Today was our day to visit the city of Granada and the most visited site in Spain,
The Alhambra. Mostly built in the 9th century, it is now the most significant example of Arab-Islamic Architecture in Spain.
Before we visited the Alhambra, we walked around the city of Granada. I really loved this city. It was a completely different city than Sevilla. Chris' family historian has traced their family (Perezchica) through Mexico and to the city of Granada as far back as 1745. There is record that Juan Bentura Perez Chica and his wife Ysave Lopez de Haro baptized their daughter Francisca Bentura Perez Chica at Iglesia de San Matias on July 24, 1745. How many people can say they have traced their family back this far? We tried to get inside the church but it was locked, but here is a picture of a Perezchica in front of the church where the Perezchica's worshipped as far back as 1745.
We went back to the church a few hours later to see a crowd standing outside the door. We were hoping that they were about to go in, but when we asked one of the men he said they had just had a funeral and the church was closed. I imagined the Perezchica's congregating outside this church just like this family was doing on this day.
The Perezchica's walked down this road, Calle San Matias, going to church in the 1700's!
The
Cathedral of Granada
On recommendation from Jeff Webb, the owner of our b&b, El Amparo, we stopped for lunch at Bodegas Castaneda, near the Cathedral. We tried "guiso" a thick stew of white beans and potatoes, perfect on this cold day.
We also had a huge plate of meats and cheeses
A typical scene in a bar or restaurant in Spain
After lunch we walked through Plaza Nueva up the steep hill to the Albayzin neighborhood.
On our way up we caught a view of The Alhambra
At the top of the Albayzin neighborhood is the Mirador San Nicolas, a wonderful view of The Alhambra.
We made our way over to the Alhambra for our check-in. There are a limited number of tickets each day and you buy a pass for either 8am-2pm or 2pm-8pm. You also have to purchase a ticket that is a timed entry into the Nasrid Palace and our ticket was the last entry of the day at 7pm.
The first part we visited was the Generalife Gardens. Chris really liked these stone patterns throughout the gardens.
Pruned Cypress trees forming arches in the Generalife Gardens
One of my favorite buildings at The Alhambra was Los Baños (the baths) because of the carved out pieces of the roof
The Alcazaba at The Alhambra
The view from the Alcazaba overlooking Granada
Palacio de Carlos V at the Alhambra
It was nearing 7pm and time for us to enter the Nasrid Palace, the highlight of The Alhambra. The tile work was amazing!
By the time we finished going through the Nasrid Palace, the sky had cleared up and we got a beautiful view of the Albayzin neighborhood
El Partal Palace at The Alhambra
As usual on our trips to Europe, I found lots of cats
Cool flower
Back in Granada, we had an excellent dinner at
Restaurante Arrayanes. To see all of our photos from Day 6 click
here.
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