In Granada

November 4, 2022

Visiting the amazing Alhambra

We had a slow and lazy start to the day before our afternoon booking at the Alhambra. We did laundry and headed out around 10 am to try churros, just because we hadn’t ticked that box yet. We went to a nearby takeout churreria and got a huge amount deep fried right in front of us, plus two styrofoam cups of hot chocolate. Then we sat on a nearby bench to eat them. We both decided that one tasting of churros was enough - we probably won’t eat them again. Ice cream is a better calorie splurge, in my opinion.

Churros. Basically, fresh made donuts dipped in very thick hot chocolate. A bit much at breakfast time, I found.

Then we bought reasonably priced empanadas from a bakery - we'll take them up to the Alhambra in the afternoon. We returned to the apartment to ditch our fleece jackets and to hang our laundry. We quickly entered and exited the building to avoid meeting up with anti-bike man. His scooter was outside, so we knew he was around.

Then were off to the Alhambra on foot.

What is the Alhambra? It is a palace and fortress complex that includes numerous buildings and gardens, including one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world and a big Spanish Renaissance palace too. Construction on the hill overlooking Granada began in the 13th century on the site of a previous fortress. Now it's one of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe, seen by 8,000 visitors a day. There's a strict cap on tickets.

We entered the massive Alhambra site from the south end, with plenty of time before our 2 pm time slot for the Nazari palace - that was the only place with a time restriction. We saw several people who hadn't pre-purchased tickets being turned away. We were happy to have bought tickets months in advance.

After touring the first bit of the Generalife gardens, we decided that an audio guide would be a good idea. So we backtracked and picked them up at the entrance. The audio guide was very helpful and highly recommended.

The Alhambra is full of amazing buildings and gardens. It's hard to describe the intricacy and beauty, and I'm sure my photos don't do it justice. The Nazari Palace is not much to look at from the outside of the building, is breathtaking inside. We then toured the Carlos V palace (built during the Renaissance), the alcazaba/citadel, and went back to the the Generalife gardens and palace. The ticket and access situation is interesting- there are multiple gates, and you need to show your passport at each. You need to book the tickets with your passport information too. I think it's a way to stop ticket scalping - fine by me. Maybe Ticketmaster should try it.

Looking over the city. The Alhambra was home to an entire community, so has farmland within the walls.

Remarkable detail inside the Nazari Palace.

Nazari Palace - designed to impress. And it does!

I can't imagine how long it took to build this ceiling.

Generalife gardens, which were rebuilt in recent times.

Feeling amazed by everything we'd seen, we needed a break. We had a (surprisingly) not-terrribly-overpriced beer right on the grounds of the Alhambra.

After the Alhambra, we wandered back towards our apartment, picking up breakfast items and stopping for a beer (Gail), and a vermouth (me). My first vermouth drink. It was served on ice with a slice of orange. Quite delicious! Will have again, for sure.

Following the break at our apartment, we headed out to a nearby wine bar for dinner. When we left, the main entrance to our building was propped wide open, so I'm glad our bikes weren’t being stored in the lobby.

At first, the restaurant said they wouldn’t seat us for only a drink and tapas, we had to eat - fine with us, because we wanted meals. Both of us had quite large bowls of appetizer soup with a glass of Albariño. Portions here are hard to judge. Then we split a very large plate of beans, ham, and fried eggs. The server cut it all up tableside. It was good, but super salty. I've eaten more ham this trip than in a month of Easter meals. And I was already full after my salmorejo. When we were enjoying our dinner at 9:30 pm, they told us that our table was reserved for 10 pm, and that we needed to eat up!

All-in-all, a great day. The Alhambra will stick in my memory for a long while.

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