Alhambra on Palm Sunday

The average visitor to the Alhambra is there from 2.5 to 3 hours so it took us over 4.5 hours. It is both extraordinary and huge and since we’ll almost certainly only see it once in our lives, we took our time and still skipped bits. After all, we can see baroque cathedrals, souvenir shops and tapas bars just about anywhere in Spain but nothing quite like the Alhambra. 

Our 8.30 timed entrance was to the Nasrid palaces so we were up early to walk to the bottom of Albaycin and catch the little bus up the steep hill. Through my mistake we were at the main entrance instead of a more convenient lower entrance. This necessitated a brisk charge down the hill to get admission. To put this in perspective, there is only a half hour window to gain admission and there is no safety net. Lyn was talking to an American woman who had been unable to get tickets at all because they are booked out to mid June. I bought our tickets 3 months ago. We arrived somewhat flustered and walked into an architecture designed a thousand years ago to restore peace and contemplation.

From the beauties of the palaces we went to the fortress, the Alcazaba. With fortresses the bonus is always the views and this was a culture that couldn’t resist installing windows and gardens, even in a castle. In the first photograph below, if you look carefully, you can see Lyn chatting to a group of young English-language teachers aides. 

A pleasant surprise was the Christian King Carlos V’s Renaissance Palace. Inside was the excellent free Alhambra museum. Sadly, no photographs were allowed inside.

By this time, despite a coffee break earlier, we were famished. We walked through more gardens and past more towers and took a short break for coffee and pastries. Then we visited the gardens and summer palace of the Generalife. (All of this is part of the Alhambra complex.) 

Crowds had been growing all morning and it was getting warm after a chilly start. Nevertheless, we soldiered on. It was all amazing but by the time we reached the daunting climb up the water cascades staircase we were both done. We skipped the last view and caught the bus back the Cathedral Square and walked home. 

The Alhambra is a wonder. We are thrilled to have seen it. Even better, we didn’t have to rush or follow a guide with a flag on a stick.

After our siesta we walked the back streets of Albaycin, drifting towards the cathedral. We never made it because our way was blocked by the Palm Sunday parade in full swing. The procession was at least half a kilometre long. There were people wearing the nazareno garb of a medieval penitent with tall conical hoods and eyeholes, then other gorgeously robed individuals, then Jesus on a golden float with a forest of palm leaves, then a huge marching band, then a squadron of Spanish ladies in black dresses and amazing lace mantillas hanging to their knees, then more penitents, then dignitaries and then it all began again because along came the Virgin Mary on a vast silver float with an even better band. Every so often the huge float, the pasos, would sink to the ground so the hidden bearers could rest and get water. These were young men wearing headbands and weightlifting belts. At a signal they would snap the float back up into the air and the crowd would applaud. The whole affair was a masterpiece of organisation and all Granada was there to enjoy it. Serendipitously, so were we.