Nov 12

We docked in Malaga, Spain, a city we have visited in the past.  We took a full day excursion to Granada to see The Alhambra, an ornate Arab sultan palace complex.  The area was originally settled by the Phoenicians and later Greeks, Romans, Vandals and Arabs many others before Spain became united.  Muhammad I al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid dynasty settled in the area and began construction of Alhambra in 1238.  The Nasrids ruled the area until surrendering to the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.  Some Catholic churches were added to the area and, after his visit to Alhambra, Charles V built a palace on the grounds.  The property is immense and needs more than a few hours to explore all of it.  There is extensive Muslim architecture  in the buildings covering several centuries.  It's a must see place and we are glad we did.  The drive from Malaga was 1 1/2 hours and there are many fields of olive groves.  The area is very fertile and they produce such vegetables as artichokes, asparagus, eggplant tomatoes, lettuce and just about anything imaginable.  It's mountainous and very scenic.  It was a long day and we returned to the ship a bit after the scheduled final boarding time.  The evening was the Captain's welcome dinner was this evening and the dress was formal optional.