Alhambra
(August 27th, 2001)
| One of the most notable sights
in Granada is the Alhambra. Set atop the hill La Sabika, this impressive
fortress overlooks Granada as the Sierra Nevadas rise to the West. This definitely
is a must see when you in Spain and its so popular that you have to get
tickets to get into Palacio Nazaries (the rest of Alhambra is
free). It is recommended to purchase your tickets several days in
advance sine the only let 8000 people in per day (this sounds like a lot
but considering the number of people that visit Alhambra, its really
not). Your ticket entitles you entrance on a certain date at a
certain time (with a half-an-hour window) - our time to enter was
between 2:30 and 3pm. When we were in Malaga I tried to get
tickets and ended up having to rearrange our trip a little to put us in
Granada on the right day (That's why we first visited Ronda and then
backtracked to Granada).
We made it into Alhambra by about 1pm and proceeded to tour around until our time was near and then headed over to the entrance of the Palacio Nazaries. Once we reached the ticket person we were informed that we had to exchange out paid receipt for an actual ticket, something nobody told us about. I found out that the ticket counter was about a 20 minute walk away (quick math: 20 minutes there + 10 minutes in line + 20 minutes back = not enough time). I decided that I was going to give it a try anyway - that's why we were here, so I gave my stuff to Anita and with receipt in hand, I ran downhill to the ticket booth only to find a line of several hundred people trying to get their tickets. I tried to do what any person would do in my situation would do; I tried to bribe the security guard at the front of the line to let me by. After several minutes of bad broken Spanish, he grabbed a ticket from a person standing in line and showed me the time on it - our same time - it looks as though there were others in line in the same boat. Plan B: I heard some people speaking English that were close to the font of the line, so I explained my situation to them and luckily they were sympathetic to my problem and let cut in with them. After I exchanged the receipt for our tickets it was time for the run back - Doh! now its uphill on the way back. Anyway, I finally make it to where left Anita and skirted the new line only to just barely make it through (it was a few minutes past the end of our time). Whew! What luck. |
We were walking below the Alhambra when I noticed the moon was coming up.
It's too bad these pictures just don't do this impressive sight justice.
The Palacio Nazaries (Nasrid Palace), the jewel of Alhambra.
Below are pictures from inside of Palacio Nazaries.
This shows the details of some of the wooden doors.
I'm standing at the entrance of the Sala de la Barca (Hall of the Boat) inside the Patio de los Arrayanes (Patio of the Myrtles).
The above two pictures show the details of the carvings on the walls.
Anita is taking a breather in one of the rooms.
Inside the Patio de los Leones is its fountain feeding water through the mouths of 12 stone lions.
Here you can see the entire patio.
A view of Granada from inside.
Now we've gone to the Generalife as Anita poses by some flowers she liked.
A door knocked on one of the doors of Alhambra.