Today was our day to see the famous Alhambra in Granada! I took waaay too many photos, so I put a representative selection here - the rest are in the Spain 2023 album (right column). It really paid off to read the Wikipedia article before visiting (but I still missed some things (I didn't really "see" the wall that indicates the direction of Mecca, for example).
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| Lion fountain |
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| Ravine between Summer palace and government palace |
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| Hedges trimmed as a wall! |
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| Carved ceiling and walls |
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| Garden |
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| More ceilings |
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| Enjoy the view |
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| Ceiling |
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| Town view |
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| Carved motif |
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| Ceilings |
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| Super 3D carved ceilings |
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| Reflecting pool |
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| Reflecting Pool and me |
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| A place to see but not be seen |
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| Carved ceiling |
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| Lion courtyard |
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| More 3D |
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| Lion fountain |
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| 3D |
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| Lion courtyard |
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| Ceiling story |
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| Fantastic garden! |
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| Reflecting Pool |
This was another lesson in knowing our limits - sooo many people take 4+ hours to visit this site. We knew we couldn't do that! We decided early on to skip the Generalife (summer palace), and just focus on the Nasrid palaces. We said that we would go through the museum if we could after the important part. We spent 2 hours from parking to leaving, and we were done in. This really just means that we will add another stop in Granada to our return trip 🙂.
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To note:
We bought out tickets in advance online, giving us a QR code - this and any ID gets you in.
This being Winter, there was *zero* wait time to enter at the main gate, but we got in line a bit too early at the entrance to the Nasrid palaces. The ticket is timed. It turns out you can't enter early, but certainly you get 15 minutes after your official entry time to do it. People don't know this (we didn't), and so you wait in line a lot longer than necessary 😔. Fortunately, there are benches! After that gatepost, we spent about an hour in that area - there are chairs and benches scattered around, and we took full advantage. Some people brought their lunches (but be careful of the allowed bag size) inside, then ate in the designated area before really starting their tour. This seems smart - we gobbled our wrap-lunch at the car before heading in (it worked too, but we probably could have eaten them while standing in line.
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From signs :
The three alcoves of the Hall of the Kings form a single space within the Palace of the Lions and are covered by wooden vaults with paintings on leather. The paintings are known as the Fountain of Youth, the Kings and the Lady Playing Chess.
The wall facings of these three rooms are covered with polychrome plasterwork, with relief decoration on the upper parts and flat plasterwork with incised designs on the lower walls. Although most of the plasterwork dates from the Nasrid period, numerous later interventions have been documented, such as volume replacements, whitewashing, re-polychroming, = reinforcements with metal structures and the application of artificial patinas.
The treatment, based on previous studies, is limited to cleaning consolidation and recovery of the original polychromy, respecting the historical interventions. The restoration will allow the plasterwork to be revalued, enhancing the delicacy of its lines and volumes and recovering its luminosity and beauty
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