This one has a more familiar story. It’s Queen Isabella granting the charter to Christopher Columbus to try to find his shortcut to the East Indies. We all know what a failure that was.
A street runs from Plaza Neuva to the wooded park which leads up to the Justice Gate, the Alhambra entrance closest to town. We already had our tickets, so could enter there.
Entrance to the Alhambra woods
This statue of Washington Irving is to commemorate his role in preserving the Alhambra. I had known he was an American author who’d written a few stories set in the Catskills, but it turns out he also stayed in an old palace room here in 1829 while writing “Tales of the Alhambra”. The Alhambra was deteriorating, inhabited largely by donkeys and Roma. His book sparked renewed interest in the compound, causing Spain to recognize and restore Granada‘s treasure. There is also a commemorative plaque for Irving, who later served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain.
We entered through the keyhole portal of the Justice Gate. Built in 1348, it has an abrupt strategic turn right, then left before entering the walled grounds. This prevented invaders from having a clear shot into the compound, and allowed the defenders to hurl missiles or pour boiling oil onto the attackers while they were jammed in the entranceway.
Once inside, we passed through the Puerta del Vino (below) to enter Charles V Renaissance palace. It was built in the 1500s on an old Christian quarter just below the Nasrid city.
The palace is a circle within a square. A 2-story columned portico wraps around the courtyard. A pair of staircases lead to the upper level. The Alhambra Museum is on the ground floor, displaying architectural, ceramic and coinage artifacts from the Spanish Muslim era.
The outer facade is large and imposing. Heavy iron rings are held in the mouths of falcons and lions around the perimeter of the palace.
Back through the Wine Gate looms the Alkazaba, or Old Citadel. Also known as qu’lat al-hamra (the red castle, due to ochre shades in the building stone), this old fortress gave the Alhambra its name from the XIII century onwards.
There is evidence from foundation stones that there may have been a settlement here in Roman times. The oldest buildings in the current fortress date from the 8th century. The last inhabitant, the widow of the man appointed to ring the bell above the watchtower below, left in the mid-1900s when the Alhambra passed from military to cultural administration.
Remains of a neighborhood where military were housed
From the watchtower, we could see the San Nicolas viewpoint and the mosque where we were yesterday...
... as well as the crowds already assembling there. You can also see the restaurant below where we watched the sunset yesterday.
We headed to the line for the pièce de résistance, our timed ticket entry to the Nasrid Palaces. This is the primary reason 8,000 people visit the Alhambra daily. Tickets can be challenging to get. I’d been unable to get the individual tickets so we bought the Granada Card which includes timed entry to the Nasrid Palaces as well as entry to several other city monuments and some transportation tickets.
The Nasrite dynasty gave the Palaces their name. They ruled from 1238 to the Christian conquest in 1492. They were not, however, the first Moorish dynasty to build on the Alhambra. The Ziries monarchs (1019-1090) are thought to have built their palaces there. Each ruler liked to put their own touch on the complex, adding on to or replacing existing structures. The Alhambra was the site of at least seven palaces during the last 150 years of Moorish rule. The sites visitors see today are from only two or three of these.
The grounds are lovely even in winter. The shrubbery is severely manicured.
Courtyard of the Myrtles
Water is a constant presence throughout the palaces. There are dozens of fountains, spillways and reflecting pools. It can heard gently burbling everywhere. A sophisticated engineering system keeps the system running.
Depiction of human and animal figures is rare in Islamic art. On the ceiling of an alcove in the Hall of the Kings, however, is a rare painting of the first 10 of the Alhambra’s 22 sultans on the goat-leather ceiling.
Hall of the Kings
Most Islamic decorative art is calligraphy, plants or colorful geometric tiles. A common theme throughout the palaces is the prayer: Only Allah is victorious. It’s easy to pick out, once it’s shown to you.
The Courtyard of the Lions, named for its fountain of 12 marble lions, was my favorite place in the palaces. Channels in the marble floor carry the water away from the fountain to the various royal family apartments.
(Greg’s lucky king from the cake is balanced on a pole in the foreground)
The courtyard is surrounded by a cloister of 124 delicate columns. The lead fittings between the sections of the columns allow them to flex during earthquakes.
The workings of the fountain are so clever that when conquering Christians took it apart to figure out how it worked, they were unable to reassemble it. It was successfully repaired only in 2012.
There were beautiful lattice windows, detailed plasterwork and intricate domed ceilings throughout the palaces.
Washington Irving’s room has been preserved.
The palace tour ends with the reflecting pool, Muslim oratory and a viewpoint from an earlier Partal Palace.
(The king is taking a death-defying look, too)
A 15 minute stroll up the hill through some gardens leads to the Generalife, a private pleasure garden for the Alhambra rulers. There used to be several such refuges on the Alhambra grounds. The Generalife is secluded enough to feel removed from affairs at court, but close enough to attend to urgent business. It was a lovely place to conclude a long interesting visit to Granada’s crown jewel.
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