2 DAYS IN GRANADA, SPAIN!
A visit to the Alhambra, walking around Plaza Nueva, and a quick morning sunrise excursion to see Sacromonte. Plus touching local cats and dogs.
Enjoy!
Travel Diaries from October 2014.
Catch up if you want!
LONDON
A Day in My Life in London
Two Days in London
Film Photos
MADRID
My Days in Madrid
Film Photos
TOLEDO
Day Trip to Toledo
Toledo Day Trip Part 2
We arrived in Granada from Madrid in the early afternoon, we dropped our things at the hotel and immediately headed out for the day.
Stopped to get a quick bite to eat before heading off to our reservations at the Alhambra.
Boccadillo with jamon y queso! And a tiny beer.
Following dad with his backpack roaring through town.
Passing through Plaza Nueva!
Being fancy with Google Maps. Not sure if these posts will ever be “resources” for people interested in visiting the city some time, so I thought I’d try to provide more reference points and maps in case!
Here’s the hotel we stayed at.
And a little map that shows the hotel in relationship to Plaza Nueva.
Plaza Nueva activity. Lots of white umbrellas.
Moped city
Past Plaza Nueva, if you follow the little river, you’ll see a Church.
Church of San Gil y Santa Ana
My poor mom has bad hips, so we shared a car to get to the top of the hill where the Alhambra is.
The colors! O___O
Entering the Alhambra!
Here’s a little overhead of the Alhambra! And a lil’ wiki info about Alhambra: “it’s a palace and fortress complex originally constructed in 889 and then largely ignored till it was rebuilt in mid-11th century by Moorish emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar. Then in 1333 it was converted into a royal palace by Yusuf I. THEN, in 1492 Granada was taken over by the Catholics, and in 1527, it became the Palace of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It was rediscovered in the 19th century by scholars and travelers, and now you can visit with a timed ticket entry. History is weird.
After you get your ticket you can wander the grounds. There are a bunch of ruins as you walk, and there’s a bit of info on the audio guide
I wish I could remember precisely what the ruins were. I believe some of the ruins were dwellings.
So one of the first major parts of the complex you see is the Palace. Obviously this isn’t in the same Moorish style as the rest of the buildings.
Mosque turned Church
Moorish gate with hints of the details that once decorated both sides.
Lots of peeps with their little white audio guides
In the distance you can see the military fortress
Cats cats cats
TWIN ORANGE KITTIES on the roof of a snack stand.
So adorable!
Inside the first wall of the fortress
Listen while you hike
Starting to get a bit of a view! (And there’s a fire or something going on out there?)
Gorgeous view of the city and mountains in the distance.
Looking back over into the Alhambra you can see Palacios Nazaries, the older Moorish Palace
Walking around and seeing selfies
Tunnel up to walk along the outer wall.
Gorgeous, but hard to walk on floor
Peeking over the city
It’s very windy!
Looking down into the Citadel, one of the oldest parts of the complex
Just missed her selfie
Windy approach
And the Torre de la Vela!
Looking back down over the complex
Back down out of the tower
Moving back towards the King Charles palace.
Round amphitheater space
Very Romanesque in style
You could walk around the bottom and top floors. And there were little places to check out the museum.
We walked around the circular area, but didn’t really check out the exhibits.
Details of the super blocky exterior
I like this illustration
Tiny flowers dot the plazas
Entrance to Palacios Nazaries!!!! The main event (or at least what I was the most excited about)
Gorgeous detailing EVERYWHERE
I truly wish I knew more about Moorish design and architecture. We moved through various parts of the palace that were used as functionally different spaces that had varying levels of access for certain people, visitors, etc.
Look at this gorgeous ceiling!
The white stone carvings!
To me this makes King Charles’ giant Romanesque Palace to be clunky and clumsy.
Look at the walls!!!!!!!
What’s out here?
Courtyard!
Hi Mama!
To me this seems like a natural gathering point, and place that potentially divided up the sections of the palace.
Gorgeous gorgeous
Here we go!
Out to this big pool.
I think this might be “Court of the Myrtles”. Pools help keep the palace cool.
Sweaty but happy to be here
Very dark room, I know. But I believe this is the room where the Sultan did business and had meetings.
Ceiling in that room! Insane.
Corridor!
Thin posts in the Court of the Lions
This courtyard had a large lion fountain in the center with little channels of water that came across the floor.
Channels with the lion fountain!
So cute!
Cute parents
It’s hard to really capture the ceiling details
Even the light patterns seem designed
Okay, sorry! Too many photos in here.
Moving on to the living quarters.
This courtyard looks totally unusual, but I guess when the Emperor took over the palace he changed the living spaces to be a bit more “updated.”
A bit of a weird design moment in the middle of the complex hah
We left to wander the grounds a bit more and run through the Generalife
Bursting pomegranates!
Some quick details of the Generalife.
After the Alhambra I had to get a snack. SO hungry.
And then later that evening we attempted to do the buy a drink, get a free tapas thing but got totally distracted by other foods on the menu.
A variety of bbqed meats!
Streets at night!
It’s early! Good morning….
Woke up really early and took a cab over to see the Sacromonte district. Zach is really into a film by Jay Duplass called “Kevin” and I guess there is a part that takes place here.
We had to leave that afternoon, so we had to arrive early. It was eerily quiet…
John Divola moment
You could see the sun rising and hitting the Alhambra on the other hilltop.
And all the white washed houses sat in shadow.
Our watch dog
Kids were getting up and out and ready for the day
And we just quietly walked around, imagining what the scene would be like at night.
A new friend
Houses in the hill top caves.
Such a beautiful view with morning light
And that was basically my 24 hours in Granada! Too short! Definitely felt like there was more to see. Plus a city where you get a free tapa with your beer is a great thing. 🙂
Much love friends.
SLEEPY WALDO 