The Most Beautiful Palaces in Granada

The governmental palaces of the Alhambra also housed the official residence of the Nasrid kings, the last Arabic rulers of Granada, whose reign ended in 1492. The Nasrid palaces´ carefully-proportioned internal courtyards and delicate interiors, are in marked contrast to the forbidding austerity of the outer walls. The buildings you can see today – a visit for which a good couple of hours is recommended – date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They comprise the Mexuar, which contains one of the Alhambra´s most beautiful internal walls; the Comares palace, which was the official residence of the sultan; and the ´Lion´s Palace´ – the most famous and aesthetically pleasing of the Nasrid palaces.

As viewed from the Paseo de los Tristes down by the river Darro, the whitewashed Generalife appears to be entirely separate from the main Alhambra complex, perched high above Granada almost a kilometre away from the Nasrid palaces. This separation was no accident, the Generalife was the Alhambra´s summer retreat, a haven where the sultans went to rest from the business of government (which was conducted in the Nasrid palaces). As befits a space designed for recreational activities during the furnace of a Granada summer, the Generalife is a light, airy place, comprised mostly of tranquil external spaces with ponds and colourful flower beds. The sturdy white walls that separated the vegetable gardens remain, as do three of the principal entrances, one of which is via exquisitely-maintained gardens that link the Generalife to the Alhambra.

This Renaissance palace – which was begun in 1526 and abandoned, unfinished, in 1637 – had special significance for Charles V, whose grandparents Ferdinand and Isabella wrenched Granada from Moorish rule in 1492. It was partly as a tribute to them and also to establish a royal residence in Granada that Charles ordered the construction of this imposing, Roman-style palace. It squats in the centre of the Alhambra complex, a reminder of Catholic might, wedged amidst the remains of a great Moorish dynasty. The highest colonnade of its beautiful circular internal courtyard was finished in 1619, but the roof was never added; standing in its centre, you look straight up into the brilliant blue of an Andalucian sky. The Charles V palace also houses Granada´s Museum of Fine Arts.

Charles V palace, Alhambra; Ellio Brown, flickr

Meaning ´Home of the Honest´, this elegant and understated palace at the top of Granada´s old Arabic quarter was the residence of the sultana Aixa, mother of Muhammad XII (known as Boabdil in Spanish), the last Moorish King of Granada. When Granada was taken by the Christians in 1492, Boabdil fled with his mother to the untamed countryside south of Sierra Nevada known as the Alpujarra – but up until that time Aixa had one of the most beautiful royal homes in the Islamic kingdom.