As written in the former post, travelling to Granada, to see Alhambra has been a dream since my childhood.
The Granada, by the way, is believed to origin from the spanish word for pomegranate, granado – and some believe it is of arabic origin, from gar-anat, meaning hill of pilgrims. But the most accurate might be granado, as pomegranate is the locally abundant fruit in Granada.
After going to Catedral de Granada, we went for lunch. There weren’t much open at that time, so we found what was open, and the food here was definitely nothing great :-/ But that was what we could get.
Hereafter we met in front of the cathedral again with the guide and all the others, and we went to Alhambra 😉
Alhambra is an ancient citadel, fortress and palace located in Granada. It is believed that the structure was built before the muslims arrived, but it was the muslims/arabs who built the alcazaba here (the fort), and later the palace, which became the residence of the Nasrid Dynasty, in the 13th century, where the first palace was established by king Mohammed ibn Yusuf Ben Nasr. Later kings/sultan established other palaces, and hence there were in total 7 palaces here. The name Alhambra is arabic, meaning “the red”, referring to the reddish colour of tapia (rammed earth) of which the outer walls were built.
When Napolen Bonaparte conquered the moors, he actually planned to destroy all 7 palaces in bomb blastings, but his troops that were about to do this work, ended up blowing up some of the buildings, and many things were stolen. Though, they decided not to blow up the rest, as they thought it was a pity. Therefore 3 of the palaces are still remaining till date; Comares Palace, Palace of the Lions and Partal Palace – all built in the 14th century.
Even in some parts the paint still remains. Incredible!
Moreover there is a huge garden area, where the royal family had numerous herbs and medicinal plants, beautiful walking and resting areas, where you can see Granada.
Visitng Alhambra was a dream coming true for me. Something I’ve wanted to see since I was 10, thanks to my former maths teacher Bent 🙂
