Granada - Alhambra

A small fortress was built in 889 on the remains of Roman fortifications on which in the mid-13th century the Alhambra, a large palace and fortress complex, got erected by the Nasrid Emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar. In 1333 it was converted into a royal palace by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.

After the Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand II of Aragon and his wife Isabella I of Castile. The palaces were partially altered in the Renaissance style. A palace better befitting the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was completed due to Morisco rebellions in Granada.

In 1526 Charles V commissioned a new palace better befitting the Holy Roman Emperor, but this was ultimately never completed due to Morisco rebellions.

The Alhambra complex, having fallen in disrepair, was rediscovered following the defeat of Napoleon, who had conducted retaliatory destruction of the site. The rediscoverers were first British intellectuals and then other travelers. One of them was the US-author Washington Irving, who published "Tales of the Alhambra" in 1832.

Today the well restored Alhambra is one of Spain's major tourist attractions, though tourists with no prebooked tickets, won´t see it all.

The Alhambra seen from the neighbouring "Palacio de Generalife".