So this guy is absolutely stark naked walking on the side of Carrera del Darro (a one way street) in the middle of the afternoon. The road is too narrow for a sidewalk. A short wall above a creek is on the south side of the road and a building on the north. Naked guy in the road is about a foot away from our taxi as we pass. Stephanie is laughing hysterically. Our driver is making all sorts of crazy gestures. I’m looking for a naked girlfriend – no luck. Welcome to Granada!
Anyway, we were lured to Granada by la Alhambra y el Generalife, one of the most visited tourist sites in Spain (https://www.alhambra-patronato.es/). The Alhambra was declared a National Monument in 1870 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Construction of the modern Alhambra began in the 13th century as an Islamic Palatine City (royal court), serving as the capital of the Nasrid Kingdom. Additions and changes were made over the next several centuries by both the Moorish Nasrids and Spanish Christians, who conquered the area in the late 15th century.
Purchasing advance tickets to the Alhambra is essentially a necessity. The standard ticket is 14€. Few same day tickets are sold. At the time of purchase you will select an entry time into the Nasrid Palaces. The rest of the complex can be visited whenever during your visit, but you can only enter the Nasrid Palaces at the time selected. Pay attention to the time, as you do not want to miss seeing the best part of the Alhambra complex.
If you are a foreign tourist bring your passport to the Alhambra. When buying tickets you are required to provide a passport number. That information is entered into the computer system that operates the ticket access control centers. Your passport will be scanned in several different locations, such as entering the Nasrid Palaces, Alcazaba, and Jardines de San Francisco. For Stephanie and I this is the first time our passports essentially operated as tickets. (I think Europeans are able to use a driver’s license instead, but a government ID is required of everyone.)
At popular tourist sites where tour groups operate regularly, we visit first thing in the morning or at the very end of the day. Based on our experience, tour groups are most active from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. We selected the 8:30 AM entry to Nasrid Palaces, the earliest available. At 7:45 AM, a good 20 minutes before sunrise, we began the 35 minute walk from our Airbnb to the Alhambra. We’re staying on the hill in Albaicín, meaning we hiked down a steep hill and then right back up an even steeper hill to the Alhambra.
Huffing and puffing up the trail, we arrived to find about 10 other folks lined up and waiting at the Puerta de la Justicia, the Alhambra entry gate that is closest to the Nasrid Palaces. The gate door opened soon after we arrived and everyone proceeded into the Alhambra. We made a beeline straight for the entrance to the Nasrid Palaces, and ended up about 20 deep in that line. An employee walked the line making sure that everyone waiting had 8:30 AM tickets.
The Nasrid Palaces opened for visitors promptly at 8:30 AM. Most of the tourists in front of us passed through ticket control and went straight to the side to pick up an audio guide. Neither Stephanie nor I have ever been particularly interested in audio guides. Passing the audio guide folks, we were easily among the first six or so tourists that actually entered the Nasrid Palaces that morning. It was perfect.
Being at the front of the line, Stephanie and I were able to see the different rooms, courtyards, and pools with no one in the way. The tourists that entered at the same time with us were all very polite and respectful. We got in line to take photographs at obvious spots and made an effort to stay out of the way of each other. I was easily able to take photographs without including a horde of gawking tourists. We could not have asked for a better tour around the Nasrid Palaces.
Next we circled back to the Palacio de Carlos V. Built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain in the mid-1500s, this palace is a massive square building with a large circular courtyard in the middle. It is a prominently visible in any overhead view of the Alhambra. Today the Museo de la Alhambra (Museum of the Alhambra) and Museo de Bellas Artes (Granada’s Museum of Fine Arts) are housed here. The museums are fairly small but worth a visit.
The Museum of the Alhambra, free to all, is the more interesting of the two, with a collection of artifacts and Nasrid art dating back to the earliest days of the Alhambra. We rather enjoyed our walk through the exhibits in relative quiet.
The Museum of Fine Arts was all right. It costs a bit to enter, 1,5€ each for non-EU citizens. The majority of its art has a religious theme. We walked through those rooms pretty fast, but slowed down when we came to the rooms with paintings from the last few centuries, which were much more to our liking.
When Stephanie and I exited the Museum of Fine Arts, on the second floor of the palace, we could see groups of people congregating in the courtyard below. Tour guides in Spain tend to carry brightly colored umbrellas. They are easy to spot, even with closed umbrellas. It was about 10:15 AM. Right on time, tour groups had arrived at the Alhambra. The peaceful visit we had enjoyed up to that point was over.
Adjacent to the Palacio de Carlos V is the Iglesia de Santa María, a 16th century church. We wandered over and stood outside the church deliberating whether to go in now or come back later. A lot of tourists were milling about in front of the church. We got lucky as a tour group and many tourists left at about the same time. Noticing that the church was largely empty, we seized the opportunity to visit the small church with only three or four other people inside.
Next on our list was the Alcazaba. This is the triangular tip of the Alhambra, believed to be oldest occupied area and a fortress. The self-guided tour of the Alcazaba is basically a marked path around and up several of the towers. Be prepared to navigate multiple sets of tight stairs leading to the tops of the towers, where large viewing areas await. The views over Granada are incredible, particularly from the Torre de la Vela. Even Stephanie, afraid of heights, enjoyed the expansive views.
By this point it was about 11:30 AM and we had a tough decision to make. Find someplace to sit for a drink and snack, or power through the rest of the complex and go back to our Airbnb for lunch. After some deliberation, we chose the latter.
Inside the walls of the Alhambra is a terraced area with fountains and pools, El Partal, located between the Nasrid Palaces and the main gardens, Jardines de San Francisco. These areas made for a nice walk as we made our way towards Generalife. In comparison to the hordes of tourists around the palaces, the gardens were relatively quiet.
Generalife is an area outside of the Alhambra’s walls consisting of recreational buildings and gardens. It served as a leisurely retreat for the kings of Granada. Today a modern outdoor theater is the first thing visitors see in Generalife. Beyond the theater are flower gardens and Moorish buildings complete with pools and fountains.
The main entrance to Alhambra is actually at Generalife. The vast majority of tourists flowing through the entrance gates naturally proceed into Generalife first, before heading over to the Alhambra. Our walk through Generalife took about 30 minutes. Unlike El Partal and the Jardines de San Francisco, the route through Generalife is one-way traffic. As it was fairly crowded by this point, I’m not sure we could have gone any slower or faster. We merged into the line of tourists and went with the flow.
By the time we finished walking through Generalife it was about 12:30 PM. We exited the complex through the main entrance and headed to a convenience store across the street to buy a large bottle of water for the walk back to our place. We took a slightly more direct route for the 30 minute walk back, but still had to navigate the same two steep hills. What a great visit and cardio workout. Thankfully the temperature was still in the low 70s.
Should you find yourself in southern Spain, a trip to la Alhambra y el Generalife is a must.
Our remaining days exploring Granada will be covered in our next post. If you have not already done so, click on our Travel Blog (top right of the page) for links to other posts about our trip to Spain. Thanks for reading.
Garrett and Stephanie
VERY interesting ‼️ Love the photos and the descriptions.