You’ll find geeky references to the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy in this post. Go ahead and read/re-read it; we’ll wait.
We use the “guide du routard” as a primer to plan our vacations. While its entries are somewhat less abridged than what the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy would give you for a visit on earth, the Routard will give you distilled information on region and cities you’re planning to visit. Its introductory chapters and the first few paragraphs for each city are good enough to let you know if it’s worth stopping there or not.
Karine is awesome. She dissected the Routard’s chapter on Granada and learned something we did not find on the web. The 📍Alhambra, the big UNESCO world heritage site in the city that needs a reservation made months in advance to visit, releases tickets for the next day at midnight on its website. We were doubtful. While the Routard contains very little that is apocryphal or widely inaccurate, it would not be the first erroneous thing we found within its pages. Nevertheless we stayed awake all the way to midnight; the Spanish tradition of having diner at 22:00 did help in that regard. And, well, she did it. We got tickets for a full visit in the late afternoon.
When it comes to why do all this to visit the Alhambra, for one, is its almost thousand years of history. Started in 1238, at the founding of the Emirate of Granada. Two hundred years later (1496) it became Christian and the seat of power for Ferdinand and Isabella (yes the people who decided that Columbus’ idea to get to India the wrong way around was a good). It kept being expanded and becoming a further mix of Arabic and Spanish architecture over the next 50 years or so. All of this creates a good hodgepodge of building styles. On top of that there are the gardens. They easily rival a good number of botanical gardens in design and size (but not variety). The irrigation system itself is something. After all, the top of a rocky hill isn’t the first place one would setup gardens.
After our usual vacation late start and breakfast (what most people would call lunch considering the time of day), we made our way to that famous monument of Arab architecture mixed in with Spanish Renaissance architecture and its gorgeous gardens. While the visit did include more than one fantasy of disposing of bands of strags (look another hitchhiker’s reference) that were in our way, as well as more than one close call with people failing to notice the almost two-meter tall human with a bright orange T-shirt, we did immensely enjoy our visit. The sunny sky and warmth did make for a wonderful bonus.
While the Alhambra might be one of the most popular sites in Spain and getting in is a challenge, unlike Bethselamin (last reference promise), getting out is easy, no recipe required. I recommend going down on the side of the Darro river through the pedestrian entrance. While slightly longer it goes through a series of tourist focused restaurants. They might be overpriced or pushy but they’ll still have good wine and a glass of wine is the perfect way to end the visit after 3 hours on your feet. We took the wrong way and had to double back but the wine tasted good none the less.
Places
Alhambra · C. Real de la Alhambra, s/n, Centro, 18009 Granada, Spain
★★★★★ · Fortress
maps.app.goo.gl
