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Stories, history, and planning essays from Granada (Page 2)

Long-form editorial pieces written by resident correspondents — cultural deep-dives, food traditions, and practical planning essays for visiting the city.

The marble tomb of Isabella I and Ferdinand II by Domenico Fancelli in the Royal Chapel of Granada, with Isabelline Gothic vaulting and the gilded reja mayor grille in the background

Isabella of Castile in Granada: The Queen Who Chose Her Tomb Here

James Walker Updated

Isabella and Ferdinand are buried together in Granada's Royal Chapel — her 1504 will chose the city over Toledo, and their tomb took 17 years to build.

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View of the olive groves and hills near Fuente Grande, between Víznar and Alfacar, where Federico García Lorca was executed in August 1936, with the Sierra de Huétor in the distance

Lorca's Last Day: The 48 Hours That Killed Spain's Greatest Poet

James Walker Updated

Federico García Lorca was arrested on 16 August 1936 and shot by a firing squad near Víznar before midnight on 18 August — his last 48 hours, hour by hour.

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Writers seated at outdoor cafe tables in Granada during a travel writing workshop, notebooks open, the Alhambra glowing red on the hillside behind them at golden hour

Travel Writing Workshops in Granada: What to Expect

James Walker Updated

Granada in Story is a five-day travel writing workshop that uses the Alhambra, Albaicín and Sacromonte as material, plus who leads it and what it costs.

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Archaeological remains of the Maristan of Granada in the lower Albaicín at golden hour, showing the surviving southern gallery brick arches from the 14th-century Nasrid hospital, with the Alhambra hill visible in the background across the Darro valley

The Maristan of Granada: Islamic Hospital That Vanished

James Walker Updated

Granada's 14th-century Maristan was Islamic Spain's first hospital, built by Nasrid sultan Muhammad V in 1367. Its remains quietly reopened to visitors in 2023.

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Weathered rammed-earth ramparts of the Alcazaba fortress in Granada at dawn, tracing the fortress's construction history beneath the Torre de la Vela with the Sierra Nevada beyond

Alcazaba Granada: A Fortress History Older Than the Alhambra

James Walker Updated

The Alcazaba is Granada's oldest fortress, first documented in 889 — 350 years before the Alhambra's palaces. Zirids, Nasrids, and Castilians each rebuilt it.

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Interior of El Bañuelo Arab bath in Granada with star-shaped skylights illuminating the vaulted stone ceiling of the warm room, ancient marble columns and stone floor visible

Arab Bath Tradition Granada: From Bañuelo to Hammam

James Walker Updated

Granada had 21 public hammams at its Nasrid peak. From El Bañuelo's 11th-century star skylights to Philip II's 1567 ban and the modern Albaicín revival.

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Wide-angle panoramic view of Granada Spain from Mirador de San Nicolás showing the Alhambra palace complex and Generalife gardens against the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains at golden hour, illustrating the interesting facts about Granada Spain

20 Interesting Facts About Granada, Spain

James Walker Updated

Interesting facts about Granada Spain that guidebooks skip: disputed etymologies, the soldier who saved the Alhambra, and a river buried under Plaza Nueva.

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Corral del Veleta cirque in Sierra Nevada at dawn, north-facing rock walls over 300 metres high surrounding the glacial remnant below, snow patches clinging to shadowed scree at 3,100 metres

Corral del Veleta Glacier: Europe's Southernmost Ice

James Walker Updated

Corral del Veleta held Europe's southernmost glacier — active until 1913 at 37°N. Relict ice and permafrost still cling on in Sierra Nevada, shrinking fast.

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The Darro river flowing through the Carrera del Darro gorge in Granada, with the Albaicín hillside rising above and the Alhambra towers visible through the gorge

Darro River Granada: From Roman Gold to a Buried River

James Walker Updated

Why does the Darro vanish underground in Granada? The history: Roman gold, the Acequia Real, an 1854 burial, and the one open stretch at Carrera del Darro.

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Cobblestone Carrera del Darro street Granada medieval with Darro river flowing alongside and Alhambra towers rising above the south bank at golden hour

Carrera del Darro: Granada's Medieval Street Explained

James Walker Updated

Carrera del Darro history: 11th-century Moorish bridges, El Bañuelo bathhouse, a 1539 Renaissance palace, and Granada's only open stretch of the Darro river.

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White-walled village of Bubión in the Alpujarras above Granada, flat launa-sealed rooftop terraces and tinao covered street passages on a steep Sierra Nevada hillside at midday, illustrating Alpujarras Morisco villages history architecture

The Alpujarras Villages: Morisco Refuge After 1492

James Walker Updated

After 1492, the Alpujarras sheltered Granada's Morisco community for 80 years. Their tinaos, acequia channels, Berber chimneys, and flat launa roofs survive.

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Narrow whitewashed street in the Realejo neighbourhood of Granada, Spain, the former medieval Jewish quarter at the heart of convivencia between Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Nasrid Granada, with the Alhambra visible on the hill above

Convivencia in Granada: how three faiths lived side by side

James Walker Updated

Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Nasrid Granada: the legal framework, the intellectual exchange, and the episodic violence that convivencia contained.

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