Windows to history exist. There are also doors. One of them is that of Elvira, where a two-hour route through the Muslim vestiges begins, with the Dar-al-Horra Palace as its focal point. Dar-al-Horra was the abode of Boabdil's mother and is the only palace in the area that has managed to stand the test of time. Its tower offers a view of the Alhambra that is unseen on souvenir shop postcards.

After passing the Puerta de Elvira, built in the 11th century by the Zirids and the entrance to the Albaicín and the Medina, the traveller will take Calle de Elvira to enter the Zenete neighbourhood. About 50 metres away is a cistern, restored in 1985, which hides behind its cobblestones the waters with which the inhabitants of the neighbourhood have refreshed themselves for centuries. According to Gómez Moreno, this cistern was built in 1517, although its typology brings it closer to the rest of the Muslim cisterns. From this area, thanks to works that clear the view of buildings, the towers of the Cathedral almost seem to be able to touch each other's hands.

Back to the Muslim past, the steps of the walker head towards the Church of San José and more specifically to its bell tower. Its pristine white colour hides the passage of time. The Christians, after the conquest, built their new temples over the mosques, although, on occasions, they left some Muslim architectural elements. Such is the case of this minaret of the Aljama de Almurabitín (10th century), one of the oldest mosques in Granada built with slabs of stone from La Malahá.

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The same story of churches built over mosques takes place in San Miguel Bajo, where the church of the same name stands and, on one of the sides, a 13th century cistern that must have belonged to the mosque that stood there. Its doorway is formed by a pointed horseshoe arch supported by two stone columns of Roman origin.

Leaving the Plaza de San Miguel Bajo, the walker's steps and gaze are directed towards the Palace of Dar-al-Horra, which is reached via the Alley of the Cockerel. Dar-al-Horra - the house of the honest lady - belonged to Boabdil's mother and is the last of the palaces in the area to have managed to pass through the centuries without its dignity - and its walls - crumbling.

After the conquest of Granada, Queen Isabella arranged for the building to house the Convent of Santa Isabel la Real. This is how the history of the former home of Boabdil's mother unfolded until it was acquired by the State at the beginning of the century, when it was practically abandoned to its fate.

In the rooms next to the courtyard, the perfect preservation of many sections of the ceiling carving, which even retains its original polychromy. On the walls of one of the rooms there are three tesserae "among the best preserved in the whole of Al Andalus", says one of the palace's employees. These are slits made in the wall where perfumes were placed and which are delimited by verses from the Qur'an. The same is true of a coffered ceiling in the adjoining corridor, with an original inscription that reads: 'Allah alone is great'.

It's time to follow the road along the alley of San Cecilio until you reach Plaza Larga, called by the Arabs Rahba Almajara and a place of commercial transactions in Nasrid times. Here the traveller will take the path that will lead him to the Church of San Salvador, located in the vicinity of Plaza Larga. This was the site of the Great Mosque of the Albaicín which, due to its deterioration, was demolished at the end of the 16th century. Even so, behind the Christian façade, the site has a Moorish heart, as it contains the only surviving mosque courtyard in Granada.

The last part of the route delves into the intimacy of the past and focuses on the Moorish houses that are scattered throughout the Albaicín. This is the case of the Casa del Corralón (Plaza de San Miguel Bajo), Casa Yanguas (at the end of the Cuesta del Chapiz) the Casa del Chapiz (at the Peso de la Harina) or the Casa del Horno (perpendicular to the Paseo de los Tristes).

With a simple façade, the houses hold the chapters of the most intimate history, the daily life of the people who wandered the streets of the neighbourhood centuries ago looking for the shadows and the cisterns during the summer. The interior of these houses used to have a rectangular courtyard with a pool -water, of course- and the elevation used to have two floors with a tower open to the outside.

When the traveller leaves the Albaicín behind, he will have caught the discourse of time in full zig-zag through the narrow streets of the neighbourhood.