Granada and the Alhambra

Looking down on the terrace of our hotel from the Alhambra

In Granada we cycled the 2 Km or so into town, and found the delightful cheap pension, Hostal Landazuri, with a rooftop terrace, on the road up the Alhambra.

Alhambra from above	Looking into a courtyard

Next day early, we walked up to the Alhambra to find a long, scarcely moving queue for tickets. After a time, Ann found a machine that dispensed immediate tickets with credit cards, although it would not give us our old people's discount.

Intricate tracery on a wall	Alhambra from Albayzin

The Alhambra, for anyone that doesn't know it, is a medieval Moorish castle with extensive gardens, set on top of a massive rocky spur. The wonderful, especially Moorish features, are, first, the way the castle is laid out as a series of alternating and always surprising cool rooms and courtyards with pools and fountains, and, secondly the delicate tracery of the walls and ceilings, quite unlike anything in contemporary Christian architecture.

Sierra Nevada from the square below the Alhambra	Albayzin