With its fantastic views and narrow streets I believe that Granada is the best place in the world that can remind the spells of Tales of a Thousand and One Nights.
Nature was generous with Granada’s setting, placing it at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, from where the city stretches gracefully up to a luminous horizon with the backdrop of snow covered summits; from the north the elegant Darro River, winds through the city between the Alhambra and Albaicin hill. Granada - from the Moorish “Karnattah” the historic Nazarí capital,
was capital of Moorish Al-Andalus for over two and a half centuries. Granada is most famous for the palaces and gardens within the palatine city of the
Alhambra. “Al Qal’a al-Hambra” the “Red Fort” sits on a ridge of a wooded hill, the most imaginative and exquisitely delicate manmade fortress ever to be built on a natural fortification.
Spain, Granada: the Alhambra |
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Albaicín Quarter (Nasrid Style - urban settlement - vernacular traditional building).
The medieval city used to lie on the plain and hills below the Alhambra, and the walled Moorish quarter of Albayzin (13th c. and later) located north of the Darro river on the hill opposite the Alhambra is the best-preserved section of the old medieval city. The Albaicin has preserved some of the atmosphere of
old Al-Andalus. This is the oldest quarter of Granada, steep and narrow winding streets characterise it, with its remains of medieval houses, mosques and baths, a jewel of world architecture; its tangle of Andalusian alleys weave among the city’s carmens, whitewashed walled houses screening luxuriant gardens with vine-shaded terraces. Go up in the small narrow streets and reach the Mirador (view point) of San Nicolás from where the view extends for miles.
From beyond the Albaicin hill come the notorious caves of Sacromonte - the home of Granada’s gypsy population for several centuries. Gypsies expelled from north-west India by Tamerlane found their way to Spain where their rhythms blended with those of the Arabs and Jews to form flamenco.
As you descend, look out for the elaborate wrought-iron gates and window grilles, the town’s brightly coloured tiles in door-frames, or a sudden moorish arch.
At the foot of the Albaicin you come to the axis of the modern town.
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Spain, Granada: moorish Albaicín
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Nearby the Cathedral in Gothic Renaissance style with baroque
interiors considered the first of its kind in Spain
has massiveness appairance.
Madrasa of Yusuf I (Madrasa Yusufiyya; Madrasa Nasriyya - Nasrid
Period - XIV century) The only surviving part of the school is the prayer room, oriented by its
mihrab. Carved polychrome plaster decorations with Muqarnas and Calligraphy cover the upper portions of the walls.
La Alcaicería (Nasrid Period - 15th century) The Qaysariyya of Granada was the Nasrid royal market that specialised in silk and other luxury items, its numerous shops were arranged along narrow interior
"streets". Today its appearance still remind very well the bazaar structure.
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