There’s little point in telling you about the grandeur and the beauty of the Alhambra. The photos and my description will never do justice to the 10 hectare site, steeped in history, romance and ornate splendor. You’ll just have to go there. The Alhambra has a 2000m long wall, amazing architecture, fascinating gardens, 100s of water features, 29 towers and 7 gates. In its day, it was a city in its own rights (completely independent of nearby Granada) and you should allow at least 3 or 4 hours to see it.

There are thousands of storeys about the Alhambra, but I’ll just tell you one of them – The Tower of the Three Princesses (Torre de las Infantas).

Once upon a time, there was a Moorish king who had three lovely daughters, Kari, Sally and JoJo (hahaha, I mean Zaida, Zorayda and Zorahaida). The three Princesses were said to be the most beautiful of all the women in the known world. The King’s astrologers however, foretold of a troubled destiny for the princesses, when they became of marriageable age. He was warned to “gather them under your wings, and trust them to no other guardianship.”

As the princesses came closer in age to that period of danger, the King interred them to the tower, where they remained, immured from the world, but surrounded by enjoyment, and attended by female slaves who anticipated their wishes.

However, following a chance encounter on a journey from outside the city, the princesses became enamoured with three Spanish Christians cavaliers, who had been captured and put to hard labour as enemies of the King. They were Spanish aristocrats, and remained regal and haughty, even in their captor’s chains. Also captive, were the hearts and minds of the Cavaliers, who were spellbound by the great beauty of the Princesses.

Over time, and with a great deal of bribery and secrecy, the head-guard of the captors, and the senior handmaiden of the Princesses, orchestrated a situation which allowed the three Christians to work in the deep ravine below the tower. Between the intervals of their labour, the Spanish Cavaliers they would play guitar and sing (mostly love songs). The princesses would listen from the windows of the tower and each day, grew more and more in love.

When their love for each other could no longer be contained, an escape plan was hatched. On the pre-determined night, at a time when the patrol had just finished their round, a ladder of ropes was fashioned. The two older sisters descended over the balcony, and waited in the garden below. But the youngest Princess, plagued by guilt and fear, stayed behind and no amount of coaxing would get her over the balcony. With the patrol on its way back, and with their pleadings falling on deaf ears, the two older princesses escaped through a series of subterraneous passages, a dark and fearful labyrinth, cut through the heart of the mountain, until they arrived at an iron gate outside of the walls of the city.

The Spanish cavaliers, disguised as Moorish soldiers, were waiting to receive them. The Kings soldiers, having been alerted of the treachery and escape, were now in hot pursuit. It was a long and arduous journey (but the Princesses did not utter a single complaint). Eventually, they reached the safety of Cordova in Spain, got married, and lived happily ever after. I’m not sure what became of the third Cavalier, perhaps he died of a broken heart?

Meanwhile, the youngest Princess, still a captive of the tower in the Alhambra, spent her days looking mournfully towards the mountains in the direction of Cordova, playing her lute to lament the loss of her sisters and her lover, and to bewail her solitary life. She died young, and was buried in a vault beneath the tower.

Not a bad story huh?

#ILoveSpain #Alhambra