Sunday, November 8
After breakfast, we caught a train to Granada, about a 3 hour trip. Lots of nice scenery including millions of olive trees.
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| Seville train station |
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| A town between Seville and Granada |
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| Olive trees |
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| Spanish countryside |
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| Bullring in Granada |
Our hotel in Granada was the
Casa Morisca, located in a building dating from the 15th century.
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| Exterior of the hotel |
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| Inside the hotel. The wooden beams are original. |
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| Our hotel room |
The main attraction in Granada is The Alhambra, a complex overlooking the city, which contains an ancient fort, Moorish palace, European palace, and gardens. We had a tour of the Alhambra scheduled for the following day, so we spent the rest of this afternoon wandering around the area near our hotel.
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| View of the Alhambra from our hotel |
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| Along a river near our hotel |
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| Iglesia de San Gil y Santa Ana, near our hotel |
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| Obligatory artistic shot |
After dark, we headed towards the central part of Granada for tapas and dinner.
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| One of the entrances to Granada Cathedral |
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| Inside Iglesia del Sagrario (I think) |
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| Nighttime view of the Alhambra |
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| Another night shot |
The next morning, we did our tour of the Alhambra. To visit the best parts of the Alhambra, you have to reserve admission tickets (about $15.00) several weeks in advance, which we didn't. If you can't reserve tickets, the only way you can get inside the palaces is to take a tour (about $50.00), which is what we did. The tour includes a bus ride to the top of the hill and guided commentary, so it's not that bad of a deal.
The
Alhambra consists of 4 main parts:
- The Alcazaba (fortress), dates from the 9th century, and was built by the Arabs.
- The Nasrid Palaces were built by the Muslims in the 14th century
- Charles V Palace (the square building with the circular interior) was built by King Charles V in the 15th century.
- The Generalife Gardens, dating from the 1300's
We began at the Alcazaba.
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| Exterior of the Alcazaba |
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| Interior of the Alcazaba |
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| As it appeared in 1989 |
From there, we headed to the Nazrid Palaces. Several shots of the palaces and interior design are below.
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| A shot from 1989 |
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| That was then |
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| This is now |
Next was the Charles V Palace. For some reason, we only got to see the outside and the interior courtyard.
Finally, we headed over to the Generalife Gardens.
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| View of Granada from the gardens. |
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| Another view of Granada from the gardens |
After our tour we walked back to the central part of Granada.
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| Central Granada |
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended by the desk clerk at our hotel. The entire artery-clogging assortment below ran about $8.00.
After lunch we took a bus to Al Albaicin, the old Arab quarter of Granada. At the top of a hill there is
Plaza San Nicolas, a church/park with a great view of the Alhambra.
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| San Nicolas Church |
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| Inside San Nicolas Church |
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| An alleyway near Plaza San Nicolas |
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| A street near the plaza |
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| Sitting in the plaza for the view |
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| Part of the Alhambra as viewed from Plaza San Nicolas |
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| The Generalife as viewed from Plaza San Nicolas |
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| A closer view |
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| Just before dark.... |
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| A bit later... |
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| Even later |
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| Area around San Nicolas after dark |
After leaving San Nicolas, we headed back to the center of town for dinner and a few more photos.
