Marcel Burger - Third time's the charm

Inside the Palace of Carlos V

Wonderfully located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, quite a bit away from the popular costs of Southern Andalusia, lies the city of Granada. It has a triumph card in medieval architecture of the Moore people: the Alhambra. This hilltop fortress is impressive with a capital I and can be seen from many of the small streets of the old town with its cute white houses and cobblestones. I have visited Granada twice, in 2018 at the very end of 2023. Most of the photos in this album are from this trip.

The Alhambra

The Alhambra is included in the UNESCO World Heritage list as an oustanding example of historic Islamic architecture. The first Nasrid emir of the state of Al-Andalus, Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar, ordered construction of the complex in1238. He chose the Sabika hill, where another fortress and palace had been before. In the 1400s, the Christians took over the site and added their details to it. King Carlos V opened a palace at the grounds in 1528, but it was never finished, and the whole area was left to decay in the centuries after. Up till when Napoleon troops destroyed parts of it in the 1800s. Much restored a century later, it grew to a giant attraction for many tourists that flocked to Granada up to present day.

Walking uphill from the old town towards the Alhambra

One of the towers of the Alhambra

Gate that leads to the Alcazaba

The Patio de la Madraza de los Príncipes

The Palace of Carlos V

Albaicín

The Albaicín (Albayzín) is the historic old town of the Moorish city and the heart of Granada. It has relatively small houses, cute narrow cobblestone streets and small squares. It is a joy to walk through. The old town is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of Granada.

Granada's old town seen from Alhambra

Granada's old town seen from the hill down from Alhambra

The garden of the Palacio de los Cordova

View at the Alhambra from one of the narrow streets in the Albaicín area.

Downhill to a main shopping street

The Albaicín neighbourhood of white houses, February 2018

At the tiny Darro river that flows through the old town.

One of the small squares in the old town.

Taberna EL 22

View through the window ...

... of a residential building in the Albaicín.

The Alhambra is never far away when in the Albaicín

The city is best discovered on foot. Photo taken in February 2018.

Also from February 2018, a lady with beautiful long red hair shopping in the small streets of the "new town".

Dinner with a view over Granada in The Alhambra is never far away when in the Albaicín

View towards the "new town"

Evening falls, with the sun still lighting up the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Sacromonte

An absolute must on a visit to Granada is the Sacromonte neighbourhood. Walking a meandering road uphill from Albaicín one enters the area where the Roma settled after the Christians took over the town in the late 1400s. Some white walled houses and cave homes make the area excentric, but especially the latter also tell a sad past of being expelled from where they lived. In this case, the Jewish and Muslim communities in the 1600s.