Alhambra: The unconquerable city

When Hollis and I went to Granada, we booked a tour of the Alhambra. Because it was a holiday weekend, all of the general admission tickets were sold out (General admission is 13€). But I found an English tour of the Alhambra and parts of Granada for 25€. We got to go into many parts of the Alhambra, some of which are parts not open for public wandering. And it was awesome to learn so much background about Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabel.

We learned that Washington Irving is pretty much the Hero of the Alhambra (okay, so they just call him "hijo de la Alhambra" or "son of the Alhambra"). He lived here for about a year, collecting stories about what happened there. Before he arrived, Napolean's army had destroyed much of the city of the Alhambra, but several beautiful structures remained. He published Tales of the Alhambra in the 1830s. Many Americans thought that it sounded wonderful, so they came to see this Alhambra. This tourism is what helped preserve what is left of the Alhambra to the present day.

Here is Hollis with Washington Irving.

The only remaining original entrance to the Alhambra is pictured below:

I think it's called the Door of Justice. This lower door leads to an S-shaped interior that used to have 5 doors (one at each bend) that you had to pass through to reach the upper door that has access to the city of Alhambra. If an army used a battering ram to break through the first door, they would have to leave it behind and simply hack at the second door (located at a 90 degree angle from the first one). The invaders would have to chop through all five doors while being killed by defenders above to breach the city. It never happened. The Alhambra was never conquered.

In this picture you can see the aquaduct that provides all the water for the Alhambra:

This was a very vunerable point because if an invading army could block this water supply, no more water would be entering the Alhambra. However, there was enough water stored inside the city walls to support the entire city of 2,000 people for nine months. This is about how long Ferdinand and Isabel laid seige to the city of Granada in 1491 before the city of Alhambra surrendered on 2 Jan 1492. Thus, the Alhambra is a city that was never conquered. It was given up. :)

The Alhambra is on the top of a hill and overlooks the city of Granada. This is a picture of the historic Albaicín.

Charles the V spent his honeymoon in Granada. Because of a sickness in the North, he ended up staying at the Alhambra for six months, and so some special rooms had to be built for winter residence. This small room was built to be warm. I got a kick out of the size of the doorways.

Yep. Hollis would have been a Giant in the 1500s.

The Alhambra is a very beautiful place to visit. Especially on a temperate sunny day. Hollis and I plan to go back again to have a general visit so we can spend more time looking at the many details.