This is not my first visit to a Granada. I’ve been to its name sake in Nicaragua almost 20 years ago. It was a lovely beautiful town but I see no similarity with it on a lake with volcanoes and the original Spanish city nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is however home to a couple of UNESCO World heritage sites. The main one being the Alhambra, a Moor citadel built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The city still feels like it has ties to its islamic past, especially in terms of the food.
The Alhambra is what brings people to the town of course, its not that visible from down on the streets. My hotel was only 300-400m from the Alhambra as the crow flies, but you wouldn’t know. Of course once you get up to the Alhambra, you can see the entire city from numerous vantage points and there are plenty of hills with view points of the citadel.
Alhambra is one of those places you need to buy tickets in advance for or be disappointed. You also want a ticket with a timed entry to the Nasrid palace. Its by far the best part of the complex, but you can visit parts of alhambra for free, but you are missing the best part. You also need a ticket to visit the Generalife gardens, which is where i started my day. The gardens are lovely with a lot of water features, and curated plants. There are views to the Alahambra which kind of forms a V shape with the gardens. The usual instagram shenaigans were happening of course, but the ticketing system controls the crowd numbers so it was still quite pleasant.
I then wandered through the Alhambra grounds. I found a small coffee shop that sold a delightful hot chocolate, the likes of which I’ve never had before. It was thick, not too sweet and very chocolately. I thought it was just melted chocolate initially! I was really filling in time, as my timed entry to the Nasrid palace was 2pm. It turned out i had plenty of time to visit the Alcazaba which is the fortification at the point overlooking the city. Not a lot of stuff going on inside the building but wonderful views from the top of the fortifications.
The Nasrid Palace is indeed the highlight of the visit with a lot of intricate and beautiful details still intact from when it was built hundreds of years ago. Lots or beautiful arches, windows, carvings are all throughout the palace. Then there are all the hidden courtyards and gardens. It was still quite crowded despite the timed ticket system, mostly around bottle neck areas and tour groups just blocking the way. It was tolerable though and I still enjoyed the visit.
The other heritage site is the neighbourhood of Albaicin, which sits next to the city and on a hill next to the Alhambra. Its a lot of narrow streets and white walled buildings with small churches and squares and a few lookouts to see the Alhambra on the neighbouring hill. It was a nice place to wander and find small cafes and watch locals go about their day.
My final fact for the day is there is a boardgame called Alhambra. It is based on building a beautiful citadel with gardens and fountains. I just can’t remember whether the boardgame introduced me to the real world place first or whether i knew about the Alhambra prior. Its a UNESCO site deserving of protection, but I don’t think its as well known as others around the world despite being quite impressive.
