I've looked forward to this part of my tour, taking me away from my focus and attention on 'wildness' and 'remoteness' temporarily. I've seen pictures and heard about La Alhambra over many years.
I walked across the road to the bus stop at 09:30 am and after no more than 10 minutes along came the 177 into central Granada. It arrived in the city after just 15 minutes at the Paseo de los Basilios. The next bus, a no 13, went directly to the entrance of La Alhambra. The car park charges are silly round the entrance so go by public transport at all costs! It's good to be driven for a change anyway!
You must book! Entrance times on the ticket are for the Nasrid Palaces NOT the main entrance and for the day of your reservation only! You need to arrive at the entrance about 30 minutes before in order to walk the distance to the Palaces in time. My slot was allocated for 11:00 am.
A queue was already quite long by the time I got there. At precisely 11:00 am the queue started to move and we joined the back of another queue! Once through this bottleneck there was ample time to view all that was contained within the palaces and they were quite remarkable. The ornate and delicate Nasrid workmanship was extraordinary in its detail.
I simply list my favourite photos of the whole visit. Details of the areas and specific buildings are readily available on their web site. This is no substitute for seeing the real thing!
It's worth pointing out that flash photography is forbidden in the central Palaces, nor are you allowed to rest your camera or any other part of your personage against the walls. If you want to take good photos (as it's quite dark) you will ideally need a tripod or some other steadying device with you.
Leaving the Palaces I walked into Granada centre. It's very unpretentious and has a very harmonious appeal unlike almost any other city. That's undoubtedly the result of the extensive Moorish influence. It's certainly very atmospheric, very homely and very welcoming.
You can wander round the back streets and you'll find little plazas with numerous cafes.
Around the Cathedral is a market with one notable stall selling hand-blended teas of all sorts. Expensive though!
One very nice touch (it was quite hot there) was they had hung continuous shading down the full length of main thoroughfare providing protection from the sun for both cars and pedestrians.
I stumbled across a rather bland building behind the Cathedral inviting visitors in for 3 euros. It was in a very quite, inconspicuous part of the city. I went in and the first room contained numerous artefacts and antiqities. Going into the next 'room' you enter a church. This is the Baroque Basilica de San Juan de Dios. I was stunned. The roof high Churrigueresque alter was carved from wood and covered in gold leaf with parts in solid gold. There were Renaissance paintings depicting stories from the Bible embedded throughout all the walls and on the ceiling. I couldn't tear myself away.
I was extemely taken by Granada. On reflection I think its appeal lies in the fact that its history has been preserved and uncontaminated. There's little if any development within the old part of the City. The more recent commercial development has taken place almost entirely on the other side of the E902 motorway and is actually completely seperate.
I slowly meandered back in the direction of the bus stop, jumped onto the return 177 bus and was back in La Zubia enjoying another early evening swim and sunbathe.
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