Granada – much more than Alhambra

Granada is one of the most famous cities in Andalusia, Southern Spain. 
It’s world famous because of the Alhambra palace and fortress, but there are other things to see in the city as well.

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A bit history of Granada for the beginning

Alhambra is known as the place where The Spanish Reconquest ended.
This was the centuries-long process where Spain conquered back areas from the Arabs, a.k.a. the Moors, and returned them to the Christians.
The Reconquest ended when Granada’s Alhambra surrendered in 1492.

Conquering Granada was the cherry on the cake for the leaders of the Castilian-Aragonese Kingdom, Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand V. 

The city’s grand mosque was replaced by the Granada Cathedral. The leaders were also buried there later on.
The city and its residents were forcibly converted to Catholicism over a fairly short period. Except the Jews, who were deported immediately.

For those who are even the slightest bit interested in history, Granada is a must destination in Europe.
Granada was also the hometown of Federico García Lorca, a poet murdered during Spain’s civil war.

How to get to Granada

You can reach the city of Granada easily by bus from Málaga.

This journey takes you along the edge of the rugged, snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains. Granada is indeed located there, in the armpit of the mountains, at an altitude of 800 meters.

We, however, arrived in Granada by bus from Murcia. We had actually already passed by Granada a few days earlier when we were on a shared BlaBlaCar ride during our trip from Málaga to Torrevieja and Alicante.

The Granada bus station is quite far from the center, as is typical for historic cities. We still decided to walk to our accommodation, the *Duquesa Bed & Breakfast, located five minutes away from the city’s cathedral. 

The hotel’s location in an old central building was excellent. This cheap hotel was modest but clean, and placed along a quiet street.

From a Jewish city to a showcase of Moorish architecture 

Let’s go back in time a bit, more precisely to the year 711.
This was when the Islamic Umayyad ruling family chased the Visigoths away from the Southern part of the Iberian peninsula. The Umayyads founded their own state, Al-Andalus. Which is naturally how modern Andalusia got its name. 
Europeans called the Muslims who settled in this area the Moors.

After the surrender of Granada, the Muslims who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism were called Moriscos.
The Moorish cultural heritage is evident all over Andalusia, especially within the preserved buildings but also in the names of places.

Granada was one of the most significant cities of Al-Andalus. For a long time during the 12th Century it was actually a Sephardic Jewish city under its Muslim rulers. The Jewish influence continued all the way to The Spanish Reconquest of 1492.
The Albaicin neighborhood dates back to those days.

Save some time for the city central

The city’s tourism promotions back in the 12th Century were quite undeveloped and Granada’s main tourist attraction was only built some 200 years later, during the reign of the Nasrid dynasty.

At that point Granada was a business hub for the Castilian and the Arab world, so there was plenty of money.
It was in 1333-1354 that the magical Alhambra was built on hilly terrain above the city, as the administrative fortress of the Emirate of Granada.
On the neighboring hill rose the pleasant Generalife, the summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid rulers. 
Both are world famous now and very popular among tourists.

We got to experience this fame first hand when we went to explore these sights ourselves.
We ended up booking some extra nights at our hotel after we realized that one day would definitely not be enough to see the city. 

That’s because there is much more to Granada than just Alhambra and Albaicin.
The old center near the cathedral is also a great area for wandering around the streets, observing local life.
As well as sitting down at a terrace to enjoy some coffee or a glass of wine.

Do not miss the Granada’s cuisine either!
Check out our tips for dining in Granada.

The gate to Alhambra that we were not supposed to find

We started our climb towards the fortress along an endless-feeling stony road.
When the wall of the fortress started appearing on the left side of the road, we noticed a small road also veering toward the left.
We figured this was where the entrance would be.

Indeed there was an open gate in the fortress wall, but no ticket sales booth around.
Still, we stepped in. We thought we would find the ticket booth somewhere within the courtyard. Or maybe entry was free if you just wanted to walk around the outer areas of the fortress?

We did not come across the ticket booth, but we explored the buildings from the outside. We admired the gorgeous views over Albaicin that were gleaming across the river and the valley.

When we came across the path leading to Generalife, we were asked to show our tickets.
But the sales booth was still nowhere to be found.
We started thinking that something was wrong.

We figured out what that was, when we accidentally came across the fortress exit. Next to that saw the real entrance, with a ticket inspector next to it.

We realized we had entered the fortress through some side gate that was accidentally left open. That meant that we were not even authorized to be in the area. We decided to finish our sightseeing tour right there and to make a quiet exit. 

Come very early if you want a ticket for the same day

The exit finally led us to the ticket sales area where the crowds were brushing up against the gate like a conquering army.
We decided to line up for the ticket booth so that we could also visit the inside areas of the fortress.

When we got to the booth, we were asked if we had a ticket.
Well no, we were there to buy the ticket.

The only problem was that at the gate you could only exchange your online ticket to a physical ticket.
The ticket booking should have been done a month earlier.

For information about buying advance tickets for visiting The Alhambra, check out the webpage of Alhambra de Granada.

We were, however, given an option for another day: The ticket sales booth opens at 8 a.m., so if we wanted to line up at 5 a.m., we could potentially get a ticket then from the same-day ticket quota.

We decided to give up and to leave the visit for another time in the future.
At least we had seen Alhambra from the outside, so we weren’t totally depressed.
Quite the contrary:
We left cheerfully for the hike back down to the valley, crossing the equally medieval neighborhood of Sacromonte and continuing onto Albaicin, which rose on the opposite hill over the river Darro.

Albaicin – a place to see Alhambra behind the glass

Albaicin with its medieval street networks, small boutiques and its cheerful atmosphere was the polar opposite of Alhambra and its tourist crowds. But of course there were many visitors in Albaicin too, as it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site (along with Alhambra and Generalife).

Based on the cell phone’s map, we headed to the terrace of a restaurant that was located on top of the hill.

From behind our Alhambra beer and a glass of rosé, we looked over towards the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevada mountains rising up behind it. We declared Alhambra to be quite a great fortress – practically a masterpiece of its time.

Travel reading for Granada

Granada’s Kitchen – a Fusion of Traditions is our blog post that lets you get acquainted with the local tapas culture and restaurants.

Amin Maalouf’s book Leo Africanus gives you the historical background for Granada’s conquest.

Spain also conquered Melilla a couple of years after Granada. You can get to know this North African enclave of Spain in our article Melilla – a piece of Spain in North Africa.

Book your affordable accommodation in Granada here.

This post was translated from the original text Granada on muutakin kuin Alhambra by Mirva Lempiäinen.
Mirva is a US-educated travel writer from Finland living in the French Caribbean. 
Her own blog is at Guadeloupeguide.com.