Beautiful Alhambra

November 28, 2018

Beautiful Alhambra

Hello again!!

As I promised in my previous post today I want to tell you a little more about the Alhambra.

The Alhambra is an Arab citadel and palace. It is the most renowned building of the Andalusian Islamic historical legacy with its many cultural attractions that make Granada a popular destination among the tourist cities of Spain.

When we organized the trip to Granada, my friends and I were clear that it was very important for us to visit this famous place (especially for my friend Ola, who is very interested in Arab culture).

Here I will take advantage to give you a little advice. If you ever think about going to Granada to see the Alhambra do not forget that you have to book tickets about 2 weeks before your trip (we did it a month before ours and at that time we bought some of the last tickets). The general visit (visita general) costs about 14 euros and it was the one we decided to buy. The visit to the Alhambra can last (depending on the time you dedicate to the contemplation of the sites) from 3 to 5 hours. Unfortunately the day We had the visit was raining and the weather was not so good and that is why in some places we could not stay as long as we would have liked, since the rain and the cold did not invite us to stay inside some of the walls of the Alhambra.

In spite of the bad weather, the wet clothes and the cold, we all enjoyed a lot of this place and we left The Alhambra impressed by its beauty and its history.

The Alhambra is one of those places that if you see it from the outside you think that it has to be incredible and when you are already there you just think that it is more than what you expected.

It was originally constructed as a small fortress in AD 889 on the remains of Roman fortifications, and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-13th century by the Nasrid emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada, who built its current palace and walls. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella and the palaces were partially altered in the Renaissance style.

What I liked most was the variety of things inside and the beautiful gardens that surround this palace.

The decoration consists for the upper part of the walls, as a rule, of Arabic inscriptions mostly poems by Ibn Zamrak and others praising the palace that are manipulated into geometrical patterns with vegetal background set onto an arabesque setting ("Ataurique"). Much of this ornament is carved stucco (plaster) rather than stone. Tile mosaics ("alicatado"), with complicated mathematical patterns ("tracería", most precisely "lacería"), are largely used as panelling for the lower part.