54 Days at Sea — Touring Alhambra

Fortification of Alcazaba

The original fortification at Alhambra is the Alcazaba, which faces west and overlooks the city of Granada. Indeed, high up on this hill, views are stunning in all directions:

View from Alhambra

Overlooking Granada from Alhambra

The exteriors of Alhambra offer some really great photo opportunities:

Alhambra, Spain

Alhambra, Spain

Alhambra, Spain

So, too, do the interiors:

Alhambra, Spain

Alhambra Arabesque

A word about the equipment I used on this 54-day cruise:  Don’t let anyone tell you that you need a DSLR or expensive travel zoom to take good pictures. The images captured throughout this series were taken with a Panasonic ZS-3. This little gem, now long retired, only captured JPEG images. It had a 10-megapixel 1/2.33″ (6.08 x 4.56 mm) sensor fed by a 25-300mm (in 35mm equivalent) f3.3-4.9 Leica lens. The whole thing weighed about half a pound, 229 grams to be exact, and fit in my shirt pocket. Near the end our voyage the ship’s photo department held a contest for passenger-taken photos. The contest had three categories — People, Landscape, and Architecture. Contestants were limited to one entry per category. Entries were printed on 8×10 stock. Passengers voted on the entries, and the top three photos in each category were awarded prizes.

The results, going up against much more sophisticated equipment? A first place finish in one category, and the third place finish in another.