Summer is using the sun as a spotlight for farewell performances.
Granada in southern Spain has an exquisite royal garden, the Alhambra, but not belonging to the current Spanish royal family, but to the 13th-century Moorish kingdom palace. The palace rises from the hills and is exquisite, and the famous guitar song of the same name was written for this palace.
It is so beautiful, the fountain is flowing, the flowers are in contention, and the gods and immortals live. But from the moment of construction, the fate of destruction is written simultaneously. In the early 13th century, the situation of the struggle between Christian and Islamic forces in the Iberian Peninsula changed dramatically, and by the time the Nasr dynasty was established, Granada had become the last bastion of Islam on the peninsula. At the end of this decay, the rulers of the Nasr dynasty began to build luxurious palaces in the middle of Granada, the Alhambra. The intricacies and intricacies of the architecture are astounding – marble is ground into powder, mixed with pearls, and remixed with clay. So we see that after nearly a thousand years, under the bright sunshine of the Iberian Peninsula, this palace still glows with strange colors - close to the color of the skin of healthy people.
At the end of the 15th century, the Islamic rulers were expelled from Spain, and this beautiful royal palace was abandoned.
In 1826, the 39-year-old American rich second generation and travel writer Washington Owen went to the American Embassy in Spain and wrote the "Tales of the Alhambra", published in 1832, making this ancient pagan royal palace famous again in the Western world.
While visiting La Granada, I met a father and son at the inn. Speaking of the Alhambra, the old comrade was very emotional: "The process of accumulating wealth, art, reputation and influence is also the process of shaping the enemy." This law has never changed. How do I change the enemy? Start by changing yourself. Change is also a struggle against oneself, for example, except for survival, everything may have to be abandoned. The father studied in the United States in the 1980s and then stayed in the United States, and his son finished middle school in Beijing and went to the United States to reunite with his parents.
The next morning, we visited a Christian Sacramento temple on the hill in Granada, which was built by Christian forces after the expulsion of the Moors, and was equipped with facilities such as colleges. Then we ate local-style meat sandwich buns at a restaurant in the square down the hill. The father and son have a lot of memories, and they also have a lot of views on real problems, arguing endlessly, such as which uncle copied his father's homework, Pizza Hut's pizza and Italian pizza which is delicious, and finally ended with the father's sentence "Your mother said..." The conversation turned to the next destination for a trip to Spain. At that time, I had just returned to the peninsula from Menorca, and I said that the color of the waters of Menorca was simply amazing, equivalent to turning Jiuzhaigou into the sea. Father and son exclaimed "No way!" ”
Menorca, though, wasn't on their schedule for that long summer vacation. Although Spain is not very large, its history is rich enough, it has fought many battles, lost many lives, left a lot of cultural treasures, and there are still too many places worth seeing.
In the past few years, I have been busy with work and have not arranged to go to Europe. On a hot weekend, in the background of chaotic news broadcasts outside the country, Irving reread Washington Irving's "Tales of the Alhambra". When Owen traveled with a Russian diplomat in southern Spain, he was surprised by the destruction of the Alhambra, admired the decadent and unconcealed brilliance, and stayed for 3 months to write this famous miscellaneous book. By this time, Ferdinand VII of Spain had also sponsored the restoration of the Alhambra in 1828. After three generations of craftsmen, the Alhambra gradually regained its medieval style and became a tourist attraction that requires a reservation to visit today.
One of the outbuildings of the palace is a fortification called the Alcazaba Fortress, which was built earlier than the Alhambra. That is to say, in fact, the small dynasty of that year was once thinking of danger in peace, but after all, the general trend has gone, coupled with the fact that the greed for pleasure has prevailed, it has built a palace and left it for the enemy. However, from another point of view, it should be said that it was left to the original owner of this place. Originally not moorish, they had a foothold in Iberia at the beginning of the 8th century and had a lot to do with the internal competition of the Visigothic dynasty. After the Moors conquered Spain in the 8th century, they ruled for 800 years, and at the last moment, the remaining Alhambra forces succumbed to the Kingdom of Spain and had to make a choice – to convert or to expel. Some people converted to religion, and the fate of future generations was uncertain.
The Alhambra has been prosperous for more than two hundred years and is a legend in Spanish history. This amazing country not only fights and kills in its own land, and leaves the conquerors behind, but also travels all over the world to bring back the good things from other places and pass them on. Take tomatoes, for example. This vegetable and fruit is native to South America, and later passed on through Spain, and has made a big circle on the earth, and of course, it has also reached China.
The New York Times recommended a summer salad, and I lost the goat cheese that I always hated to eat, and mixed it only with olive oil and salt, which was really indescribably sweet and soft:
Tomatoes from private vegetable gardens in Inner Mongolia, peaches from Sichuan, cut into pieces, sprinkle a few slices of purslane to decorate, and watch the news network while eating.
Pack up this summer.
Look up at the Alcazaba Fortress from outside the Alhambra scenic area
At the top of the fortress overlooking the ancient city of Albayzin, on a distant hill is a Sacramento temple.
In the twilight from the Alcazaba fortress overlooking the albayzin ancient city area