After another detour to the very south of Spain, to Tarifa, we will travel leisurely in several daily stages towards Granada. Thereby we drive through several beautiful nature parks and nature reserves. Starting at the Parque Natural Los Alcornocales, which begins directly behind Tarifa, we continue through the nature reserve Sierra de las Nieves.
Soon we arrive at the reservoir Embalse Conde de Guadalhorce. In this region is the northern entrance to the famous hiking trail Caminito del Rey. We already wanted to experience this trail from Málaga with our friends. About two weeks ago this did not work because of sold out tickets. We learn from a tip that in the morning the last tickets will be sold directly on site. We want to take this opportunity, so we are already at the entrance shortly after 08:00 – ticket sales open at 09:00. The tip with the tickets for the day was formally correct. Only on the day where we were on site, there were only group hiking tickets left late in the afternoon. With that we have to cross out the Caminito del Rey definitely from our experience list.
Nevertheless, we make a short hike within the public part of the area and enjoy wonderful views over river Guadalhorce, while the sun rises over the hilltops.
From here we take the direct way to Granada. The city and especially the Alhambra interests us and we are excited!

Cathedral of Granada

Granada has an impressive cathedral in Renaissance style. Originally a gothic cathedral was planned. But over the long construction period the plans were changed again which led to the present appearance of the cathedral. The large circular choir is one of the eye-catching features of Granada Cathedral. There are also two organs in this church. Especially the chancel is lavishly decorated and the cathedral also offers a lot of other splendor. Of course, the obligatory photos of the church ceiling must not be missing for Mimi. These ceilings are very beautifully worked out in the cathedral of Granada and impress.

All year-round Mon – Sat: 10:00 – 18:15 hrs | Sun: 15:00 – 18:15 hrs
Admission: 5€ (incl. audio guide)

Mirador de San Nicolás

After visiting the cathedral, we walk a little through the old town and take the path up an adjacent hill to the Mirador de San Nicolás viewpoint. This mirador is still part of the city but offers a beautiful view of the city castle Alhambra, which is enthroned on the opposite hill. Around us are typical white buildings which are rather old and thus contribute to the beautiful cityscape. In front of us is the view over the old town of Granada with many tiled roofs and on the left side lays the Alhambra. For this the ascent in the midday heat is worthwhile in any case.

Alhambra

We originally wanted to visit the Alhambra from Málaga as well. We had the same problem as with the Caminito del Rey with the sold-out tickets. Fortunately, we can travel without time constraints and now we have the pre-booked tickets, so we are finally let into the Alhambra.

15. October – 31. March: daily 08:30 – 18:00
01. April – 14. October: daily 08:30 – 20:00

Admission: There are several different tickets from 7.42€ (evening ticket) to 27.30€ (Alhambra + Andalusi monuments). We have chosen the variant “Alhambra General – Complete visit” for 19.00€ per person. From our point of view it is important that the Nasrid Palace, the Alcazaba and the Generalife are included, as these are the most impressive areas of the Alhambra.

The Moorish style of the Alhambra runs impressively through the whole castle complex. There are several main buildings within the fortress walls. Worth mentioning are the Medina, the Nasrid palaces and the Alcazaba. Outside the fortification walls is the Gerneralife, the summer palace on the castle hill with magnificent gardens.

For us, absolutely the most impressive are the palaces of the Nazarites. The rooms are typically made in Arabic style and show an extremely high level of craftsmanship. The floors are mostly covered with impressive mosaics and the walls and domes were elaborately decorated with filigree stonemasonry. In the stonework, many typical pattern images that we have already encountered on posters, flags and even beer cans in Granada can be recognized. In addition, the rooms were designed with many air inlets and outlets, so that no heat accumulates in the building even in summer. In addition, there are many courtyards and green parks. It is a wonderful experience to rediscover the ancient riches in such a magnificent building!

Through the many parks within the city walls, we stroll leisurely to the summer palace Generalife. This is again a step greener, actually this complex is almost a huge garden with associated buildings than vice versa. The planting is elaborately designed, with greened archways, fountains and many small paths in between. The final highlight for us is the water staircase. The name doesn’t promise too much: the handrail of the staircase in the outdoor area is equipped with a watercourse. Day in, day out, water runs from the top of the stairs over several plateaus down to the beginning of the stairs. The ascent is thus enriched with a wonderful splashing of water and a welcome cooling.

Cave dwellings in the cave museum of Sacramonte

From the castle hill we walk directly through a large gate into the old town. From here, it’s not far to get a completely contrarian cultural experience. Throughout Granada’s history, there have been periods of crass treatment of minorities and unaccepted religions. The affected populations were expelled from their homes and dug new dwellings in the rock on the Sacramonte hill. This is where the tradition in Granada of cave dwellings originally came from.

To learn more about it, we make one of our rather rare museum visits. However, the Museo Cuevas del Sacramonte is also more of an open-air museum.
In the Cave Museum of Sacramonte, about ten cave dwellings are exemplarily furnished and can be visited. Of course, the living conditions were very simple. There are different rooms in the cave dwellings, similar to regular houses. Small stables for their farm animals were also dug into the rock. According to legend, it is from these circumstances that flamenco and the associated dances developed.

There are still inhabited cave dwellings today. However, in the middle of the 20th century there has been a break with this tradition. Massive landslides led to a catastrophe on this mountain. Subsequently, the government banned the cave dwellings and banished the remaining inhabitants from their caves.
This shows that the Sacramonte has long had a troubled and precarious history in Granada. The contrasts with the magnificent Alhambra could almost not be greater.

15 October – 14 March: daily 08:30 – 18:00
15 March – 14 October: daily 08:30 – 20:00
Entrance fee: 5€

Granada is a city we have enjoyed traveling to. However, if we had to choose a favorite between Málaga and Granada, our choice would definitely be Málaga. The tourist opportunities are better and especially the diverse, large old town did it to us. Surrounding attractions like the Alhambra can be visited comfortably with a rental car or guided bus tours. Nevertheless, the side trip to Granada was worth it for us! Only the search for a parking space with our van Ben turned out to be rather complicated. Only after more than an hour we had found a suitable parking lot. Afterwards, we did not move for two nights not to lose the good spot. The parking lot would probably have been occupied with the next car in the same minute in which we drive away.