I first learned about the Alhambra in LM Montgomery's book Emily Climbs, and since then have always been interested in seeing it. When I first started reading about Andalucia and realized a trip there would mean visiting the Alhambra, it pushed me over the edge toward deciding to go.
The Alhambra is a fortress & palace complex sitting on a hill overlooking Granada, visible from most of the town and especially from our Sacromonte cave neighborhood. This little overlook was right down the hill from our cave, and there were always people hanging around taking pictures of it.
This is from farther down the hill toward the river.
You have to buy tickets weeks or even months in advance to be sure to get a spot. They allow 6000 visitors in each day and the entry times are strictly regulated. Fortunately I am a planner so this was not a problem for me. Our entry time wasn't until 2pm, though, so we headed down into town to see some other stuff first.
We stopped at the ruins of some Arab baths along the River Darro first. They are free, and were sort of interesting.
Then we headed over to the Royal Chapel (Real Capilla), which adjoins the Cathedral. This is where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, the king & queen whose marriage united Spain for the first time and who also sent Christopher Columbus on his journeys. Unfortunately there was no photography inside. We saw their tombs, though.
We grabbed a coffee and then set out to find the little bus to take to the top of the Alhambra hill. It ended up being much easier than we expected and we got there about 45 minutes early. We decided to walk down the hill to the Justice Gate, a secondary entrance, which turned out to be completely unmanned, so we just wandered in early. Secret tip! Go to the Justice Gate if they won't let you in at the top of the hill.
The timed entry specifically applies to the Nazrid Palace, but there are other things you can see in the complex whenever you'd like once you're inside the complex.
This is the Palace of Charles V, which was built by the conquering Christian monarch once Granada was regained from the Moors in the 1400s. His son lost interest before the palace was finished, so it is still unroofed today.
There are amazing views of the city of Granada from all sides of the complex.
Finally it was 2pm and time for our entry to the Nazrid Palace. The level of detail is absolutely incredible, from the proportions and scale of the buildings to the intricate decoration on every surface. It is immediately obvious why there is such demand for seeing this place, and I also very much appreciated the strict schedule that limited the number of visitors there at one time (especially later on, when we visited other extremely crowded tourist sites that were not so regulated). The fact that a Moorish sultan built this palace also makes you realize they did not view themselves as conquerors at all, but in fact expected to stay there always.
A British woman took our picture.
Ben was fascinated with the patterns on every surface - carvings, tiles, etc.
This is a ceiling.
Here you can see remnants of the ancient paint.
More scraps of surviving paint.
Rick Steves said these tile patterns inspired much of MC Escher's artwork.
Here I am reading to Ben about MC Escher from Rick's book.
After our time in the Nazrid Palace we went over to the fortress area, which is the oldest part of the complex. Its huge towers are the main thing you see from ground level in the city.
The fortress was built in the 9th through 12th centuries, but there was probably some type of fortress here going back into Roman times.
View of Granada from the fortress, with Cathedral at center.
Instead of taking the bus back, we walked down the hill back into town. We saw a kitty in an alley.
Again we had trouble with timing for lunch, as it was just past 4:00pm, but eventually found a place that was open and had a menu del dia. I got melon with ham to start. It was melon with ham draped over the top and it was much better than you might expect. I don't really even like melon usually.
For my main course I ordered migas. It came with yet more blood sausage, which Ben ate for me.
Benjamin ordered croquettes. We ate quite a few croquettes of all types in Andalucia.
For postre (dessert) she said we could have melon, apple, or coffee. We chose apple and that is exactly what we got.
After this late lunch we were exhausted and sweaty so we went back to the cave for showers and resting. For dinner we went to a tapas place recommended by our cave proprietor. It was definitely a local spot - the first waitress we had pawned us off on someone else when she realized we only knew Spanish words for things, not the actual language. The next guy was more sympathetic and spoke some English so it all worked out. We got a variety of tapas, including fried anchovies, which Ben convinced me to order. They were delicious!
After dinner we walked through the Albaycin to the San Nicholas viewpoint of the Alhambra, considered the best view in the city. It really was magical.
We absolutely loved Granada. I would go back there in a heartbeat. It felt very much like a real city with deep history and vibrant, young population - there is a large university there and it shows. We were sad to be leaving the next day! But also excited to see what was coming up.
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