Michelle Obama Visits Granada and the Alhambra Palace
August 6th, 2010
US First Lady Michelle Obama and her nine-year-old daughter Sasha visited Granada yesterday, the former seat of Moorish rule in Spain, during the second day of her holiday in Spain.
The two had ice-cream in the centre of the Andalucian city as dozens of cameramen and local residents looked on, before they began their tour of Granada amid temperatures that soared to nearly 40 degrees Celsius.
Michelle Obama smiled and waved to the crowd before entering the city’s imposing cathedral, which contains the tombs of Spain’s King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, the first stop on their tour.
She then attended a flamenco performance by Juan Andres Maya at a tavern house in the centre of the city of Granada. “She clapped along to the music and at the end even imitated some flamenco moves with her hands. It really moved me, I almost cried,” Maya told a TV crews.
The tour of the city ended with a tour at sunset of the Alhambra fortress-palace, Spain’s most-visited tourist attraction. Once the residence of Moorish kings, the Alhambra is now one of the world’s largest open-air museums of Islamic architecture and a World Heritage Site. It features royal residential quarters, official chambers, a bathhouse, and a mosque, as well as a series of courtyards flanked by sweeping archways, columns and fountains.
The US First Lady and Sasha arrived on Spain’s Mediterranean coast on Wednesday for a vacation with friends at the five-star Hotel Villa Padierna in the hills above the seaside resort of Marbella, a haunt for the rich and famous. The White House has described the four-day visit as “a private, mother-daughter trip with longtime family friends”.
Michelle Obama, 46, was however scheduled to meet Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia on Sunday at their summer palace property on the Balearic island of Majorca, a short flight from Marbella, before she returns to the United States.
President Barack Obama, who celebrated his 49th birthday on Wednesday, stayed behind in the United States, as did the couple’s elder daughter, 12-year-old Malia, who is attending a summer camp.
Michelle Obama was cheered and applauded by several hundred onlookers on Wednesday night as she strolled through the historic centre of Marbella before having dinner at one of the city’s most exclusive restaurants. She bought two white dresses, one for herself and another for Sasha, for a total of about 80 euros during her visit to the centre of Marbella, Spanish television has reported. AFP
