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.