The Alhambra

Antonio... what are you going to talk about now?

Today I am going to talk to you about somewhere I have been meaning to talk about. Especially if you are studying in Granada, I haven't mentioned it yet. The place is the Alhambra and of course everyone has at least heard of it. I'm talking about a historical monument in the city of Granada, but it also have massive significance for Andalusia and Spain. A monument that hundreds of people visit every day and annually, attracts thousands of people from around the world. There is so much to say about it, I prefer to split it into the different parts that you will discover when you're walking through it, and I have added some photos to make it more entertaining. Firstly, I will talk about how to get tickets and what to do once you first arrive there.

Sure, I know the basics of it, but how do I find it?

It isn't difficult to get there, you have to head for Plaza Nueva, further up Calle Reyes Católicos. Once you get there, well the street just before, turn right and head uphill. Keep going until you see Kebab King on the road opposite, and then you have arrived at the beautiful Alhambra.

It is really worth walking up to it, so you can discover different places on the way there and really appreciate all the monuments that surround it. You can see people coming out of the grounds, mesmorised by its beauty and you can really appreciate the Arabic history it has to offer.

What if I don't know Granada and I have no idea how to get there? What do I do?

It is better not to consider any other ways, instead, just focus on what I told you about how to walk there in the last question. The only other thing I can suggest is that if you want to take a bus from the centre, get off at the Gran Via or the Plaza Nueva, and from there, walk the route I explained.

How did you get to know this place?

Well needless to say that you can find out all you need to know about the Alhambra on many different websites, so I will talk about available times, and what parts are opened to the public and what parts you have to pay to enter. How much you pay depends on what you want to do, if you want to see everything in the grounds then you pay more, and if only some parts, then the entrance cheaper. Then, these are the opening hours, except for the part that is open to the public all the time:

Daytime general visit

March 15th through October 14th:

Monday to Sunday:

• Morning ticket (8:30 a. m. to 2 p. m. )
• Afternoon ticket (2 p. m. to 8 p. m. ).
• Ticket office: (8 a. m. to 8 p. m. )

October 15th through March 14th:

Monday to Sunday:

• Morning ticket (8:30 a. m. to 2 p. m. )
• Afternoon ticket (2 p. m. to 6 p. m. )
• Ticket office: (8 a. m. to 6 p. m. )

Night visit around Nasrid Palaces

March 15th through October 14th:

• Tuesdays to Saturdays: (10 p. m. to 11. 30 p. m. )
• Ticket office: (9. 30 p. m. to 10. 30 p. m. )

October 15th through March 14th:

• Fridays and Saturdays: (8 p. m. to 9. 30 p. m. )
• Ticket office: (7. 30 p. m. to 8. 30 p. m. )

What kind of person would you recommend it to?

What usually happens on these kind of cultural visits is that, even if you think you don't like this kind of thing, you will get there and realise what it has to offer and end up enjoying it. You will walk away with a fresh mind and happy that you spent some time appeciating its beauty. You will end up going there at some point, and you won't regret it. The atmosphere is great, lots of different people of different ages, which have all come to visit the same thing.

As for a particular taste, you don't need to be specifically interested in something in particular, as Alhambra is quite unique and not something you can compare to other cultural places. That is why you have to be open to discovering new things.

Description and the most famous parts of the Alhambra

In this case, I'm talking about how to enter the Alhambra and what is on offer as soon as you enter the grounds. You can either enter through the entrance where you buy the tickets from, or on the road that leads up to it, you can turn left, not to go to the public park, but the other entrance that takes you to the refugee site, and then the Alhambra.

So if you do take the second entrance, like I said, turn left and follow the road and you will start to see more and more people lining up. You just have to follow it and be patient until you reach the front of the queue. Now you can see the old Arabic designs, large shrubs and green spaces that surround everything and this is when you will realise that you made the right choice to come here! It seems that everything slows down, the queue doesn't get any shorter and that no one is moving forward. You'll get to the front in the end, in one way or another, sooner or later. You'll see several huts where you can buy the tickets from, either individually or for a guided visit. You can listen to an audi guide with headphones so that as you get going through the Alhambra, you can go listen to whatever you want to know about it.

The entrance is wide, there is always a queue and the brown and sandy colours that surround the area, as well as the orange blossoms. Visitors come from all over the world and Spanish people themselves from different cities, all which contributes to making everything more special. Talk to them or just watch how they respond to its beauty, it will always be entertaining.

After you have stopped queuing and got your ticket, you might not be sure where to go next. Our guide led us to the left so we could take some photos, to the part furthest away from the entrance, and explained how to leave incase we got tired. The whole grounds is surrounded by walls, the inside filled with large courtyards and fountains, bright green everywhere that is just so beautiful. The guide starts to talk and it explains everything, when it was built, who owned it, what it served as etc.

If you look left, you'll see some ancient ruins that are being renovated, so we weren't able to visit them. You will be amazing at the amount of doors that lead to hidden passages. There is also a wide, spacious lawn that is not used for anything in particular which I don't understand, but I'm sure there is a pretty logical explanation as to why it isn't used. On the right are some fountains, each has a different history. If you continue on ahead along a straight road, you will come to the Palacio del Generalife (I have already written another article just about this).

Should I visit it on my own Antonio like you did, would you recommend it?

Nobody can tell you what to do but you know that sooner or later you will visit it. If other people have to try and convince you to go and you say no then you're missing out! By the end of your stay, it will probably be you who is trying to convince other people to visit it and you will think that they're lazy for not coming with you though they have probably already visited it.

It was quite weird that I decided that I wanted to go because I hadn't thought about going because it was winter but I thought about it and I decided that I was going to go in the winter, which is quite rare because the majority of people go in spring or summer. I didn't care about the sun, nobody had told me that I had to go in the summer. I wanted to make the most of the visit, and for me, I preferred to go in winter, not in spring or summer.

What is the quality of the service like?

High, very high, guides and workers speak English among other languages, the audio guides are really good, and the whole site was really clean. The service is excellent, the workers are happy to help you and you can see that they enjoy working there, throughout the whole day. As for the activities, the schedules are clear and organised well, it works really well despite of the hundreds and thousands of people who visit it every day.

Some background information

On the kinds of activities that are offered, there is no doubt that they are aimed at tourists and are historical based. It's historical because it tells stories about the Alhambra from all of the previous centuries that interests people from all different corners of the world. On the site, you can admire its structure and landscape, walk through the Palatina city, which is the most common photo of the Alhambra, see the famous Patio de los Leones, the Alcazaba, the Torre de la Vela, Charles V Palace, the Hall of the Kings and the many viewpoints that are dotted around the grounds. You can finish with visiting Generalife, the museum and of course the area that surrounds the Alhambra, which of course has its own charm.

And if you don't want to spend much money, is this the right place to visit?

Something important to consider, if you go to the ticket office on Calle Reyes Católicos very early on a Monday morning with proof that you rent an apartment in Granada, you will get a free ticket to visit it on the next Sunday of that week. There isn't a maximum number of times that you can do this, so if you want to go every Sunday of the year for free, all you have to do is get up very early every Monday of the year.

Otherwise, if you don't live in town, that the ticket prices are on the website but I will give you an idea here:

• Alhambra general entrance: 14 euros.

• Alhambra gardens entrance: 7 euros.

• Alhambra night entrance: 8 euros.

• Alhambra different experiences: Night entrance to the Palace and for the day after, a day pass for the gardens, the alcazaba and generalife: 14 euros.

• Alhambra other look: 25 euros.

• Alhambra and the Rodríguez-Acosta foundation: 16 euros.

You can choose which one suits you best depending on what it offers and the price. If you have any questions you can ask the stewards on the day and they will explain to you in detail anything you need to know.

I want to go there, what is the best order to do it in?

If you want to spend at much time as possible there, I recommend making a plan before you go there because I have only spoke about some aspects of it! After I have truly discovered the grounds and seen more photos, I will be ready to tell you what is the best route to take. At the moment I don't have any other ideas so for now, it is best to enjoy it at your own will and make the most of all it has to offer.

Can you describe the Alhambra using just a few adjectives?

• Large: Because even after spending quite a few hours there, you won't have explored it all. Each part has its own history to discover. The quiet areas, corners and hundreds of unexplored parts, you will feel like you haven't covered everything completely and you will want to go back to make sure that you do! And that isn't the worst thing because I have a friend that visited it not once, not twice but many more times after that!
• Enjoyable: Because of its size and all the different things it has to offer, I'm sure you will find it entertaining. If you get bored easily, it is best to get out and go for a drink; this kind of thing just might not be your thing but these things happen. But I honestly doubt that this is going to happen, since there is a thousand and one things you can do in the Alhambra, it is rare if you really don't enjoy it.
• Alive: the grounds, the buildings, its legacy, the Alhambra is simply the most important part of Granada's heritage. We all hope that it will never close or deteriorate, or even worse, remodelled and modernized so it lasts for longer. The amazement on people's faces when they see it is proof that it must be cherished and kept for as long as possible.
• Elusive: you will want to make a clear plan to give you time to see everything, and you cannot just spend a few minutes at each different part, you have to give time to really discovering it. Having said this, those who want to visit it more than once, I have many friends that have been numerous times to truly discover all the different areas of this great monument.

So if I do go, do I do it all at once or do I go back a few times

There is still a lot to say about it, but for now, from what I have seen in the Alhambra, I only have good things to say because of the great service, the speed of service, the friendliness and warmness of most of the staff and how amazing to whole experience is, despite hardly seeing any of it yet. Going with the right attitude is the best thing to do when visiting the Alhambra and in my opinion, try and go twice a year to make the most of it. I have always been very happy with the whole visit when I have been, and you will feel the same when you go there, as every new thing you see will take your breath away.

What would you give it out of 10?

Even though I have only seen the beginning of a long story of the Alhambra, I hope to visit it as many times as possible throughout my life so I can discover something new each time I go. I like to see as much as possible to make it more entertaining, and not have to rush and just be able to enjoy a "simple" visit to the Alhambra. At the moment a 10.

My admiration for this wonderful place started a long time ago, but in September 2014 it really deepened. As I was traveling to Granada on my first Erasmus trip, I could not imagine how much I would fall in love with it. Even though for this first visit, the weather was not great, the place was still standing there, as flourishing as ever. The sun could hide everything, the Alhambra still illuminated all of Granada. What I had always dreamed of was at last in front of me.

But it was on entering the monument that I realised that the magnificence was present in the inside as well as the outside. Through all the history that I, by then, knew by heart, it was impossible for me not to be moved. These gardens and palaces, from Carlos V to the Patio de los Leones, amazed me always more, filling my eyes with sparkles. The rain did not change anything, when one is stricken with beauty, nothing can divert our gaze. A two hour visit went by too quickly to be able to enjoy it thoroughly, in the middle of thousands of visitors, and was certainly the most beautiful construction I ever saw. On returning there in April with my family, the sun and the heat of Holy Week joined us, allowing us to admire the Sierra Nevada in the background.

These circumstances made it even more magical to visit the gardens, by then flowery and colorful, enlighting our journey. The magnificent view of the Albaicin only accentuated my dream to own one of those one million euro houses to be able to wake up every day with the Alhambra. Lastly, as I got to the Torre de la Vela, my thoughts were turned towards the following myth: ringing the bell on January the second would get you married in the year. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me...