Visiting The Alhambra Palace In Granada
November 7th, 2009 - Chris MarshallNever one to rush things, it only took us about 6 years to finally visit The Alhambra Palace In Granada! It was certainly worth a visit, and was easy enough to book (For details on How To Book The Alhambra Palace check out this Forum post) and to find it use this Way point (N37 10.417 W3 34.930)
The Route
We took the A92 N that runs pretty much straight from Almería to Granada, and is a great road. That said having recently driven back from the UK via the Granada to Motril route I would certainly give that a try next time.
Took us a couple of hours, including a stop and a light detour (see below), but the drive alone is worth it for those that haven’t seen the Spanish scenery, including a LOT of wind and solar farms it has to be said!
Every time I drive or ride in Spain I am always left thinking how much better the roads are here than in the UK, and rather like in America they are a joy to travel along and make journeys by road so much less stressful than in the UK
An unexpected bonus of this route was finding the Restaurante Venta Dolar (N37 11.731 W2 59.063) where we stopped for a cafe con leche y tostada. It reminded my parents very much of the Spanish restaurants from the 70′s when we used to come over for family holidays. It made me smile, especially the glass case selling every shape and size of knife imaginable ….. not something you would see in this day and age in England I am afraid.
Another unexpected bonus was a slight detour through the center of Granada, thanks to some indecision as to whether to trust the Sat Nav, or the signs, and in so doing I missed a turning!
Still we got to see the center of what seemed to be a very nice town, and found the infamous El Cortes Ingles (N37 10.238 W3 35.845)
The Alhambra
Parking was a bit of a pain, combination of very small car parking spaces and not enough spaces meant we had to wait a while to get a spot BUT there is a pretty consistent turnover of people so it wasn’t too bad.
Wouldn’t say the food and drink options were anything to shout about though, but that is easily rectified ….. take a picnic!!!
Once inside it was about a 15 minute gentle stroll through some very attractive gardens to the Alcazaba
The walk takes you through the residential area or the citadel, where you find a number of souvenir shops and cafes
The Alcazaba
This is very similar to the Castle in Almeria but as they are both called Alcazaba (old Castle) that isn’t that surprising!
The views over Granada are spectacular, although the actual Alcazaba was slightly disappointing in my view. Nothing major, just thought that they could have done a bit more to explain the various parts, but I guess for that they wanted me to buy a audio guide or guide book!
Nazrid Palaces
This is truly amazing. As you walk round be prepared for two things:
- A stiff neck from looking up at all the intricate work on the ceilings
- A sense of total awe at the vision and ability to build something like this so long ago
Indeed as we walked around we tried to figure out what current design would be held in such awe in years to come ….. certainly not the Millennium Dome!!!
Generalife Gardens
To end a very pleasant walk through the beautiful Gardens.
The Video
Video of the Ruins, Palace & Gardens
Final Thoughts
I am not a great sight seer but I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. As a rough guide give yourself an hour for each of three sections, half an hour to and from the car, and an extra half hour just wandering around and browsing stuff, so a relaxing, enjoyable and extremely informative four hours.
Guides and those audio recordings in a wide variety of languages are available if you so desire.
For a history and background information check out this Wikipedia Article
For more photos (143) of our visit check out this Gallery
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