Granada : La Alhambra, Albayzin, and the Andalusian Monuments

We started our Andalusian road trip from Seville with a rented car we picked up in the garage in front of the Santa Justa train station. We left Seville around 13.30 and drove the Andalusian highway  for around 3 hours before we arrived  in Granada. 

Arriving in Granada

We arrived in our hotel in Granada at 17:30 after a little drama in finding the parking space. To get to the garage was not a big problem but to find the space was because this was a public parking area and we arrived in the late afternoon when most of the parking spaces were already occupied so it took us a while to find one. 

Our nice hotel Hotel Posada del Toro was 5 minutes walk from the garage where we parked the car. The garage was located under the market hall and not far from the Cathedral of Granada. We only had to cross the Gran Via de Colon and walked to the small street behind it. 

La Alhambra

After breakfast on the first day we walked first to Plaza Nueva to get the bus C32 to La Alhambra. Since the time was tight we walked a little bit more to Plaza Isabel La Catolica to get the bus C30. With C30 from Plaza Isabel La Catolica it took only 10 minutes to get to La Alhambra, while with the bus C32 from Plaza Nueva, it would take us 45 minutes to La Alhambra because this bus made a route along Albayzin area before it went to La Alhambra.

When you visit La Alhambra, remember to bring your passport with the entrance ticket with you because the staff will check both the ticket and passport at the entrance gate. You will find many tourist guides ready to guide your visit in La Alhambra when you enter the entrance area. This is optional, you can use their service or not, it's all up to you.

Our schedule to visit the Palacio Nazaries (Nasried Palace) was at 10.00. We were in the entrance gate at 09.45 so we had to rush a little bit because it took around 10-15 minutes walking from the entrance to the palace. 

The palace, like you probably have seen in the pictures, was indeed beautiful. The walls were covered with beautiful tiles in Moorish mosaics motives and the pillars were carved in Arabic letters.

The downside of visiting beautiful tourist places is it is always full with tourists. The same thing happened in La Alhambra. Tourists groups were everywhere at this hour so you have to be extra patient if you want to get good photos.

Our next visit was to the La Alcazaba (The Alcazaba), which was the residential area of the royal guard in charge of the security of the palatial city. The Alcazaba plainly served a military function, therefore you will not see carved pillars nor mosaic tiles like you have seen in the palace. But when you walk up to the top of the Alcazaba, you can see the beautiful scenery of the white houses in Albayzin.

 

After we finished with the Alcazaba we headed to Generalife. In the past, The Generalife became a leisure place for the kings of Granada when they wanted to get away from the official affairs of the palace. The architecture of Generalife was quite plain compared with the one in the palace, however the garden was beautiful, full with green trees and colorful flowers.

 

Roaming Albayzin

On our next day after having big breakfast in the hotel we climbed up to Albayzin area to find some miradors. 

There are so many miradors in Albayzin where you can see La Alhambra. One of them is Mirador San Nicolas. From there you can see La Alhambra clearly, better than other miradors in the neighbourhood.

If you are lucky you will find some artists painting or singing there. You may also find some vendors selling some crafts or fake branded stuffs. This kind of selling is actually prohibited. When we were there we saw a police car passing below the mirador and one of the vendors screamed warning his colleagues that the police was coming and then they all running away bringing their belongings. 

Not far from this we also saw the Mezquita Mayor de Granada  

Mezquita Mayor de Granada

After a short stop for drinking at the café not far from Mirador San Nicolas we walked a little bit more in the Albayzin quarter. This area was very nice, there were also many tapas bar and shops. 

Albyzin District

When we walked a little bit more, we came to Mirador San Cristobal. This mirador is located in the high point of Albayzin quarter, where you can see the beautiful view of La Alhambra and Sierra Nevada mountain. 

From a certain point of view, you can also see some part of Albayzin quarter below you. If you don´t like climbing up the stairs or walking, you still can visit these miradors by bus. Take the bus C32 from Plaza Nueva and it will go along Albayzin quarter before it finally goes to La Alhambra from Plaza Isabel La Catolica.

Monumentos Andalusies

From Mirador San Cristobal we walked down towards the river through the little streets. While we were walking we saw a nice residence and we decided to go in. Apparently, this place was coincided with Monuments From The Andalusi Culture. We had to pay 5 euros for the entrance, but then we could also visit 5 other monuments in Granada. 

Casa Horno de Oro

The first place that we visited was Casa Horno de Oro (House of the Golden Oven), a residence with Moorish style. This residence was constructed towards the end of the 15th century and extended following the Castillian conquest. It is constructed around a rectangular patio with a central reservoir. Some of the rooms on both sides are adorned with beautiful Mudejar cross-frames and the Nasrid arches supporting the porticoed gallery of the upper floor are conserved.

After a little siesta in the room we went to visit  El Bañuelo, which was located not far from our hotel and very close to the teteria which we always went to on previous days. El Bañuelo also know as Casa Nagal Baths or Hammam was declared a national monument in 1918 and consists of three rooms preceding a house with a small interior patio. 

The cold, wam and hot rooms were constructed using reconstructed Roman, Visigoth and Caliphate elements. The first room the visitor enters is the cold room, or bayt al-barid, which is followed by the warm room, or bayt al-wastani, the most spacious of the three. While these baths are considered to date from the 21^st century, their typology, which is very similar to that of the Nasrid era, suggests they are from a much later date.

 

El Bañuelo

From El Bañuelo, we moved to Casas del Chapiz (Chapiz Houses). In the past, it belong to two Arab families who became new Christians when the city was conquered. They were called Lorenzo el Chapiz y Hernan Lopez el Feri. The top of the house cannot be visited but there is a beautiful garden with the wonderful look of Alhambra and Albayzin.

The next and the last monument we visited was Palacio Dar al-Horra. This palace was the residence of Aixa, the wife of the Sultan Muhammed XI and mother of Boabdil. The palace is structured around a central patio that features an observation tower on one side and preserves a series of wonderful plasterworks on the upper floor with inscriptions from the Nasrid era. Following the Castillian conquest Queen Isabella I of Castile transferred the palace to the Santa Isabel la Real Monastery and it was not until the early 20^th century that it was entrusted to the state and restored. It was declared a national monument in 1922. 

To be honest, my feet were so tired when we arrived to this palace. I didn’t want to go up but then my husband told me to go up otherwise I would regret it. I guess I would have regretted if I didn’t go up. The view was amazingly beautiful. I could see the white house of Albayzin under the bright blue sky.

Dining in Granada 

Bar Provincias

Unlike other holidays where we normally reserved a restaurant for our dinner, in Granada we just “go with the flow”. We just walked around and tried to see if there was any tapas bar that looked interesting to us. After walking around the Cathedral area for a while, we finally decided to have dinner in Bar Provincias. Why here? Because we saw that this place was busy with people and the menu they had really caught our eyes. 

We really didn’t regret our choice because this place really had great tapas menu. For every drink we ordered, they also gave us a small plate of food or tapa as they say in Spanish. So, we when we ordered 4 menu and 3 glass of wines, we also got 4menus with 3 plates of tapas. This night we had a plate of Tomate Aliñado (tomato salad with herbs), Navajas a la plancha (grilled Razor clams), Chipirones Frito (fried little squid), and Almejas a la marinera (clams in sauce). We really liked this place so much we decided to come back there on our last night in Granada.

  

Teteria Del Bañuelo

After we finished checked in and unpacked on our first day in Granada, we went out to explore the city a little bit. We walked up the stairs path which was situated in front of our hotel. Soon we came to a nice Teteria Del Bañuelo. The place looked very quiet as if there were no guests. When came in one of the waiters showed up and asked if we wanted to have some drinks there. Then he showed us to the terrace and now we knew where all the guests were. Behind the shop there was a nice terrace with the view to the La Alcazaba in La Alhambra. The temperature in Granada was really hot by then, more than 33 C degree but since the terrace was under the shade, it was really nice to sit outside. We had some Baklava for snacking, my husband tried the homemade lemonade with mint and I tried the 1001 Noches tea, or in english 1001 Nights tea. On the next day we came back to this place again and this time my husband tried Café Arabe, or Arabian coffee. I tasted it a little bit and unfortunately, I liked normal coffee better. 

Spring walk in Pisa

On our fourth day in Florence, we made a day trip to Pisa. We took a morning train from Santa Maria Novella train station which departed at 08:28 and arrived an hour later in Pisa. 

Stazione Pisa Centrale

Our plan was to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre di Pisa) and its surrounding, as well as a bit of the old town. To reach the Leaning Tower area, we had to walk through the old town and cross the Arno river. 

Arno river in the morning

Since we were not in a rush, we could enjoy a little bit of the old town.

Piazza dei Cavalieri

A little bit different from the old town which was not so crowded, the Piazza dei Miracoli (the Cathedral Square where the tower is located) was already quite busy with tour groups as well as the student groups. 

Piazza dei Miracoli

To enter Torre di Pisa you will need a ticket. Since it was not a holiday season, there was no long line to buy the ticket on the spot on the ticket counter. If you plan to see some other historical buildings apart from the tower, you can also get the combined ticket which costs 27 Euros. Since we only planned to stay for half day, we chose the ticket for the tower which is already combined with the Cathedral for 20 Euros. There is 30 minute time slot to enter the tower so you have to be there on the designated time. We were lucky, our time slot was within 10 minutes after we got the tickets on hand. However, we also had to rush a little bit because we had to deposit our bags in the cloakroom. It is not allowed to enter the tower with any bags, whether it is big or small. Once you store your bag, the attendant will give you a token which you should return when you collect your bag back. I think it is also safe to keep the entrance ticket as well because normally they write down your box number on it. I had my mobile phone, camera and card pouch with me in my jacket and left the rest in the box. 

Perfect sunny spring weather

The spring weather in Pisa was perfect. The sun was shining and there were some cotton candy clouds scattering on the bright blue sky. Before entering the tower, there was a checking point to make sure you don’t bring the unessential things in. As I stepped in into the tower, suddenly I felt dizzy because of the slanting floor. However this didn´t stop me from going up. I have to admit that I had to make a stop before reaching the top of the tower because I was running out of breath. 

There were some stopping points where people can have a short break before continuing the journey up.  After stepping up 273 marble steps, we finally reached the top of the tower. The exhausting climb and the running out of breath from stepping up the marble stairs were really worth the breathtaking view.

The view from the top of Torre di Pisa

From there you can see the beautiful town of Pisa in 360 degree view and the surrounding Tuscan country side. On the top of the tower you will also find 7 massive bells hung elegantly. 

The bells on atop of Torre di Pisa

The marble steps

The marble steps

Getting down from the tower is much easier than going up, but you still have to be careful because the indelible marble steps are sometimes wet and slippery.  

Duomo di Pisa

From Torre di Pisa we continued our visit to the Duomo di Pisa. Unlike the tower, you can enter this Cathedral anytime you like, there is no specific time slot. The construction of Duomo di Pisa was started in 1063 and was declared primatial church in 1092. Both the exterior and interior decoration are amazing. 

The exterior decoration of Duomo di Pisa

The rich exterior decoration contains multicolored marble, mosaic, and numerous bronze objects from the spoils of war, among which is the griffin which was taken in Palermo in 1061 and later placed on the eastern part of the roof. 

The interior of Duomo di Pisa

There are 27 paintings that cover the galleries behind the main altar, depicting stories of the Old Testament and stories of the life of Christ, were made between the 16th and 17th centuries mostly by Tuscan artists, among whom are Andrea del Sarto (three works: Saint Agnes, Saints Catherine and Margaret, and Saints Peter and John the Baptist) il Sodoma, and Domenico Beccafumi (Stories of Moses and the Evagelists).

The paintings on left and right side of the Cathedral

The Pulpit of Giovanni Pisano

The tomb altar of St. Rainier

You will also find the Pulpit of Giovanni Pisano and the tomb of St. Rainier, the patron saint of Pisa.

After spending the whole morning in the Piazza dei Miracoli, we decided to have an early lunch in a restaurant not so far from the Piazza before we went on to the next place. 

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina on Arno River

We walked a little bit along the Arno river toward Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina (Santa Maria della Spina church). The small gothic church was erected around 1230 and enlarged after 1325. It was originally known as Santa Maria di Pontenovo for the newer bridge that existed nearby, collapsed in the 15th century, and was never rebuilt. The name of della Spina ("of the thorn") derives from the presence of a thorn, putatively part of the crown of thorns placed on Christ during his Passion and Crucifixion.

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina

On our way back to the train station, we made a stop for some coffee and cake before we headed to the famous mural of Keith Haring, Tuttomondo, at the church of Sant'Antonio Abate.

Keith Haring´s  mural Tuttomondo