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The Alhambra is Spain’s number one attraction and one of Europe’s top sites. It can accommodate up to 7,000 visitors per day and normally reaches this limit.

We purchased our entrance tickets before leaving NZ. This also included arranging a time to visit the Nasrid Palaces for 1pm. Tickets to the Alhambra are purchased for the morning session (0830 to 2pm) or afternoon (2-8pm). Once you select which session you want, you can select a time for the palace. Entry to the palaces is in half hour time slots, but once in there, your time in the palaces is not measured. If you have a 1pm time slot you must enter between 1pm and 1.30pm. They appear to stick to this requirement as we saw a number of people turned away.

We picked the morning slot as we could stay there until 8pm if we wanted. There were however two other venues that we had to enter before 2pm – the Alcazaba (the fort) and the Palace of the Generalife. Tickets were scanned as we entered these venues and we would not have been able to get in after 2pm even though we were still in the grounds. We were there for 7 hours (9-4).

The Moors arrived in Spain in 711, however it was not until 1238 the founder of the Nasrid dynasty (Muhammad I al-Ahmar) set up his court on the hill beginning with the construction of the Alhambra. On January 02, 1492 Muhammad XII (Boabdil) surrendered the Alhambra to the Catholic Monarchs. This was the fall of the last Moorish stronghold in Spain.

Over the centuries there have been repairs to buildings and the addition of new ones. The Islamic décor has been retained throughout most of the early buildings although the mosque, having been converted to a church was eventually replaced when it fell into disrepair. The church was not open for viewing.

We read interesting stories about 2 of the rooms in the palace that we thought might interest you.
1. The Hall of the Abencerrajes: it was in this room that a sultan stacked the 36 heads of his son’s family. He had killed them so that the offspring of his new wife would be
next in line. The son, (Boabdil) somehow survived and ironically turned out to be the last sultan as it was he who surrendered to the Catholic monarchs.
2. The Grand Hall of the Ambassadors: It is likely that two events, both of which took place in 1492, happened in this room. The first event on January 2nd was Boabdil signing the terms of his surrender and the second was Christopher Columbus making one of his final pitches to Isabella & Ferdinand, the Catholic monarchs, for funding for his voyage to the orient, whereupon he discovered America.

One last story, this time about the fountain with the lions (see picture). Apparently the Moors built this fountain such that it operated like a clock. Water only came out of the mouth of one lion at a time (unlike now where the water flows from the mouth of all 12 lions all the time). In the time of the Moors, at the top of the hour the water flow would change from the mouth of one lion to the mouth of the next lion. When the christians gained control of the Alhambra they eventually dismantled the fountain to find out how it worked and it has never worked since!

In total we visited 6 palaces, the fort and a number of its towers, various gardens and towers, ruins of the town within the walls, various porticos, the baths of the Mosque and more.

There is also a Paradore at the Alhambra. It is the most expensive one in Spain with rooms starting at €330.

The Alhambra is an amazing complex with intricate Moorish decorations and design and lots of history and stories. Quite a bit of the colour of the Islamic decorations has faded but there were places where blues and reds could be seen and many of the facades were intact. We are very pleased we made the effort to visit Granada and the Alhambra. The pictures attached do not do justice to the Alhambra, only a visit will.