house is where the royals would spend summer afternoons in an open air structure at a higher altitude.  After sunset, they would return to the Private Palace through the private gardens.

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