The Alhambra

On the last day of our visit to Granada we had tickets for the Alhambra which was going to be the highlight of our time in Granada. If you love history, art and if you want some of the most spectacular views over Granada then the Alhambra is the place to go and visit.

I had pre -booked the tickets as getting in was not going to be easy during this time of the year as they only sell a certain number of tickets each day, but when I had booked them Nadia’s dad was coming over and due to unforeseen circumstances he could not come over to Gibraltar, so we had an extra ticket.

Nadia being so kind thought to give the ticket away to one lucky person in the queue, which I think would have made their day as the queue was huge that day for the ticket office. Nadia went round the queue offering the ticket but it was surprising how few people jumped at the idea, maybe they thought it was a fake or something. 10 minutes passed and she comes back saying she gave the ticket to a Japanese tourist who happily took it and went in free of charge.

The Alhambra complex is quite big and covers the whole of a hill top and part of the hill next to it and the visit is split over various areas. There is the Generalife (the summer palace), the Alcazaba (the Castle) and the Nasrid palace. We first headed to the Generalife as it is the closest to the entrance of the complex. We walked through the gardens that lead up to it and admired the rest of the Alhambra on the opposite hill. We entered the palace to be greeted by one of the few gardens which are inside, each one as impressive as the last with it’s beautiful flower beds and it’s ancient fountains.

We moved towards the castle and as we made over we all stopped to take pictures of the snow-capped mountains of Sierra Nevada. Inside the castle again the views were fantastic with the whole of Granada laid out in front of us at our feet. At this point my dad called me over to view a small procession going through on of the narrow streets just below the Alhambra. At the end of the castle stands the largest tower of the Alhambra (La Torre de La Vela), my parents and Nadia’s mum were a bit tired and decided not to go up the tower to view the valley below us. So Nadia, her sister and I slowly made our way up the tower, once at the top we were just a little out of breath and we were greeted by the most awe inspiring sight there is on offer which is a 360 degree view of Granada and it’s country side.

After having some photos taken at the top of the tower we went back down to join our parents and move towards the 3^rd and final bit of the tour, the Nasrid Palace. The palace consists of rooms and courtyards where the Moorish rulers of Granada used to live and also this was their seat of power. The first thing we all noticed was that there were a lot less tourists walking about which made the whole tour of this area more pleasant. Out of all the courts and halls the most famous and Nadia’s favourite is the Court of Lions. Nadia like this court because of the lions which hold up the fountain, because they all seem to be smiling at anyone who looks at them.

After the visit as we drove away from Granada after an intensive weekend of walking culture exchanges and the more important part - family bonding.