The Albaicin, a very old, formerly Arab neighborhood of Granada where our apartment and Spanish school (Escuela Carmen de las Cuevas) are located. This was taken from the patio of the school.
Chris enjoying the school patio.
Granada is named for the local pomegranates.
A street leading from our apartment to our school
Between our apartment and the bus stop is this workshop, which has been making tiles since 1517!
Another view of the Albaicin taken from the alley behind our school. In this arid place, prickly pear cactus cover the hill (the Sacromonte) into which the school is built.
The Church of Santa Ana on Plaza Nueva incorporates a mosque minaret in its bell tower.
The exterior of the 16th-century Santa Ana church
Melissa with a mixed seafood fry (more heads and tentacles than she's used to).
The whole fried sardines are a local favorite (but not mine).
And for dessert, "fruits of the season" . . . an orange on a plate.
A morning market in the Plaza Larga in the Albaicin.
The oranges are local and are wonderfully juicy and sweet!
Doors of old Granada (a carmen is a traditional type of post-Moorish house)
Typical houses of the Albaicin district.
The Alhambra looming over the Albaicin.
The narrow cobbled streets are better suited to feet and mopeds than to cars, though some of them squeeze through.
A typical courtyard of a house in the Albaicin district, as glimpsed through a gate.
Typical Grenadine pottery is often used to decorate walls in courtyards.
Interior of "Kasbah," a teahouse in the Albaicin.
Granada Cathedral, mostly 17th and 18th century.
Granada Cathedral.
Graffiti is everywhere in Granada. Some of it is really good!
This is my favorite graffito, from a wall near the cathedral. Which one would you choose?
Graffiti isn't a new thing in Granada. This example, in a courtyard of an old house, is from the 15th or 16th century.
A typical 16th century facade, of the sort seen on churches all over Granada. (The F in the upper left is for King Ferdinand.)
The main tower of the Hospital Real (a hospital established by Ferdinand & Isabella, now a university library).
A group from our Spanish school getting an early-morning tour of the Hospital Real. (Chris is on the right.)
King Carlos I of Spain, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabela, at the Hospital Real.
A long room in the Hospital Real with the original 16th century ceiling
An outdoor spice market next to the cathedral.
More street markets in the cathedral area.
Granada is a wonderful place for fresh seafood.
Andalucia's specialty: more kinds of ham (jamon) and sausage than you can imagine.
The Corral de Carbon near the cathedral is one of the few bits of Moorish decoration left in downtown Granada.
The "egg-carton-style" plaster ceiling design that is typical of Moorish architecture in Granada.
The Sacromonte hill opposite the Alhambra. The buildings are entrances to cave houses dug by gitanos (gypsies) and others over the centuries.
The interior of a typical cave house, on display at the Sacromonte interpretive museum. (Like houses in the city, the caves were often whitewashed with lime to look brighter and deter bugs.)
An almond tree in bloom on Sacromonte
Melissa under an almond tree
Because it gets more sun and is not irrigated, Sacromonte is much drier than the Alhambra hill that sits just across from it on the other side of the Rio Darro. The ground here is covered with agaves, prickly pear cacti, and woody herbs. (Note the white chimney of one cave house.)
A typical alley in the lower Albaicin, with the Alhambra looming above.
A colony of feral cats in a walled area along the Rio Darro. We loved to watch them play.
Casa de Los Tiros, a 16th-century house museum
Carved and painted ceiling from 1531 in the Casa de los Tiros
The plain exterior of the Monasterio de la Cartuja belies a dazzling Baroque interior (which we weren't allowed to photograph).
A column from an 11th century Islamic bathhouse.
The holes in the ceiling of the bathhouse may have been filled with colored glass.
A style of glass lamp typical of Moorish Andalucia.
The Baroque Casa de Castril houses Granada's archaeological museum.
Courtyard of the Casa de Castril archaeological museum below the Alhambra.
The courtyard's mosaic pavement of dark and light stones is characteristic of old houses in Granada.
Towers of the Alhambra as seen from the Casa de Castril museum
The Alhambra lit up at night.
The Paseo de los Tristes plaza with the Alhambra above it.
Houses and part of an old bridge arch by the Rio Darro at the foot of the Alhambra hill. (The cat colony lives down by the river.)