Premium small-group tour of the Alhambra and the Generalife palace

Stop at: In the Alhambra: Palace of Charles V

The origin of the Palace of Charles V is due to the need for a place that would meet all the comforts of the time for the emperor and his family, as the Alcazar, which was his summer residence, did not meet their needs.

The emperor ordered the construction of the palace next to the Alhambra so that he could enjoy its wonders. The architect in charge of the work was Pedro Machuca, a Renaissance lover of proven experience. The construction of the palace began in 1527 and was fully financed in 1957. The construction went through several stages, lack of funds, uprisings that stopped the works, and so on. The roofs even collapsed due to neglect.

The palace is square, with a main façade measuring 63 metres wide by 17 metres high. The circular courtyard in the centre stands out, unique in its style and the most outstanding work of the Renaissance in Spain. Only the south and west façades are decorated in their entirety. The north and east façades are only partially decorated, due to the fact that the building is linked to the Alcazar of the Alhambra.

Stop at: Palace of the Nazaries: Palace of El Mexuar

It is difficult to know how the Mexuar was originally built, as the many restorations and reconstructions that have been carried out up to the present day prevent us from knowing what its rooms were like, those that are not in ruins. According to the quotations of the poet Ibn Zamrak, we could say that it belonged to the primitive Nasrid citadels. Both the alterations carried out after the Christian occupation and the explosion in 1590 of a powder magazine that caused great destruction have produced great modifications in the distribution and communication, so it is difficult to know how it was originally. In reality, all that remains of the group of rooms, located next to the tower of Mohammed I, is the eastern nave, which is what we now call the "Mexuar", which has not been spared from Christian reconstructions, and the gallery and Tower of Machuca, so called because it was the home of the architects Pedro and Luis Machuca during the construction of the Palace of Charles V. 

Stop at: Courtyard and Golden Room

This small courtyard between the Mexuar and the Cuarto Dorado serves as a link between the two palaces. During the Christian period, it had wooden galleries to connect the upper rooms, which were preserved until the 19th century. The basin that occupies the centre of the courtyard today is an exact copy (dating from 1943) of the original fountain, which can be found in the Daraxa Gardens.

Stop at: Abencerrajes Hall

It is located opposite the Hall of Two Sisters, and its name is due to the fact that popular tradition claims that the Abencerrajes knights were beheaded in this room, although the authors do not agree on which monarch ordered their execution. In fact, there is a rust stain covering part of the marble basin in the centre of the room, which superstition has it that it is a bloodstain of the Abencerrajes. 

The entrance to the hall has two arches separated by a corridor that connects to the upper floor on the left and to the vestibule of the original entrance to the palace on the right. The central square of the hall has alcoves on either side with exquisitely decorated arches with blue capitals on the columns and painted ceilings. The walls are covered with plasterwork and have a 16th-century Renaissance-style tiled plinth. Over eight muqarnas trumpets we find a magnificent dome, also made of muqarnas. On these trumpets we can read the following inscription: 'There is no help except that which comes from God, the merciful and gracious'. The windows at the beginning of the dome let in a dim light that illuminates the muqarnas, giving it a magical appearance.

Stop at: Hall of the Two Sisters

The Hall of the Two Sisters is the second residence of the Palace of the Lions, with a structure similar to that of the Abencerrajes, i.e. it is elevated above the courtyard and is accessed through a single door, with a wooden door lock, richly decorated with geometric compositions.

After the entrance, there are corridors to the right and left that lead respectively to the rooms on the upper floor and to the toilet of the house. The name is derived from the two large marble slabs, which are centred by a small fountain that flows into the Patio de los Leones through a gutter.

The tiled plinth, one of the most original in the Alhambra in terms of its peculiarity, is a beautiful geometric composition based on the interlacing of ribbons of various colours.

The plaster decoration on the walls, divided, as is characteristic of Nasrid art, into large panels separated by epigraphic inscriptions, covers the entire wall, culminating in what is undoubtedly the masterpiece: a muqarnas dome which, starting from a central star, is developed by means of the well-known Pythagorean theorem.

Two alcoves open on either side of the square-shaped room. Each has its own characteristic space for a platform or bed, which is covered with extraordinary, beautifully decorated wooden coffered ceilings.

Stop at: Hall of Kings

Stop at: Carlos V rooms

Stop at: Lindaraja Palace

Adjacent to the Patio de la Reja, there is another courtyard with a similar structure but with a different atmosphere due to its cloistered character. The Patio de Lindaraja takes its name from the beautiful viewpoint that presides over it on its southern side, the entire exterior façade of the Palacio de los Leones which, until the 16th century, was open to the landscape.

From then on, what must have been a low, open garden was enclosed by the three bays of the Emperor's Rooms, with arcaded galleries on the ground floor for which columns from other parts of the Alhambra were used, thus creating a cloister-like sensation accentuated by the design of the garden and by the fountain in its centre.

This fountain, made of Sierra Elvira stone with a Baroque design at its base, parapet and pilaster, had, at least from 1626 until March 1995 when it was dismantled for restoration and conservation in the Museum of the Alhambra, a beautiful Nasrid marble cup with a decoration of gadroons and an epigraphic inscription, probably destined for the Palace of the Lions itself.

The courtyard and the itinerary of the palaces leave the courtyard through the only one of the three corridors that also has a gallery on the upper floor, known until recently as the "Châteaubriand Gallery", after the famous French writer and politician left his signature there. Its columns come from the demolition of the Patio de Machuca.

Stop at: Generalife Gardens and Palace

The Almunia del Generalife was an ideal estate for farming and relaxation, with a nucleus of residential buildings and a vast expanse of land for cultivation and grazing, compartmentalised into paratas or terraces by means of four large orchards, taking advantage of its orographic outlines.

These huertas are delimited by thick retaining walls, some of which can still be seen today. Their Castilian names, preserved and handed down from ancient times, are: 'Colorada', 'Grande', 'Fuente Peña' and 'Mercería', whose current boundaries must coincide approximately with those of medieval times. A meadow surrounds the estate, where horses and farm animals are bred and even served as a hunting ground for the use of the sultan.