The Alhambra is composed of four distinct areas; the original red fort of the Alcazaba, the palaces of the Casa Real, Carlos V's palace and the summer palace and gardens of the Generalife.
Alcazaba
The Alcazaba is the oldest part of the Alhambra complex, and it was clearly built for defence. Ibn Nasr rebuilt and enhanced the defences of the Alcazaba, and the thickly-walled towers dominate the cliffs above the river Darro. From most of the town and the surrounding plains and mountains, they are the most obvious buildings in the whole complex, and the views are truly stupendous. Inside the walls, you can see the remains of barracks, bathhouses and underground cisterns, but the most impressive feature is the Torre de la Vela. It is named after the Vela, 'the sentinel', the enormous bell which tops its walls – this bell was rung until recently to announce the opening and closing times of sluice gates on the plains below. It was here at 3pm on 2 January, 1492 that Fernando and Isabel hung their standards and the flag of St James alongside the Christian cross, symbolically completing the Reconquest of Spain.
The Casa Real
[Sabika is]…the garland on Granada's brow…[and the Alhambra is]… the ruby set above that garland.
– Ibn Zamrak, Moorish poet.
The buildings of the Royal House, also known as the Palacios Nazaríes, are the most impressive on the Alhambra hill. Despite the fact that they have lasted over 500 years, they were not built for strength or durability. Made from more perishable materials, mainly wood, brick and adobe, they were intended to be renewed and replaced by succeeding sultans; yet they have survived earthquakes and the successive actions of Carlos and Napoleon fairly intact.
Water is a key part of the designs, in the co
urtyards and inside some of the halls. Almost every square inch of wall is covered in ornamental stucco and tilework, and the ceilings are delicately designed, with just enough light being allowed in to illuminate the intricacies. The buildings are not just incredibly decorated relics, though. Each decoration is a work of abstract art; rather than showing scenes from the Koran, it intends to illustrate a philosophy. A famous example of this from the Alhambra is the use of subtly different patterns radiating out from identical centres. This shows that, although beings may appear outwardly different, at the centre of each is God. The artist MC Escher visited the Alhambra in 1930 and was bewildered by its geometric tile designs; it proved to be a great inspiration for his future work. Modern mathematicians agree that the Islamic artists were centuries ahead of their time.
There is no part of the Casa Real that is not worth exploring, and it is beyond the scope of this Entry to go into detail about every room. It is, however, worth mentioning a few areas which stand out.
Walking through the Palacios, you visit the rooms in a logical way, starting with the rooms in which the sultans would have met with their councils and emissaries and finishing up in the areas which would have been strictly for the sultan and his family alone. Perhaps the grandest room is the Salón de Embajadores, the Hall of the Ambassadors, where the delicate negotiations with the Christians that kept the Nazrids in power for so long took place. The entrance from the main council chamber which precedes it is at an angle to the chamber itself, as the sultan could never be approached directly. Boabdil's surrender to Fernando and Isabel was also negotiated here, and Columbus is said to have discussed his proposed trip to India – which led to the discovery of America – with Fernando in this room.
Further on is the area known as the Harem. This was the sultan and his family's private area, and is both atmospheric and exquisite. Although the lions themselves have been removed for analysis and renovation, the Patio de los Leones, the Patio of the Lions, provides perhaps the most iconic scene of all, and is replicated on hundreds of postcards and paintings. The stucco here is at its most delicate and the use of light in the half-open courtyard at its most perfect; Washington Irving wrote:
It is impossible to contemplate this scene so perfectly Oriental without feeling the early associations of Arabian romance, and almost expecting to see the white arm of some mysterious princess beckoning from the gallery, or some dark eye sparkling through the lattice. The abode of beauty is here, as if it had been inhabited but yesterday…
One of the most exceptional rooms is the Sala de los Abencerrajes. Its ceiling is incredible; 16-sided with myriad stalactites perfectly lit through windows in the dome. The final touch is a fountain in the centre of the room, which transforms the scene from merely wonderful to utterly breathtaking. The Sala was, however, the scene of the Alhambra's bloodiest tale. When Abu al-Hassan's favourite wife, Zoraya, was courted by Hamet, the chief of a local tribe, al-Hassan took bloody revenge. The 16 men of the Abencerraj family were invited into the palace and murdered in this room; their heads were thrown into the fountain, and their blood still stains it
Palacio de Carlos V
Charles V's palace is an odd juxtaposition with its surroundings. All around are Moorish relics, and plonked in the middle is a grand 16th-Century palace. It is a strikingly beautiful sight, however, and is in fact the only surviving work by a student of Michaelangelo, Pedro Machuca. Only the exterior was ever finished; the circular courtyard that dominates the interior was used as a bullring, and the roof atop the colonnade was only added in the 1960s. The Palace is now home to a museum featuring some wonderful paintings and artefacts from the Nazrid period.
The courtyard is renowned for its acoustics, and is one of the venues chosen for the annual International Festival of Music and Dance.
Behind the palace are the remains of the Nazrid town. People tend to use the remnants of the old streets and buildings as a thoroughfare to get from one part of the complex to another, but some buildings are intact enough for visitors to wander around and peer inside.
The Generalife
The Generalife, meaning 'garden of the architect', is the series of gardens and patios and a summer palace a short distance to the north-east of the main complex. It was sculpted to fit with the Koranic view of Paradise, with running water and plenty of shady, leafy areas. The plants are wonderful, not only to see but smell; jasmine, juniper and azahar dominate. If you can find a quiet time to visit, it is deeply evocative; views over the city and plains below abound, and it is easy to see why the gardens would be laid here. The Moors would entertain themselves here with shows of horsemanship, acrobatics and fireworks. Don't miss the quiet Patio de los Cipreses, with its 700-year-old cypress tree. This is where Zoraya met the ill-fated Hamet for their secret trysts, and it is easy to see why this place would be chosen for their affair.
Visiting the Alhambra
Tickets to the Alhambra are limited to 5,100 per day, and you must enter at specific times – 3,000 are issued for entry between 8.30am and 2pm, and 2,100 between 2pm and 6pm. Three-quarters of these are for advance bookings only, which can be made up to three months in advance, and demand far outstrips supply. You can book tickets in advance by telephone; call the La Caixa bank's ticketline on 902888001 from inside Spain or 0034 934923750 from abroad. Both lines have English-speaking operators. You can also reserve tickets online at the Alhambra Tickets website. You must have either a Caixa bank account or a credit card to book tickets in advance
If you haven't managed to book tickets in advance, you ideally need to be keen on early starts. To avoid disappointment, you need to be outside the ticket office at around 7.30am, by which time a queue will already have formed. If you only have cash, you need to join the main queue leading to the manned ticket booths – if you have a credit card, you may be able to circumvent this. Automatic ticket machines are located behind glass screens to the right to the main entrance; there is little guidance, and people arriving tend to join the main queue without realising the machines are there! Find them quickly, and you'll have a much shorter wait.
