Granada
We spent last Friday and most of Saturday in Granada. We took a 7:35 train from Madrid and arrived at about 12:15. After waiting for who-knows-how-long for a taxi, we checked in at our hotel. I picked this particular place for its price and proximity to both the Alhambra and the city center, but I found out later that it's in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's "narrowest hotel." It's only about as wide as a row-house, and the room was pretty small, though it was comfortable and had character.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the Alhambra (click for a better explanation) is probably the most popular tourist attraction in Spain. It's a huge fortress and palace complex constructed by the Moors in the 13th and 14th centuries. During high season it's smartest to reserve tickets in advance, and most cases I've heard of people have reserved them at least three months ahead of time. Not having that kind of foresight, we tried to reserve them two weeks before, with no luck. Lucky for us, about 2000 tickets are made available each day to walk-ins. By the time we arrived in Granada on Friday, we had no chance, but we walked up anyway to scout out the ticket office. We found out we could see some things, like the gardens, with a separate ticket, so we decided to do that right then. We also took a look at the Alcazaba (fortress) and enjoyed the great views of the city and the surrounding snow-covered mountains from the elevated position of the Alhambra. This was also cool because between Friday evening and Saturday morning, we saw the views around the time of sunrise and sunset.
Saturday morning we got up early (by our standards) and were checked out of the hotel and in line by 7:15. The ticket office opened at 8:00, and by the time we got in line we were probably 500 back or so. By the time it opened, the line wound around different buildings on the grounds, in and out of sight several times, so I can only guess how long it was, but it would probably be a safe bet that half or less got in that day. They announced the availability of tickets about every 10 minutes, and there was definitely a lot of squirming further back in the line. The whole thing reminded me of the Vatican.
The big things to see inside the Alhambra are the Nasrid Palaces, where they actually give you a timed entrance. Ours was for 10:30, so that gave us some time to enjoy the last part of sunrise, see the Generalife palaces and gardens, and enjoy the views. The Nasrid Palaces are definitely worth all the hype. They're filled with intricate, hand-carved columns and walls of Arabic calligraphy, with many pools, gardens, and patios. Overall, it ranks as high as any site I've seen in Europe, and it deserves consideration for the New Seven Wonders of the World. I'm very happy that we made it inside, as any trip to Spain (not to mention the trek down to Granada) would be incomplete without seeing it.
After exploring the rest of the grounds, including the palace built by Carlos V in the 16th century, we spent more time walking around Granada enjoying the good weather. We had lunch, bought some fresh fruit, and found ice cream (not gelato, but good enough). We also took a walk through the Arab quarter of town and did some tourist shopping. There was one interesting exchange, as we were looking over some Islamic poetry and calligraphy in which between the two of us we communicated with the vendor in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. The guy was more than a little surprised to find out that Kara spoke Arabic.
Late that afternoon we caught a bus to Málaga. Although we only spent a day there, Granada was definitely one of my favorite cities in Spain.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the Alhambra (click for a better explanation) is probably the most popular tourist attraction in Spain. It's a huge fortress and palace complex constructed by the Moors in the 13th and 14th centuries. During high season it's smartest to reserve tickets in advance, and most cases I've heard of people have reserved them at least three months ahead of time. Not having that kind of foresight, we tried to reserve them two weeks before, with no luck. Lucky for us, about 2000 tickets are made available each day to walk-ins. By the time we arrived in Granada on Friday, we had no chance, but we walked up anyway to scout out the ticket office. We found out we could see some things, like the gardens, with a separate ticket, so we decided to do that right then. We also took a look at the Alcazaba (fortress) and enjoyed the great views of the city and the surrounding snow-covered mountains from the elevated position of the Alhambra. This was also cool because between Friday evening and Saturday morning, we saw the views around the time of sunrise and sunset.
Saturday morning we got up early (by our standards) and were checked out of the hotel and in line by 7:15. The ticket office opened at 8:00, and by the time we got in line we were probably 500 back or so. By the time it opened, the line wound around different buildings on the grounds, in and out of sight several times, so I can only guess how long it was, but it would probably be a safe bet that half or less got in that day. They announced the availability of tickets about every 10 minutes, and there was definitely a lot of squirming further back in the line. The whole thing reminded me of the Vatican.
The big things to see inside the Alhambra are the Nasrid Palaces, where they actually give you a timed entrance. Ours was for 10:30, so that gave us some time to enjoy the last part of sunrise, see the Generalife palaces and gardens, and enjoy the views. The Nasrid Palaces are definitely worth all the hype. They're filled with intricate, hand-carved columns and walls of Arabic calligraphy, with many pools, gardens, and patios. Overall, it ranks as high as any site I've seen in Europe, and it deserves consideration for the New Seven Wonders of the World. I'm very happy that we made it inside, as any trip to Spain (not to mention the trek down to Granada) would be incomplete without seeing it.
After exploring the rest of the grounds, including the palace built by Carlos V in the 16th century, we spent more time walking around Granada enjoying the good weather. We had lunch, bought some fresh fruit, and found ice cream (not gelato, but good enough). We also took a walk through the Arab quarter of town and did some tourist shopping. There was one interesting exchange, as we were looking over some Islamic poetry and calligraphy in which between the two of us we communicated with the vendor in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. The guy was more than a little surprised to find out that Kara spoke Arabic.
Late that afternoon we caught a bus to Málaga. Although we only spent a day there, Granada was definitely one of my favorite cities in Spain.
posted by Bob Martin at 2:39 PM
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