Monday, February 25, 2013

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain

The Alhambra looms over Granada and is Spain’s primary tourist attraction.  This fortress has a long and rich Moorish and Christian history far beyond the scope of this blog.  We are history buffs and indulged in a lot of reading before ever seeing it first hand, for us, the place is magical.  If you plan to visit, familiarize yourself with at least a bit of the history of the Alhambra and the related history of Granada before you arrive, it will be time well spent.

On our first weekend in Granada we decided to visit the Alhambra with two of our TEFL mates (yes, one was an Aussie).  We had heard that it was best to either purchase tickets on line, in a local bookstore or at certain ATMs but we figured that early on a Sunday morning, in Spain, we should be able to easily purchase the tickets we desired.  Oooops, definitely purchase them in advance!

We hiked the very steep hill from Plaza Nueva to the Alhambra and found that a small part of the lower citadel is open to the public, a very small part.  We went in and by 11, after seeing all there was to be seen in about 30 minutes we found ourselves at the ticket counter.  Here we discovered there are two types of tickets; one ticket is for the lower citadel and includes the summer palace and gardens or “Generalife” and the other includes access to the Nasrid dynasty palaces.  The Generalife/lower citadel tickets cost 6 euro and the Nasrid palaces tickets were 12.  You could buy them both together for 16 euro.

Unfortunately, the Nasrid palaces tickets are much in demand and tour groups buy them up quickly or in advance.  These tickets provide a limited number of people access at various but specific times.  If you are not present for your entry time and miss your group’s entry, well too bad.  The first time available for purchase that day was 3:30 and we decided not to wait and wander around for more than four hours and that we’d save the Nasrid palaces for another day.  We purchased the Generalife/lower citadel tickets.

Figuring to start at the top and work our way down we climbed to the Palacio Generalife which was the Nasrid dynasty’s summer palace.  This summer palace is located a significant distance up the hill from the lower citadel and features seemingly endless gardens redolent with colorful, sweet smelling flowers and the sound of constantly running water. 

From the Generalife one can look down upon the lower citadel and view its many towers over the terraced gardens.  The city of Granada lies in the distance and the entire palace conveys a sense of tranquility and quiet contemplation.

The four of us wandered aimlessly through the gardens and simply enjoyed the fountains, pools, manicured hedges, pathways and views from the gardens and the palace windows.

 A long, curved, tree lined path led down through the palace gardens, across an arched bridge over what can only be called a moat, into the outer passageways of the lower citadel.
The walls of the lower citadel contain many breathtaking viewpoints of the Albayzin on the hill across the river Darro, of the city of Granada and of the cultivated plains beyond.

Many of the towers placed in strategic points along the walls are accessible and with a little patience, one can take advantage of a photo opportunity without other tourists in the frame.


Inside the walls, the lower citadel contains the remains of the barracks for the palace guard, a myriad of staircases linking towers to defensible areas along the walls and, of course, more gardens and fountains.  There is a basilica whose interior can be viewed when services are not being held and the huge palace of Carlos V can also be accessed with this type of ticket

The palace of Carlos V is square on the outside and circular on the inside, is two very tall stories high and has an impressive inner courtyard.  It contains a small historical museum and on this day had an exhibition of Monet paintings, for an additional entry fee of course.


By 1:30, after 3 hours of wandering this incredible structure we had had enough and exited to the forested path leading down to Plaza Nueva, the starting point for any excursion to the Alhambra.  We celebrated our tour with pints of Murphys Red and a fry up for breakfast at our favorite local Irish pub; but that’s another story. 

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