To discover Granada is an adventure, perhaps by the inheritance of Arab mystery that still surrounds it, perhaps by the narrowness of its streets or the treasures that hide. It always has been considered a privilege to contemplate it as it demonstrates the popular saying: "Give him alms, woman, because there is nothing in life as the pain of being blind in Granada".
Granada is the capital of the province. The city is based on the confluence of the Darro and Genil rivers, on the feet of Sierra Nevada and opening itself to its fertile plain. Underneath the Alhambra, its more emblematic monument that is visited every year by more than two million people, it is a city filled with entertainment and monuments.
Arab and Christian City, its patrimony, although differentiated clearly, has the legacy of both cultures. Enriched during centuries by the Arabs, the Christians gave to the city unique monuments that reflect their culture through the dominion of the arts and sciences.
The river bed of the Darro river is the emblematic artery from Plaza Nueva (with the Real Cancillería and the Mudejar church of San Gil and Santa Ana) to the Paseo de los Tristes, flanked by the Bañuelo (Arab bath of the Nogal of the XI century), the plateresca house of the Castril, headquarters of the Archaeological Museum, and plenty of monumental constructions.
In front of the Alhambra is located the Albaicín, filled with winding alleys and last corner of the Islamic city. It was the main city centre of the Zirí and the Nasrid period, as it demonstrates the numerous testimonies that have been conserved. The Cuesta del Chapiz rises from the Darro towards its interior. In this area the Church of San Juan de los Reyes, with the minaret of a mosque of the XIII century stands out, and in the highest part, the church and the San Nicholas viewpoint with splendid views of the Alhambra, and the Church of the Salvador, built over the old main mosque and than conserves a porticoed courtyard of the XIII century.
The Andalusí atmosphere can be breathed when crossing the Albaicín by the Plaza Larga and the Arco de las Pesas, gate of the wall of the Alhacaba ramp, topped by the Monaita Gate. Another of the monuments which you can come across in this neighbourhood is the Convent of Santa Isabel La Real that is interlaced with the Palace of Dar al-Horra, the "House of the Queen" where the mother of Boabdil, last Nasrid king of Granada lived. By the Nueva and Vieja Caldereria streets you can descend until the Elvira street, which connected through its gates the Albaicín with the medina.
Routes that will take you by the Reyes Catolicos street, the Plaza del Carmen and Puerta Real, knot of the city centre, by the Mauror, the old Judería, the Antequeruela, with its cármenes, and the popular Campo del Principe. Or by the Realejo, San Matías and so many other places of interest, to finish by the Carrera del Genil and the avenues that border this river, with the old Muslim prayer room turned into hermitage of San Sebastian and the palace of Alcazar del Genil, the most important testimony of the Almohad presence in Granada.
The Christian Granada is represented in buildings like the Real Hospital and the Monastery of San Jeronimo, of the XVI century, the church and hospital of San Juan de Dios, in baroque style, the one of the Santos Justo y Pastor and the University. The Avenue de Colon takes the itinerary back to what it was the heart of the Muslim medina around the mosque replaced by the Shrine and the Cathedral. The cathedral was initiated with gothic criteria. Diego de Siloé transformed it into a work of Renaissance exposition, ended in the XVII century with the baroque facade designed by Alonso Cano. The Royal Chapel, pantheon of the Catholic Kings is located attached to the Cathedral. It is a building of gothic flamigero style made by Enrique Egas between 1505 and 1521. The Madraza is located in front, training centre established by Yusuf I. The Alcaicería, the market for commerce of silks and merchandise of the XIV century, the Zacatín, mercantile artery of the medina, and the Plaza de Bibrrambla are very near. To the other side of the Reyes Catolicos street, the Corral del Carbon, one of Muslim warehouses where merchandise were stocked.
Granada, a city with a great historical legacy, is also a young and modern capital (of its 236,000 inhabitants, 65,000 are university students). The Park of Sciences Museum is a clear example.
The tourist offer of Granada overflows with culture, entertainment and, of course, gastronomy. To go out around the historical centre to taste the tapas, usually offer free when ordering a drink, is a pleasure for palates. It is also an ideal place for those who want to enjoy nature and outdoor sports. Without forgetting that is only 25 minutes away from the best ski resort of Spain. Granada is a city that opens its arms to the visitors and it offers them everything they can wish.
Granada been has been inhabited for millennia. It was a settlement of the túrdulos, an Iberian tribe; and Greek, Phoenicians and Carthaginians also inhabited its land. During the Roman domination it was Ilíberis and in the occupation of the Visigoths it continued being an important religious, civilian and military centre. A Hebrew community formed a settlement near Ilíberis that was called Gárnata. This settlement was the one that help Tariq to take Ilíberis. In 1010 the city was destroyed from within, due to the internal fights between different ethnic groups and cultures. It was in 1013, with the arrival of the Zirí dynasty, when Granada was constituted as independent kingdom. At the end of the XI century, the settlement already had extended by the entire hill that today occupies the Albaicín neighbourhood, and from the Darro to the Alhambra.
In 1238 a new King, Ibn to al-Ahmar, of the Nasrid dynasty, settled down the Kingdom of Granada, which extended from the mountains of Sierra Nevada to Gibraltar. It occupied completely what today are the provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria and great part of Sevilla, Jaén, Cordoba and Cadiz. It is during this time when the most imposing works of the Alhambra are made and in the low part of the city they settle the Madraza, the customs and the industry. During the XV century, the kingdom was debilitated due to the internal fights between the families of the Court, until in 1492 it falls into the hands of the Catholic Kings, being Boabdil the last Muslim king of the Kingdom of Granada. Treaties between Arabs and Christians were signed, according to these the different languages, religions and traditions would be respected, but they were not fulfilled. As time went by, the Moorish were forced to be baptized in the catholic faith, prohibited the use of their clothes, their customs and their language. This unbearable situation exploded in 1568 with the revolt of the Moorish of the Albaicín. Once the revolt was suffocated, in 1571, the Moorish were expelled and new Christians arrived to the city.
The city suffered its decay in the following centuries, and the Alhambra even served as headquarters for the Napoleonic troops when they invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the XIX century. As a result of the confiscations that begin to take place throughout that same century, Granada is scene of interesting city-planning and industrial phenomena. Modern Granada is conceived then. A new city-planning is drawn With the Gran Via as axis and the squares and gardens were modified following the French and English models.
Granada cuisine is just as varied and tasty as the tapas. It is a style of cooking with a great Arabic inheritance, heavy on spices, rich in soups and pottages and especially sweet-toothed. Products from the fertile plain surrounding Granada is the basis of many traditional local dishes, like soft broad beans fried with cured ham, bunches of stuffed Swiss chard, thistles, pipirrana salad, and the ubiquitous gazpacho. All of it with excellebt bread from Alfacar. A famous speciality of the provincial capital is Sacromonte Omelette, a dish not suited to delicate palates as it is made from marrow, cooked brains, bulls testicles and eggs.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
