Day 32: Granada

March 21, 2025

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Last night's adventure in the taxi. charging around Granada looking for a bike tire was certainly one for the books, or as we say on Cycleblaze, it was bloggable. That's the redeeming feature of all unfortunate situations that arise while cycle touring. I will close the story with my cell phone picture of the taxi driver who took the project to heart, searching for bike shops in his own phone:

Even though this says Schwalbe Marathon, we had no confidence that it could hold up to bike touring.

Way out of town, in the dark, the quest continued.

Today we were geared up for our big thing - the visit to the Alhambra. But first we could look forward to the buffet breakfast at this swank hotel. We went down for the 7:00 a.m. start time, to make sure of being there for our fixed 9:00 a.m. entry into the Alhambra. What we found at 6:50 was a long line of Japanese tourists in front of the dining room door. We have nothing against Japanese tourists, in fact they are rather adorable, but any people that appear in a group of 100 and clog up a facility are not being fair!

The Alhambra is so famous its almost mythical to me. But more importantly, I had no idea of exactly what it comprised, or even just where it was. When we walked up through what turned out to be called the Alhambra Forest yesterday, all we saw was trees, and a few walls. So in the middle of last night I woke up thinking "Just how are we going to do this?". Yes, we had our tickets, bought from home, but that was it.

Now that we have been there and done it, I have a strong idea of where it is and what it is, which is a great feeling compared to the one in the middle of the night.

You can often get a sense of a corporate "esprit de corps" or general attitude from talking to a few employees. As we approached the Alhambra grounds we asked a few workers and one information desk about where to go and how it all worked. Every one of them was very forthcoming and informative. It was so nice to see.

The Alhambra grounds are comprised of several (ok, as many as 60) buildings and gardens, set out in a loose line. From where we entered on the east side there is the Church of Santa Maria, the Palace of Carlos V, the Nazrid Palace, and the Alcazaba (military area and tower). To the north of this line of attractions are gardens, and north of that something called the Generalife, which was some kind of sultans' rec centre. For us on a brief visit, the "Alhambra" was mainly the Nasrid palace and the gardens.

As we entered in the east, and before reaching any serious palace stuff, we strolled the grounds, and had views down to or up to the Granada old town.

A to us, miscellaneous tower on the way. There are all sorts of towers like this standing about the grounds.

A view down to some part of the city. We are not really sure where this is on the city map.

A nicely composed tower and palm tree shot

There is a lot of rounded sculpting of cedar on the grounds.

We are not sure how this hotel comes to be situated right in the grounds, beyond the ticket check-in. With its surrounding flower beds it is giving a much needed positive boost to the name "America".

It's great to see flowers like this in March.

Not sure what types these are. Andrea? Bill?

We are passing the backside of the Santa Maria church. This church and one fresco in the Nasrid palace is the only Christian stuff we saw here.

Now we had many fascinating views out to the town below and also up an adjacent hill.

It would be fun to locate/visit these neighbourhoods from within the city.

The palace was founded in the 13th century and elaborated in the 14th, as the royal residence of the kings of Granada. The Nasrid dynasty was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Emirate of Granada from 1232 to 1492. It was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula. It takes its name from Mohammed I ibn Nasr who must have been one of the early kings.

The guide says that the palace is made up of three primary structures - palaces that each has a unique character. But to us newbies walking around, they were just a generalized "oh wow". The primary impressive thing is the way almost every wall is carved with geometric shapes and flower like designs. This combines with the scalloped Moorish arches, and the many columns, to make for quite a fantastic sight.

Tile like this is all over but is not the dominant form.

Beautiful scenes out arched windows can be seen all over.

Then there are the forests of columns:

A good example of floor to ceiling carving on walls.

Many of the ceilings are highly decorated.

The tourists enter a room like this and automatically want to photograph everything.

Ceiling alcoves with blue touches were attention grabbers.

This was the only place animals or people could be seen depicted. Here we have Christians skewering the Moors. I can guess who painted this one!

Beyond and above the Nasrid palace were gardens known as the Jardines Bajos. Dodie was very taken with this, and these are all her photos. They are really super. This garden area was very soothing to walk through and was a very fun part of the visit.

Beyond the gardens lie that Generalife building and tower, and you can also walk higher to see how water flowing to the site was managed. By this point we had had enough of walking uphill and climbing steps, so we called it a visit and retreated to the hotel.

We had spent about three hours at the Alhambra, and had barely scratched the surface. But we had things to do and places to go. In the things to do category, the plan was to swap the sturdier front tire of my bike to the rear, and then to install the new skinny tire up front. The chains needed to be checked, lubed and tightened too, and those brake pads needed verification that they would not attack another tire.

While these works were ongoing, Dodie who has not been a fan of the heavy slogging up hills would make a review of our gear, looking for weight reductions. She did this and found over 4 kilos to mail back. While I was playing with the bike chores, Dodie set off on foot to find the Correos. This was her track:

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Scott AndersonNice walk, Dotie! That’s just about my limit at them moment.
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1 week ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonIt was a real grind at the end-head down, one foot in front of the other, plod, plod.
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1 week ago

This 7 km down to the town and back up added for Dodie to the 7.5 km circling the Alhambra. Dodie's feet really hurt!

Dodie's walk at first was the reversal of what we did to climb to the hotel and Alhambra - through the Alhambra forest.

She reached the gate to the tourist streets below.

And then into the more big city part of town.

Correos! 10 pounds of stuff is heading home!

After this, I have no idea where Dodie is wandering, but she seems to be finding fountains!

...and drainage canals? No, this is a main river, says Dodie.

She climbed back up, and got this overview of the city.

And she passed the Alhambra - recording the swarms of people at the exit.

All this walking is hungry work, so we went to the supper buffet put on by the hotel. We found all the dishes we tried to be really tasty, and there was a large selection of salads and also fruits. One glaring lack was for anything to drink. It seemed a deliberate policy, to sell bottled water, drinks, and wine. But I was amazed at how assiduously this fluid privation was executed. I beat the game, though, by drinking the light syrup from canned pears on offer. Next time I'll just bring a water bottle!

Today's ride: 14 km (9 miles)
Total: 1,052 km (653 miles)

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John FlecknerHaving been there--albeit without bike--your photos of arches, ceilings, and designs were just the images that most struck me. Only wish I was the photographer that you are. So glad to see you can regroup and carry on.
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1 week ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo John FlecknerEasy to take good photos when the subject offers endless great opportunities.
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1 week ago

Scott AndersonWe’ve been there twice now, but like the Mezqita in Cordoba it really makes me want to return with the camera I have now. These are two of probably my three favorite religious structures in Europe (the third is the Monreale cathedral in Palermo, Sicily). Thanks for showing them to us.
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1 week ago

Andrea BrownI was in the Alhambra in 1998, you didn't have to have a reservation back then, we just bought tickets and waltzed in with our Madrid friends and their 1-year-old baby. I really liked Granada and the "flamenco" neighborhoods. I have a pair of delicate silver earrings I bought there that are a treasured souvenir.
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1 week ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Andrea BrownYes, we bought a filigree necklace for a granddaughter that we hope will become a treasured keepsake.

Such delicate jewelery seems to be a specialty of the region.
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1 week ago