Our trip to Alhambra was on the 16th of August, 2014 (Saturday). Weather was...clear and hot! ^^
First and foremost, book your ticket to Alhambra online! Get it at
TicketMaster.
It is a must!! You don't want to be disappointed when you reach the ticket counter at Alhambra and be told that the time or the ticket was SOLD OUT!
There is a fee for purchasing online but you are assured of getting a ticket. They get some and you get some! Win-Win. As of writing, the admission per adult is 14 euro and the processing fee for online is 1.40 euro.
REMINDER: When you buy the ticket online, you will be scheduled with an entrance time to Nasrid Palace (Palazios Nazaries) You will not have any option but to follow the time printed for you. Abide by this time or you will regret it! Nasrid Palace is the most worthy place to explore in Alhambra. Trust me! ^^
From the Granada city center, take the C3 bus at Plaza Isabel. Not too sure of the frequency but our entrance to Alhambra was at 2 p.m. and we took the bus at around 12 noon. I guess it was only about 10~15 minutes drive. I might be wrong but it was really a short journey up to the hill.
The bus is small and not many seats inside. When we saw a full bus in front, we just waited for the next empty bus. ^^ We had a lot of time in our hands.
Initially, my husband proposed to walk up to Alhambra. No way Jose! I had hiked up the Albayzin yesterday and you want me to die today?? Lol! I was totally against the idea but I sweetly told him maybe we can walk down the hill after exploring Alhambra. His reply - InsyaAllah. We will wait and see.
Hmmm...I wonder.
Right after getting out at Alhambra bus stop, I saw a long queue outside but my gut told me that it was not the correct queue as we already purchased the tickets online . So, I waited at the queue and asked my husband to check with the ticket officer.
I was right! If you have the online tickets (make sure you print or just show the confirmation email to the officer) just walk straight to the ticket counter. They have two lines for ticket purchase. Online reservation or normal ticket purchase.
We had about one hour to spare before entering Alhambra, so my husband whisked me to an olive farm slightly uphill of Alhambra. You can read the
post here.
It was about 1.50 p.m. and the officer told us to enter earlier because it would take about 15 minutes from Alhambra's entrance to Nasrid Palace and our ticket stated that Nasrid Palace entrance was at 2.00 p.m. We better hurry up!!
By the time we reached the queue for Nasrid Palace, it was already 2.10 p.m. Why? Because we stopped to take pictures of course!! ^^
Nasrid Palace...I was awed by the awesomeness of you!! Plenty of times I almost cried because of the beauty and the inscriptions glorifying Allah on the palace. Finally, I cried twice when I saw this phrase - There is no victor but Allah.
My tiny point and shoot camera does not do justice for this magnificent piece of art. Here are the pictures. Enjoy!
Labels: Granada
