The Other Spot

Sunrise the day in Granada, and watchful of their city, always awake, the Alhambra stands proud on the hill of Sabika, among chestnut, poplar, elm and hazel. Beside, the Darro and Genil, at his back, the high peaks of Sierra Nevada. And she, sublime, imposes its respect and elegance Nazari. Since in 1238 the King Muhammad I put her first stones, this architectural and began to stand out as one of the most imposing in the world. Every yard, every room, every palace, every garden has a hallmark, a note of poetry inscribed on its walls in the form of prints, grills, water and flowers.

The most classic is one entry which is accessed from the center of Granada, up the hill from Gomerez. Under the Gate of Justice that leads to the whole, were judged the people’s business. According to pray in the same arch, was built by Yusuf I, and completed in 1348. This tower of justice is characterized by a double rainbow arched brick, in which references alluding to pray to Allah Once we go through this door, we were within three distinct areas: the part of the Alcazaba, accommodation military garrison is responsible for protecting and oldest part of the whole, the area Nazari Palaces, which is the real heart of the Alhambra, for its beauty and importance, and gardens of the Generalife. Also of great beauty and worth visiting the palace of Charles V.

The Citadel:

Once through the Gate of Justice, we arrive at the Plaza of the cisterns, where we can access the area and fortified palaces. Highlight this area especially the Tower and its Patio de Armas and the Torre de la Vela. This stands as a great bulwark of the city of Granada, which is dwarfed there at his feet. Approached it we get a wonderful view of the entire area of the Albaicin. Until recently, Bell served his touch to the evening of the plain farmers collect and went home.

But if part of the Alcazaba reveals a stunning panoramic of all the Vega of Granada, the Palacios area offers a whole swarm of art and beauty. And is that each of its rooms deserve a paragraph, a stop, an admiration, a photograph. Yusuf I rebuilt the Cuarto Dorado and Mexuar, the first room we will meet, and has undergone many transformations over the centuries. Here was situated the great tribunal of the kingdom. In the center of the room there are four columns that rise Mozarabic to ceiling, of the Christian era. The walls are covered with tiles and it is the shield of Carlos V. It highlights a wooden balustrade leads to the chorus of the room.

If there is anything that highlights the work bequeathed to us by Yusuf I, that was certainly the Comares Palace, which was his official residence in the Alhambra. Its tiled walls and grounds on sockets that adorn plasterwork, are true, that becoming just wonder, when we crossed to enter the Courtyard of the Myrtles. In it are no doubt many of the great achievements of art Nazari. At its heart, a beautiful pond reflecting the surrounding columns, its plaster walls were decorated with geometric forms, and they abound in prayers to Allah, His name was due to the myrtle beds bordering the pond, and green which contrasts greatly with the white marble floor of the courtyard.

Mohammed V, son of Yusuf I, gave us another great work of the whole, what is perhaps the best known symbol of the Alhambra Palace of the Lions and his famous garden. This palace is the most baroque of the entire building. AND yet, its light, its colors, its atmosphere, invites reflection, peace, tranquility, and is that both the Palace and its courtyard were built with this idea: that of the rest. Is named after the twelve lions of the fountain jets are at the center of the courtyard and the establishment belonged to a Jewish tycoon. Reza from the same source of the Patio, the following verses, written by one of the many poets who lived at the time the Court:

He is a lover whose eyes brim with tears,
tears hiding for fear of an informer.
Is not really that white cloud
discharging into irrigation ditches lions
and it seems the hand of the caliph, who, tomorrow,
lavishes on the lions of the war his favor?

On either side of the courtyard are worth visiting the Hall of Abencerrajes and the Two Sisters, perhaps one of the most beautiful of all the palace. Across the room Abencerrajes, we got to the rooms of Charles V, composed of six rooms, of which four were inhabited in the mid-nineteenth century by the writer Washington Irving, who wrote his “Tales of the Alhambra”. Finally, not to mention lesser known Partal Gardens, built in tiers, and between the rising and slender, the Torre de las Damas.

Just at the entrance of palaces, we find his Palace, beginning in the year 1526. The building was commissioned architect Pedro Machuca, and is built in Renaissance style. Highlight it, mainly, its circular court 31 meters in diameter.

Generalife Gardens

I advise leaving the grounds to end the visit. And it is to walk through them is a moment of incomparable tranquility. They’re so beautiful, so colorful, so refreshing, that like to forget all the tiredness from all the stress of absorbing their odors, admiring their colors, feeling the corners. See end of the day among its many trees and flowers is an unforgettable sensation. Built in the fourteenth century, the Patio de la Acequia is the most important part. Composed of myrtle, cypress, orange trees and roses, framed in a long ditch that crosses over the patio between crystalline fountains. At each end of the canal, two small cup-shaped sources. With the other, the Court of the cypresses, runs a legend. Under one of its cypress trees, known as the Sultana, the wife looked Boabdil with one of his knights Abencerrajes, causing the death of the lords of this tribe, who were beheaded by order of the Sultan.

His magnificent appearance, its significance in the history of our country, its beauty, its art, poetry has earned him a candidate who has been appointed to be among the new 7 Wonders of the World.