The Alhambra

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Well from Seville we travelled to Granada for 3 nights. There has been a lot of expectation on arriving into Granada as the main attraction is the mighty Alhambra fortress, sister to Topiaki palace in Istanbul.

After settling into our quiet and comfortable hostel (at the top of a hill) we checked out getting tickets to the Alhambra as they only release a select amount of tickets over various entry times per day. The earliest available was for Thursday so with a quick extension from our pre-planned 3 nights to 4 was made and note to sort out tickets first thing in the morning.

Being an organised duo, after arranging our additional accommodation we headed back to the bus station to book our onward tickets and finding the biggest supermarket we’ve seen for a long time. Think Big W meets Woolworths and there you have it. Everything is on an honour system. You can pick out your fruits and press the corresponding number on the weight machine and it just spits out your sticker for the cost. Way cool! So after walking around for a little while with eyes wide open we showed restraint and selected what we needed for our dinner and some fruit and headed back to the hostel.

Tuesday morning I set out to go and purchase our Alhambra tickets for Thursday (there was only 35 tickets left when I set out to buy them) so off I go and tackle the mountain to the top to be told that you cannot pre-purchase tickets at the Alhambra ticket office and would need to return down the mountain and phone or web-purchase the tickets. Well we had already tried the web purchase prior to my morning jaunt up the mountain and it wasn’t working so it was double time back to the hostel and phone through the booking. What a pain.

For the rest of the Tuesday we wondered this very pretty city and made the most of having some extra time up our sleeve and sampled the tapas on offer in the afternoon. As it is coming into summer there are shade cloths stretched between the buildings over the roads to offer shade to pedestrians. There are lights and wreaths everywhere you look and it feels like Christmas should be around the corner but apparently these are always up and light up each night.

Wednesday we joined on an awesome walking tour run by a young American lad, Eric. With a natural ease for entertaining Eric toured us through the old quarter and threw out facts and figures with such entertainment climbing up the vertical streets was so much more enjoyable. Some random facts thrown out were; the Alhambra was never attacked by the Spanish only by the Moors in protest of the Sultan; The last Sultan of the Alhambra realised that he was under threat by his people that he allowed the Spanish army to enter the Alhambra under darkness in return for his safe passage out of Granada; The circular tower was added onto by the Spanish and they used the Moorish headstones to build it; Queen Isabella held court with Christopher Columbus in the “Meeting Room” in 1492 prior to his journey in which he found America. There are so many more facts but this is not a history lesson.

At the end of the awesome tour we decided to go up and look at the cave museum. With a short trek uphill we finally made it there to be told that it is closing for siesta and we don’t have enough time to go through the museum properly. Now that would have been handy to have known prior to our trek in 35°C heat so after a break in the shade Jay and I decided to check out some of the graffiti art instead.

Thursday was Alhambra day and after working out the very backward ticket collection system we sat and waited for our entry time. You must enter the palace at a designated time and if you are late you don’t get entry or a refund. The Alhambra was added onto by each Sultan in a bit of one-upmanship going on so the intricate detail from room to room is breathtaking. I think this is one of the few buildings the Spanish didn’t destroy upon conquering it; maybe it had to do with the prior negotiations with the Sultan that helped them take it...who knows.

Once you make it through the palace you enter into the gardens and they are so beautifully manicured and easy to sit and take in the feel of the Alhambra. Everywhere around there are ponds surrounded by gardens and there is constant water flowing around you as well. There are irrigation ruts that are part of the garden that have water feed into them by small waterfalls and they then run into the irrigation ruts and that run the length of the paths and helps sooth and cool.

If you manage to get through all the gardens and the palace you then wander over to the Summer Palace which is on another mountain (thankfully joined by a ridge) that gets cooler winds during summer. Again this has got spectacular gardens, even more water features and an awesome view back onto the Alhambra fortress as a whole.

Finally we covered the battle towers and took in the awesome panoramic view of the city and its surrounds. I didn’t see any of the headstones here that were used to build this section by the Spanish so I may put that fact down to urban myth at this stage till I get time to research it myself.

After 6 hours walking around in some blistering heat how does the Alhambra compare to the Topiaki Palace in Istanbul? The Topiaki is prettier inside and being smaller overall more intimate, I think this is purely due to the fact that it was still a functioning harem into the 1900’s so it could be set up as a true example complete with carpets etc. The Alhambra was not so fortunate in history, and although the Spanish didn’t destroy it they have added their own influence and there is no “life” left in the rooms. Overall I have enjoyed the Alhambra visit and it is not fair to compare these two beautiful buildings.

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