Sabika hill. Cultural hike around the Alhambra’s exterior

Stop at: Paseo de los tristes

More than one tourist has been desperate to find the Paseo de los Tristes on the map. And no, it's not that the GPS have gone mad, but rather that the name by which everyone knows Granada's most romantic and bohemian street doesn't appear on the street maps. Instead, this beautiful avenue with privileged views of the Alhambra, which follows the course of the river Darro between the Arab bridges of Las Chirimías and El Aljibillo, appears as Paseo del Padre Manjón, its official name. The popular nickname was inherited from a curious history: in the 19th century, the promenade used to be a passing place for funeral processions on their way to the cemetery of San José de Granada, on the Sabika hill. Many people refused to walk up the Cuesta de los Chinos to the cemetery and said goodbye to the deceased here, so it is easy to imagine that, in those days, the street was not a party. Today, luckily, on the Paseo de los Tristes it is easy to drown one's sorrows looking at the Alhambra from any of its lively bars, where it is almost a must to try the typical Granadian tapas.

Stop at: Casas nazaríes frente a Carlos V

Stop at: Iglesia santa María de la Alhambra

Along the Calle Real there were various public buildings, dwellings and small industries, some of which have been transformed by time and new uses.

In this section of the street, the Church of Santa María de la Alhambra, completed in the early 17th century on the site of the Great Mosque and its bath, the latter partially preserved in the house where the musician Ángel Barrios was born and lived, now a museum evoking his figure and the intellectual atmosphere of the first third of the 20th century, are particularly noteworthy.

The work on the temple was carried out between 1581 and 1618, completed by the architect Ambrosio de Vico following the designs of Juan de Herrera and Juan de Orea, although the factories were very humble compared to the initial projects.

Stop at: Ruinas Palacio de los Abencerrajes

Another new visit to the Alhambra and another discovery, in this case the archaeological site of what was once the palace of one of the most notorious noble families of the Nasrid period, which after the conquest passed into the hands of the chief accountant of the kingdom of Castile, which is why it was also known as the Palacio de la Contaduría (Accountant's Palace).

Walking along the Calle Real of the Alhambra is like walking through a box of surprises, as at every step you come across a new house, a small square, an alley, a charming hotel or magnificent examples of what was once the great Medina of the city of the Alhambra.

The Abencerrajes family is famous for the courtyard of the same name in the Nasrid palaces, and it is said that they were murdered because of the love affairs of one of them with the Sultana.

Stop at: Puerta del vino

In a way, this gate has a similar function to the one it had in the Nasrid period. It is the main access gate to the Medina of the Alhambra, which encloses, within the common walled enclosure of the fortress, the residential and artisan sector at the service of the court.

As it is an inner gate, it is directly accessible, unlike the outer gates, which must have been more protected and were built around a bend in the wall. However, the interior of the gate still retains the necessary space and the benches for the guard who controlled the passage.

Structurally, it is one of the oldest buildings in the Nasrid Alhambra, and its construction is attributed to the time of Sultan Muhammad III (1302-1309), although the decoration of its two façades corresponds to different periods.

Specifically, the west façade, carved in sandstone, must date from the late 13th or early 14th century, although the tombstone above the lintel of the arch mentions Sultan Muhammad V who ruled in the second half of the 14th century. This western façade was the outer façade, and the traditional symbolic keystone appears above the keystone of the arch.

The interior façade, the east façade, still following a similar pattern, was decorated during the second term of Sultan Muhammad V, specifically after 1367, the date of the military campaigns of Jaén, Baeza and Úbeda. Its decoration includes the delicate spandrels of the arch, made of cuerda seca tiles, the plasterwork composition framing the window on the upper floor and the remains of polychrome painting on the right-hand side of the arch.

Stop at: Puerta de la Justicia

The Tower of Justice is located in the southern wall of the fortress next to the Pillar of Charles V and is one of the main entrances to the Alhambra complex. According to the inscription above the arch of the inner gate, it was built by Yusuf I (1333-1353), called "Bib Axarea" or gate of the esplanade and completed in the month of the magnified Nativity of 749 (June 1348 AD). 

The façade has a large horseshoe arch with a brick surround, a vaulted lintel and, on the marble keystone, a hand engraved in the hollow, considered by some to be an amulet to cure the evil eye and by others to be an emblem of the Qur'an, because its five fingers correspond to its five fundamental precepts: unity with God, prayer, fasting, almsgiving and pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.

Stop at: Plaza nueva

Despite its name, Plaza Nueva is the oldest square in Granada and is located at one of the city's high points, between the modern commercial centre and the charming and touristy Carrera del Darro.