Visiting Granada, Spain

After our typical Spanish breakfast, we headed into Granada City Centre for shopping and site seeing. Getting to the inner city is always a stressful adventure but we made it and squeezed into a tiny parking spot underground. Kim literally had to squeeze himself out of the car.

The first thing we saw when we came up out of the parking garage was the fountain Fuente de las Batallas

The domed roof on a hotel

The Granada Cathedral or the Cathedral of the Incarnation - a Roman catholic church in the city 

Ave Maria 

Calle Elvira and the Moroccan quarter

The Royal Chapel is the burial place of the Catholic Monarchs.

A futball street poser

Pizza with spicy sausage and peppers

Pesto pasta

Italian cafe where we ate lunch

A charming church in the heart of Granada with an unusual renaissance design in the midst of all the moorish architecture.  

Stream running through town

Narrow streets for cars and pedestrians  

We are headed up for a view of the Alhambra. More stairs. Just walked up this set...

...then we got to go up these...

...then more...

...then up a narrow street where we had to suck in our stomachs to let this car by...

...and still more steps. Kim's fitbit said it was equal to 39 floors. I think it was more. All I know is when we went up some stairs later in the day, my legs didn't like it.

This is the Alhambra. It is the best preserved and oldest moorish palace and fortress, and the most visited monument in Granada. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in AD 889 and then pretty much ignored until it's ruins were renovated in the mid 13th century by the Nasrid emir Mohammed Ben Al-Ahmar. It was conquered by Christians in 1492 and that's where Christopher Columbus received the royal endorsement for his expedition. After 1492 the entire Iberian peninsula was controlled by Christian rulers. The conquest was followed by the Alhambra Decree, which expelled Jews who would not convert to Christianity. The Alhambra contains some of the best preserved Islamic art and architecture in the world, which is odd because for years, while it was in ruins, it was inhabited by squatters. Okay, enough history for today.

The city of Granada is way down there and where we were before we started that long trek up the hill.

Jamon is the Spanish word for ham. It refers to certain types of dry-cured ham from Spain. Jamon iberico is ham from the black Iberian pig and Jamon Serrano means ham from the Sierra or mountain range. 

You can find them hanging in all the grocery stores.

Sign advertising dinner with flaminco dancers.

14,899 steps today and just over 6 miles.

Tomorrow we head to Madrid, turn in our rental car, spend the night and fly home on Friday.