The Alhambra

Yesterday we spent most of our day at the Alhambra visiting the Generalife gardens, Alcazaba and the Nasrid Palaces.

We collected our tickets a day early to avoid the queues. Our session was in the afternoon, meaning we could access the grounds from 2pm and our Nasrid Palaces time was 5.30pm.

In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel. Then we went for a short walk around the city centre and looked in a few shops. 

Just before 1pm we had a quick lunch and then headed up the hill to the Alhambra. A queue at the main entrance was already forming so we waited in line and at 1.45pm they started letting us in nice and early which was great! We went to the Generalife gardens and summer palace first as they're furthest from the Nasrid Palaces. The gardens were pretty although they were created in the 20th century and their style is more like an English garden. The summer palace was spectacular, as were the views across Granada.

Next we visited the Alcazaba which is the towers and walls from the original citadel. It was very hot in the sun by this point and there were a lot of stairs to climb, but it was worth it for the views!

We sat in the Jardín de los Adarves (Wall walk gardens) and had a drink. Then we walked back to the entrance area to look in the gift shop. At 5.30pm went into the Nasrid Palaces which were definitely the highlight of the day! The detailing is stunning with carvings everywhere. We took our time wandering through the different areas, admiring and photographing it all. 

After the Nasrid Palaces we had enough time to visit the Partal area before walking back through the gardens to the exit. 

For dinner, we wandered up some back alleys to a lovely little plaza with restaurants on the hill above our hotel. The food and service were excellent, the ambience delightful, and the city views on the way up and back were wonderful.