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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