Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain : The Alcazaba

The Alcazaba or citadel, is the fortress and oldest section of the Alhambra which dominates the skyline of Granada. The construction of the fortress started in the 9th century and was massively expanded during the 14th century. It acted as a military headquarters for the Nasrid dynasty and as such was built on the highest point of the hill to defend the royal family. Originally it was built with 24 Towers, but only a few remain today.

I first enter through the Puerta del Vino (the Wine Gate). During the time of the Nasrid Dynasty, this is where traders were stopped because this is the place where the taxes were levied on all the merchandise entering the city (or Medina). The exterior facade of the gate is the oldest part with it's appointed horseshoe arch.


View once you pass through the gate


The view from the Alcazaba walls towards the Palace of Carlos V and the Nasrid palaces.


The inner precinct and view of the Cracked Tower


The Arms Square


The Torre de la Vela (the highest tower in the fortress)


View of one of the fortress walls overlooking the city below.


Next up the Nasrid Palace and General Life...

10 comments:

  1. Great photos Kathy! What a fascinating place. So interesting that it used to have 24 towers. It's just incredible to think about people building these amazing and huge structures so long ago when they basically just had man power to do the work.

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  2. Hi Annie, glad you liked the photos. It is a very interesting place and I'm still not sure I have the full understanding of the Alhambra. I've been wanting to organize my photos and upload them to ST for a long time and writing these entries for your blog challenge has helped to nudge me to finally do it. :)

    Have a great evening Annie!

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  3. Wow, those photos are amazing! What a cool place this must be. My mom is just finishing up her photo album so I will soon be able to view her images too! That Cracked Tower is neat, the palace must have looked really imposing with 24 towers. Thanks for posting these Kathy. Have a great evening!

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  4. Hi Anne, glad you liked the photos. I'm sure that your mom's photos are terrific and I'm sure she will enjoy sharing them with you.

    I sort of wonder how the Alcazaba looked like with those 24 towers too!

    Thanks so much Anne! Have a great evening too!

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  5. Fantastic, Kathy! That must have been a remarkably strong fortress (with 24 towers!)

    The Wine Gate is lovely, it must have struck awe in visitors.

    Thanks for posting these!

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  6. Hi Sandra, I totally agree with you. If all those towers were as big as the ones remaining, that Fortress was mighty tough to over take! The other theory behind the name of the wine gate was that people would leave their wine there to avoid taxation on them. Can you imagine! If it were that way today, the wine would be gone in a hot second! :)

    Glad you liked the photos Sandra. Have a great evening!

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  7. Great photos, Kathy. What a fascinating place! I can't believe it had 24 towers originally. It must have been ginormous.

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  8. Beautiful photos! I wonder if there are any painting of Alhambra when all those towers were still standing.

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  9. Hi Candi, I can't believe it had 24 towers too. Each tower is so huge and to think that there were 24, wow! I just read your post that you may be in Maui! Whoo hoo!

    Thanks for your comments & have a great day Candi!

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  10. Hi Girasoli, great question! I just may have to google that and find out.

    Glad you liked the photos! Have a great week Girasoli!

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It's me Trekcapri (aka Kathy). Thanks so much for visiting and leaving a comment.