” Contemplate my beauty and you will understand my being”. This is the first verse of a poem carved on the walls of the Palace of the Lions, which recreates in a codified way, the image of the Garden of Eden.
The royal city of the Alhambra displays a series of palaces set in the middle of a collection of exquisite gardens. These palaces constructed by the Nasrid sultans (13th – 15th century) are the only royal residences of a Muslim dynasty preserved since the Middle Ages and constitute a unique masterpiece of Islamic art.
Their walls are entirely wrapped by delicate decorations with floral motifs and geometric patterns, displaying the same texture of the oriental rugs and fine tissues. They also reveal poems carved in an elegant Arab calligraphy, which convert this architecture in an extraordinary book of poetry. You will also discover during this tour the Generalife palace, outside the city walls, which preserves in its courtyard a unique medieval garden.
The tour includes the unmissable Nasrid Palaces (the Comares palace and the Palace of the Lions), both constructed in the 14th century and the magnificent Renaissance palace of the emperor Charles V.
Inside the Alhambra city walls, you will also walk through enchanting gardens and the vestiges of the medieval palatine city, with its factories, houses and dwellings which once belonged to the servants and the aristocracy.
Outside the city walls, the Generalife is also a must see. This was another royal residence in the countryside, set in the middle of vegetable gardens on a steep hill from which you will be able to contemplate a wonderful urban and rural historic landscape.
All things have a facade and a mystery behind it. Those who discover the Al-hambra´s essence are spellbound by it.
See you soon…
*Photo cortesy from Mr. Antonio Maldonado. (email contact: am.granada@hotmail.com).