The Nasrid and Charles V Palaces: Alhambra Audio Tour with Context

(47 reviews)

Granada audio tour: The Nasrid and Charles V Palaces: Alhambra Audio Tour with Context

This is an indoor tour

Granada

Spain

$19.99

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About the Tour

Andalusia’s enchanting palace complex and citadel is Granada’s most popular attraction, drawing around three million visitors a year. But the Alhambra was once an ancient city in its own right, completely independent from Granada, with its own laws, royal guard, and government. On this walking tour with Blanca Espigares Rooney, a Context Travel expert and architecture scholar whose family is from Alhambra, you‘ll see part of the former city and its famous Nasrid palaces, and trace their evolution through time. With Blanca‘s help, you‘ll learn to decode Arabic symbols and spot the Nasrid legacy left behind in these astonishing palaces. You’ll also find out how Queen Isabella‘s decree in 1492 ended up preserving these ancient structures by allowing buildings to be adapted, but not destroyed.

Starting in front of the Puerta de la Justicia (Gate of Justice), you‘ll delve into some of the differences between Eastern and Western medieval architecture, including hidden entrances and multifunctional rooms. As you make your way to the Palace of Charles V, now the Museum of the Alhambra among other things, you‘ll hear how the city went from being a defensive bastion in the 11th century to to the splendor of the Nasrid dynasty and then an embodiment of Renaissance opulence. You‘ll be guided through the museum before entering the Nasrid Palaces, where the story of this architectural wonder unfolds. You‘ll see how the palaces were adapted through the centuries and where Washington Irving penned his famous Tales of the Alhambra. Along the way, Blanca will show you breathtaking views from Albaicin, this ancient hilltop district. She’ll shed light on the symbols in every palace nook, from the regal lion statues in the Patio de los Leones to the celestial Arab star depicted on the palaces’ vaults. You’ll gain an understanding of the Alhambra‘s evolution across four distinctive periods, each of which made architectural contributions that echoed the spirit of the era.

On this Alhambra audio tour, you‘ll:

Learn to identify and read one of the most repeated Arabic phrases throughout the palaces
Delve into the nuances between Eastern and Western medieval architecture, which include obscure entrances and multifunctional rooms
Observe and learn about taracea, a beautiful woodwork technique that involves inlaying small pieces of different wood
Learn to distinguish four different periods in the Alhambra’s history
Understand how bright colors, large quantities of water, and hydraulic control were signs of wealth and power
Hear about the legacy of Charles V, who orchestrated the construction of the palace while safeguarding ancient Nasrid marvels
Stand in awe before the grandeur of the world‘s largest muqarnas (a vaulted stucco) in the Palace of the Lions

By the end of this 90-minute tour, you‘ll feel as if you’ve peered into the heart of the Alhambra to gain a sense of the intricate stories and architectural splendor that have shaped this enigmatic monument through the ages.

Please note: An admission ticket is required to access La Alhambra. If you buy tickets with access at a certain time, please start this tour at least 45 minutes before your official visit begins.

Tour Producer

Context Travel

92 tours

Context was founded in Rome in 2003 by Paul Bennett and Lani Bevacqua an expat couple eager to curate experiences for travelers, not tourists. Since then Context has taken over 200,000 people to 60+ destinations around the world – accompanied by thousands of leading experts. What started as a dream to create cross-cultural connections is now a worldwide network and community of thoughtful, engaged travelers and experts.

Join a live private or small group tour in destinations around the world at contexttravel.com.

Preview Location

Location 29

Lions courtyard and fountain

We're going to pay special attention to the unique Fountain of the Lions. We see that it's surrounded by 12 lions who are pouring water from their mouths. But the fountains of the 12 lions are also connected to the fountains that we see in the single piece of marble above the ... We're going to pay special attention to the unique Fountain of the Lions. We see that it's surrounded by 12 lions who are pouring water from their mouths. But the fountains of the 12 lions are also connected to the fountains that we see in the single piece of marble above the fountain bowl, and they're also connected to the other 11 fountains distributed within the palace.

Here the display of power is not, as in the previous palace, in the amount of water, but in something much more subtle: hydraulic control. It's not easy to synchronize all these fountains distributed at different heights in the palace and also maintain this harmony that we see today. This palace, due to its typology, its decoration and its water engineering, is a palace that boasts greatness since its beginning.

Let's now look at the lions. Each one is unique. The lions have different heights, different faces, eyes, noses, and ears. And each one is a unique piece of marble. This tells us that the artist or artists who sculpted them traveled to the marble quarry to be able to choose exactly how the piece was cut for each lion so that the marble veins would accompany the sculpture. We can see that the gray veins make the shape of the lion's back, and the muscles of the hind legs and sometimes they also accompany the fur itself. Do you remember how the lions' muscles had been highlighted in the trough we saw in the museum? Here we see that it is the same but much more complicated, using the gray veins.

The lion is a widely used symbol, we've seen it inside the museum and it's used in many cultures. Obviously, it's a symbol of power, a symbol of royalty and an animal that over the centuries has been used in many decorations. We've already seen inside the museum that the anatomy of the lion was known, so the abstraction that we're seeing here is most likely another influence that arrived by that highway of knowledge known as the Mediterranean Sea and most likely Persian influence.

There's another beautiful detail that I'd like to share with you.

In 2015, a poem was discovered in Italy that was written in the Alhambra in 1494. In that year, an Italian ambassador visited the Alhambra accompanied by his poet. He wrote a poem here that, although it's not a reliable scientific source, does raise certain questions about how this source of water worked.

He tells us that the sultan brought his guests here to impress them and that he knew which lion's mouth to cover so that the hydraulic circuit would immediately change and the water would be concentrated in the central spout of the tall fountain. All the force of the water in that fountain that had a bronze eagle on top that, due to the force of the water, began to move its wings.

It's true that it sounds very fancy and it's difficult, as I said, to scientifically trust a poem because fantasy is what fuels poetry. But it's also true that they had sufficient knowledge of hydraulic engineering to be able to carry out this system and that we know that in the Alhambra there were automatons, that is, robots that worked with sand or wind and that delighted the guests and the Nasrid court.

Now, let's head to the rooms on the right from the Abencerrajes one, on the opposite side to the entrance of this palace. It's called the Hall of the Kings. And once there, press play again. Read More

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Major Landmarks

El Partal
Alhambra
Puerta de la Justicia
Palace of Charles V
Museo de la Alhambra
Nasrid Palaces
Mexuar room
Patio de los Arrayanes
Sala de la Barca
Torre de Comares
Sala de los Mocárabes
Patio de Los Leones
Sala de los Reyes
Baños de Comares
Mirador de Lindaraja

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
C. Real de la Alhambra, s/n, Centro, 18009 Granada, Spain
Total distance

311m
Final location
C. Real de la Alhambra, s/n, Centro, 18009 Granada, Spain
Distance back to start location

0m

Directions to Starting Point

While there are many different entrances to the Alhambra, the tour begins at the Gate of Justice (C. Real de la Alhambra, 18, Centro, 18009 Granada, Spain), or la Puerta de la Justicia in Spanish. Guests can take the C30 or C32 bus from the center of Granada to reach The Alhambra.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

The tour guides you through the Museum of the Alhambra and the Nasrid Palaces.

Best time of day

The Alhambra is open daily from 8:30 AM till 8 PM.

Precautions

An admission ticket is required to access La Alhambra, which you can purchase here: https://compratickets.alhambra-patronato.es/reservarEntradas.aspx?opc=142&gid=432&lg=en-GB&ca=0&m=GENERAL

If you buy tickets with access at a certain time, please start this tour at least 45 minutes before your official visit begins. For example, if you have tickets with access to the Alhambra Nasrid Palaces at 11, please start this tour at 10 so you have more than enough time to enjoy the visit and to contemplate the Alhambra's many wonders.

Travelers will be required to climb a set of stairs to access the inside the Puerta de la Justicia, the inside the Palace of Charles the 5th, and the downstairs balcony with the view of the Albacin.

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