Submitted by Christina Sullivan on the 2019 summer session program in Granada, Spain sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
The night before visiting the Alhambra, I read the section about it in the Rick Steven’s Spain travel guide conveniently found in my home stay. Rick Stevens had devoted several pages to describing the beauty of the Alhambra, and I read them with a growing curiosity. I had known about the Alhambra, of course, but I hadn’t known about it. I didn’t know Queen Isabella I had granted Christopher Columbus’s request for funds to travel west in the throne room. I didn’t know that gardens and water symbolized heaven in Islam. I also still didn’t really know what it looked like; Rick Stevens only included small black and white images.
Not knowing what the Alhambra looked like proved advantageous as I had no expectations and only constant surprises as we entered room after room. I only recognized the famous image of the reflection in the lake as something I had seen before and not associated with the Alhambra. I had the thrill of recognizing it, yet not expecting it.
I knew the Hall of Ambassadors was spectacular, but I didn’t know how it was spectacular. Instead, I got to see it for the first time on my own (despite Rick Steven’s illustrious description).
I experienced the Alhambra with few expectations of what I would find inside, and I found that served me better than if I had expected it to be like this or like that. All I had was a sense of history, and I slowly got to piece together that history as I saw room after room. It was the first time I had understood the history of something, yet had little idea of what it looked like. I hope I get to do it again.
