Granada and the Alhambra

We left Ronda on Friday afternoon, Sept. 17 and drove east to Granada, where we stayed in the modern city a mile or so from the Alhambra, just off the city map to the bottom left.

The Alhambra is one of the most popular (and crowded) tourist sites in Spain with two million visitors per year, and only a certain number of visitors are allowed into the major buildings at a time.  We had reservations, made in Ronda via internet, for Sunday morning at 8:30, the first visit hour of the day.

So we spent Saturday seeing the old city, below, looking north east from the Alhambra.  The tower in the center left is the Santa Ana church, in the center of the city map.

Alejandra in the Plaza Bib-Rambla in Granada’s old city.

Market stalls in the plaza.  Beautiful produce, but I wonder who shops here, in the middle of tourist Granada. 

  

 

Chiles are popular in Spain.

 

Arencas are salted herring.  I should have bought one to eat on the spot.

 Fountain of the Giants in the Plaza.

Nearby is the cathedral.

and the Arab market.

Then we walked up a narrow street adjacent to the Rio Darro, which divides the hill of La Alhambra from the Albaicín barrio.

When the canyon widened, there was a pleasant plaza; a good spot for a beer.

And a view of the Alhambra from below.

From there (the plaza in the lower left) we walked up hill, through the Albaicín to the…

…Mirador de San Nicolás, with its view across the canyon of the Darro to the Alhambra.

And then to a very pleasant comida, at the  Mesón Casa Blás,  where I had a very interesting dish of eggplant with honey followed by that Spanish favorite, spareribs and fries.

Then back down the hill toward the hotel for a nap.

The next miring, bright and early, we were at the Alhambra waiting at the entrance to the Nasrid Palaces, the palaces of the 14^th century Islamic rulers.

The Patio de los Arrayanes.

The arabesque work on one of the pillars, and a welcome chair from which to admire it.

Gardens in the Palacio Árabe.

La Torre de las Damas, the Ladies’ Tower.

View from La Torre de las Damas.

 

Leaving the Moorish palaces and gardens, we walk toward the Palacio de Generalife (Arabic, Jennat al Arif), the Architect’s garden palace.

 

Gardens in the Generalife….  with tourists. 

  

Back to the center of the site, we pass the Iglesia de Santa María, built by Carlos V after the Catholic reconquest of Andalucía. 

 And the castle of Charles V 

 With its circular central courtyard.

  

 

Then on to the Alcazaba, the most fortified part of the Alhambra.

And out through the old entrance.

A marvelous site, well maintained and relatively uncrowded.  

Next, Alicante to Barcelona.

Andalucia

We arrived in Seville by bus from Faro, Portugal, about mid day and took a taxi to our hotel, the Al-Andalus Palace (H on the city map), a huge 600+ room 60s era hotel that looked like in belonged in Las Vegas, but was very comfortable, on a bus line, and a bargain. 

 

 The major sights of the  city center, about 10 minutes away by bus, are connected by a 2.7 km. pedestrian mall, through which a tram rums—very convenient for tourist with sore feet.  In our case, the first stop was a shoe store, where I became the proud owner or a good pair of walking shoes.

 

 The  early 20^th century 'Adriática' building on Avenida de la Constitución.

Then on to the Cathedral.  The tower, La Giralda, was build as the minaret for the original mosque, but is now the bell tower of the cathedral. 

 

 …and the Alcázar, the palace.  I was castled-out at this point, and we didn’t take the tour.  Next time. 

Seville’s old Jewish Quarter, Barrio Santa Cruz, surrounds the cathedral and palace. There was a Don Quixote, of course,

…and lots of shops and cafes. 

The menú  turistica looked pretty good, in all five languages, but it was early for comida, so we just had a beer.

  

The Plaza de Torros was a on the river front, a few blocks from the center.

And across the river, the Guadalquivir, is the barrio La Triana, where we had “tapas” at a what turned out to be a snack bar—frozen fast food, not recommended.

And in the evening we went to a flamenco show, 

Where we saw a group very much like this one:

  

We liked Seville very much…  and there was much more to see.

Leaving Seville, we took a rental car south through Jerez de la Frontera (home of sherry) to Cadiz, where once again I managed to reserve a hotel that turned out to the in the area, but not in the city.  So we spend the night in a pleasant hotel in the considerably less interesting Puerto de Santa Maria, 30 km or so away.

 Hotel Los Jandalos Santa Maria

A few doors down was a sherry bodega that sold its wines from the casks to the folks in the neighborhood and the occasional tourist.  After sampling a bit of everything we bought a 2 lt.  plastic bottle—the only size they sold—of oloroso.  I enjoyed the first few glasses.

 

Santa Marta, said to have been founded by an “Athenian leader in the days of the Trojan War named Menesteo,” also has a castle, the Castle of San Marcos, built over the remains of a 10th century Islamic mosque in 1364.  But touring hours were too late for us; we were on our way to Ronda.

Castle of San Marcos

From Santa Marta we went east towards Ronda through rural mountainous country, away from the main roads.

Ronda was one of the most interesting cities we visited. The old city is on a cliff-top island, separated from the modern town by an incredible chasm.

The “new” bridge, constructed from1751 to 1793, is 120 m. high.  It connects the new town, to the right, with the original city (behind the camera) built by the Romans. 

  Tourist shops in the old city near the bridge.

The view across the canyon from the old city.

The old city.

 

The “old bridge,” from the “Arab bridge.”

Gate at the Arab Bridge

The plaza of the new city of Ronda.  We ate at one of the restaurants behind Alejandra.  See “Eating Iberian” in my food blog.

And then off on a rainy afternoon to Granada and La Alhambra.