Granada - the Alhambra, the Red One

Today we did a tour of the Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a huge drawcard for visitors. To protect the Alhambra the tourist numbers are limited to 7800 per day! Our guide was exceptional and really made the place come alive with his passion and love of history.

It is far too big a topic to do justice to in one blog post so I will only give a short summary and add a few of the many photos I took.

In a nutshell - the Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex which was commenced as a fortress in 889 A.D on Roman ruins. After a long period of neglect it was rebuilt in the 13th century by the Nasrid emir. It was converted to a royal palace in 1339 by the Sultan of Granada. At its height the Alhambra complex housed 60,00 people
In 1492 after the Christian reconquest it became the Royal Court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. 1526 saw the Renaissance alterations of Charles I of Spain. 
Over time it fell into disrepair with gypsy squatters living there but was rediscovered after the fall of Napoleon.
It has been a great source of inspiration for writers, poets, artists and musicians since its rediscovery and exhibits Spain's most significant Islamic architecture.

The Monumental Complex of the Alhambra has several different sections to it, the main ones being the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba, the Partal and the Generalife. It is an amazing place and you can easily understand why it has World Heritage status and why it receives so many visitors.
The thing I found most interesting was that all those wonderful patterns on the walls were not just decorative but long poems, histories, sacred messages, mathematical equations and much more.