Granada, Monday, March 17, 2025
Our trip wasn’t exactly spur of the moment, but it turns out that a long-planned odyssey to Andalusia pays dividends…which we didn’t get. Not only were we unable to book any of the magnificent state-run lodgings, the Paradors, but we were unable to obtain tickets to the most important part of the Alhambra, the Palacios Nazaríes or palaces of the Nazrid dynasty who ruled over Granada from 1232 to 1492 and built the palaces by stages. As we found out, though, there is still plenty of jaw-dropping complex to take in.
The Alhambra sits high above Granada on the Sabrika Hill, an outcropping of the Sierra Nevada. The complex was begun in 1238 by Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar, the founder of the Nazrid dynasty.
Our cab dropped us at the main gate, the Puerta de la Justicia of 1348. The arch within an arch is imposing.
A narrow road leads up from the gate to the main level of the Alhambra. As we turned into the large square, the heavens opened and the rain pelted down…hard.
We ran for it, passing underneath the Puerta del Vino, or Wine Gate. It is now separated from a wall that once ran to the right. It is also peculiarly named; some think that the Granada Moslems regularly violated the prophet’s prohibition against alcohol, while some think it is the result of a confusion of the Arabic words for red and wine. In the written language, the two words are distinguished only by a diacritical mark. The name Alhambra actually means “the red one,” a reference to the iron oxide which colors the clay used throughout the complex. So this gate might simply have been called “Alahambra Gate.”
We sheltered from the storm in the Renaissance palace of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.
Designed in the style of a Florentine Palazzo by Pedro Machuca, construction began in 1527. It is an interesting concept: the enormous palace is square yet contains a circular inner courtyard.
Next stop is the Alcazaba, the oldest part of the Alhambra; the fortifications at the eastern tip of the Alhambra plateau rest on earlier fortifications from the early 11th century. When Muhammed I established the Nazrid dynasty and began construction of the Alhambra, he turned first to the fortifications overlooking Granada.
Looking toward the Torre de la Vela, the highest tower in the Alcazaba.
The roughly triangular fortifications hold a large residential area for workers and artisans; they also hold subterranean dungeons built to hold Christian prisoners of war.
The normal tour of the Alhambra would now turn to the Palacios Nazaries, the palaces of the Nazrid emirs who ruled over Granada. Tickets for this part of the Alhambra complex sell out months in advance, and we were unable to secure them.
Behind the Palace of Charles V sits the Church of Sta. Maria, built on top of the ruins of the main mosque.
The route then enters the Portal Gardens, which lead to the Partal Palace.
The Partal Palace is a pavilion structure on the edge of the Alhambra walls. It was built by Muhammad III, which makes it the oldest surviving palace in the Alhambra today.
The path then runs through gardens placed along the walls of the Alhambra; built into the walls are a number of towers that actually served as residences for members of the royal family.
These are some of these small towers; below them to the right is a sunken road used to move troops rapidly along the wall.
Leaving the Alhambra by a modern bridge, one crosses to the other side of a small valley and find the “New Gardens” of the Generalife. The Generalife was built by the Nazrid emirs from the late thirteenth into the early fourteenth century as an Almunia, a royal retreat that also served as a farm. The new gardens are 20th century creations.
The palace itself is entered through a stable (the sultans would ride across from the Alhambra) and a series of fore chambers; the core of the palace is the Patio de la Acequia (“Courtyard of the Water Canal”).
Aligned with the middle of the courtyard is also a small belvedere or mirador (lookout) chamber that projects outward from the western wall of the garden. This is probably the earliest known mirador in Nasrid architecture.
A series of small room leads to what is known as the Royal Chamber, decorated with stucco work called Sebka, a repeating series of rhombuses and arabesques.
At a level above the Patio de la Acequia is the Patio de la Sultana. We don’t know the original design and construction; what we see dates from after the Nasrid period.
The Alhambra is a remarkable creation…and we hadn’t even seen its best side.
After our siesta, we crossed the street to visit the Capilla Real, or Royal Chapel of the cathedral.
No photos or videos are allowed inside, so everything you see here is “borrowed” from the web. The chapel was built explicitly as a funerary chapel for Isabel and Ferdinand; Isabel died before its completion, and her remains moved here later. Constructed between 1505 and 1517, the chapel is a prime example of Isabelline Gothic, a style that characterized many of the projects of the Catholic Monarchs; it combines elements of late gothic, flamboyant gothic, renaissance, and Mudéjar architecture.
The first view into the nave is dominated by a remarkable rood screen. The image below shows not only the screen but the ribbed vaulting in Isabeline style.
The funerary chapel contains the funerary monuments of Isabel and Ferdinand as well as those of Juana I (the mad) and her husband, Phillip I. Quick historical sidenote for those who, like me, are not versed in the complexity of Spanish royalty: the marriage of Isabel, Queen of Castile, and Ferdinand, King of Aragon, the Catholic Monarchs, brought about the de facto unification of most of the Iberian Peninsula. After the early deaths of two of their children and a nephew, all heirs to the throne, their daughter Juana became nominal Queen of Castile and Aragon. She was declared insane, though, and confined in a royal palace, serving as queen of Castile under thee regency of Ferdinand and, after his death, as co-monarch with her son Philip II, the guy we know from Velasquez portraits. OK, pardon the intrusion.
These are the monuments themselves, looking back at the rood screen; Ferdinand and Isabela are on the right, Juana and Philip on the left.
The staircases in front lead down to the crypt, where the actual sarcophagi are held. And here are the Catholic Monarchs themselves. They were by any measure quite a remarkable couple.
The chapel’s sacristy is unusually interesting; in addition to the robes, crowns, and royal implements of the Catholic Monarchs, it holds a small but exquisite painting collection, centered around a Dirk Bouts triptych of the Deposition from the Cross (we saw a replica; the original is in Brussels for restoration). The gallery has paintings by Botticelli, Perugino, Hans Memling, and Rogier van Der Weyden.
Dinner was at a lovely modern restaurant called the Atelier Casa de Comidas.
The menu is designed for sharing, and that we did. We started with a gravlax of trout with fermented blueberries and a sauce of vermouth and vodka, and went on to a great duck breast in an incredible sauce of vermouth, a “botanical” oil, corn, and black pepper. And then a strawberry vacherin with, wait for it, green curry ice cream…which actually worked as a counterbalance to the sweetness of the meringue and berries. The staff was lovely: friendly, helpful, engaged.