When the Moors arrived from the deserts of North Africa (present-day Morocco and Algeria) in the 13th century, they were awestruck by the lush landscape of Granada.<\/p>\n
At the foot of the\u00a0Sierra Nevada Mountains<\/strong>, abundant water from the R\u00edo Darro ensured rich vegetation and agriculture. The Moors built the remarkable hilltop citadel here, and overflowing fountains were placed all over the grounds as a symbol of wealth.<\/p>\n A masterpiece of Islamic design, the\u00a0Alhambra\u00a0includes several splendid palaces, gorgeous landscaping, fragrant rose gardens, and lavish decorative fountains. Because of its exquisite architecture and cultural value, the Alhambra is designated as a\u00a0UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Granada continued to flourish as a Moorish city until the 15th century. When the Catholic Monarchs arrived to reconquer the city in 1491, Granada was the only remaining stronghold of Moorish rule in Andalusia.<\/p>\n The last Moorish king, Muhammad XII (known as Boabdil), capitulated by giving King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella the keys to “paradise” (Boabdil’s description of the Alhambra) after the Christian Reconquista (Reconquest) was complete in 1492. As the legend goes, Boabdil wept when taking in his final glimpse of the Alhambra during his journey of departure from Spain.<\/p>\n Along with the Alhambra, the\u00a0Albayz\u00edn<\/b>\u00a0district shares the UNESCO World Heritage classification. This medieval Islamic town has retained its Moorish character, seen in the maze of narrow, winding pedestrian streets and clusters of quaint whitewashed houses.<\/p>\n Further evidence of the city’s Arabic heritage is found at the\u00a0Alcaicer\u00eda<\/b>\u00a0(on Calle Alcaicer\u00eda), an outdoor market that is a relic of the old Moorish bazaar, and the luxurious\u00a0Hammam Al\u00a0<\/b>\u00c1<\/strong>ndalus<\/b>, traditional Arab Baths that pamper modern tourists with spa treatments.<\/p>\n Other\u00a0must-see sights in Granada\u00a0include the Renaissance\u00a0Cathedral<\/b>\u00a0and the adjoining\u00a0Capillo Real<\/b>\u00a0where the Catholic Monarchs are buried. High on the list of top experiences is watching authentic flamenco performed by locals in a Gypsy cave on the\u00a0Sacromonte<\/b>.<\/p>\n source: https:\/\/www.planetware.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the Moors arrived from the deserts of North Africa (present-day Morocco and Algeria) in the 13th century, they were awestruck by the lush landscape of Granada. At the foot of the\u00a0Sierra Nevada Mountains, abundant water from the R\u00edo Darro ensured rich vegetation and agriculture. The Moors built the remarkable hilltop citadel here, and overflowing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-cities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinosespana.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}