Greetings, dear friends, « Dale limosna, mujer que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada » — Francisco de Icaza Granada, Spain, is one of the most interesting and beautiful spots on Earth. In this modern age of the Internet and Global Satellite images, it is possible to visit this intriguing area without even leaving your home! Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Málaga, Córdoba, Jaén, Albacete, Murcia, Almería, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Granada. If you fancy a vast wealth of interesting architecture, then the city of Granada, the capital of the province, tops your itinerary. The city of Granada has been inhabited from the dawn of history. There was an Ibero-Celtic settlement here, which made contact in turn with Phoenicians, Carthagenians and Greeks. By the 5th century BC, the Greeks had established a colony which they named Elibyrge. Under Roman rule, in the early centuries AD, this name became "Illiberis". The Visigoths maintained the importance of the city as a centre of both ecclesiastical and civil administration and also made it a military stronghold. A Jewish community formed in what was basically a suburb of the city, called "Gárnata" or "Gárnata al-yahud" (Granada of the Jews). With the help of this community, Moorish forces under Tariq ibn-Ziyad first attacked the city in 711, fully securing it by 713. They called it by its Iberian name, "Ilbira", while the remaining Christian community called it "Elvira". It became the capital of a province of the Caliphate of Cordoba. Civil wars throughour the early eleventh century destroyed most of the city in 1010. During the reconstruction, the suburb of Gárnata was incorporated in the city, providing the basis for its modern name. When the Zirid dynasty was established in 1013, Granada became an independent sultanate. By the end of the eleventh century, the city had spread across the Darro River to what is now the site of the Alhambra or "red castle, a spectacular palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs. In 1232 the progress of the Spanish Reconquista led to the subjugation of the last Islamic stronghold of Granada under Mohammed ibn Alhamar to the Christian forces of Ferdinand III of Castile. Thus the city of Granada became the seat of the Nasrid sultanate (until 1238) and kingdom (from 1238), one of the longest-lasting Islamic dynasties in the history of al-Andalus. The Nasrid sultans and kings were responsible for building most of the palaces in the Alhambra. The taifa became a vassal state of the Christian kingdom of Castile for the next 250 years. The Nasrid sultans and kings paid tribute to the Christian kings and cooperated with them in the battle against rebellious Muslims under Castilian rule. At first, the kingdom of Granada was the link between the commercial routes from Europe and those of the Maghreb. By 1492, however, Granada controlled only a small territory on the Mediterranean coast. Muslim Granada was the sole remaining religiously pure area in the peninsula; all Christians who had not converted to Islam had been deported to North Africa or had escaped to Christian countries. Only a small Jewish minority community remained. Arabic was the official language, and was the mother tongue of the most of the population, including the Jews. The last Moorish stronghold of Granada was surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella by Muslim leader, Boabdil, on January 2, 1492. With the coming of Ferdinand and Isabella, Catholicism became the official religion of the region, and all inhabitants were required to convert or be expelled. With the final end to the many years of religious conflict that had divided the country for so long, Spain rose to become one of the great world powers of its day. To this day, the spectacular architecture of Granada still stands as a testimony to its very unique past. Do a little research! If you do not understand the quote at the beginning of this thread, take a break and find out what it means! It will make your virtual vacation in Granada all the more appealing! We also have several members of Adlandpro who are from Granada. One of them is Jenny SJ, who runs an Angel Craft workshop. See her work at her beautiful site at http://www.alasyciagranada.com/ God bless, Dave

Hi Dave,

Well this is a beautiful forum about a beautiful city.  your link to the photo of the Alhambra Palace really does it justice.  I hope everyone clicks on it.

As you have already told us, Granada, originally the Kingdom of Granada, has a rich multicultural history and many of its original buildings are still standing.  you can wander round the old market quarter The Alcaiceria, where you can nearly touch both sides of the street with your hands, it is so narrow.  My childrens' school is in the historic part of the city, in the Albaycin and they see the Alahambra from their classroom window.  any excuse to get out of studying will do.  My eldest must know every brick in the palace for the hours he spent looking out of that window LOL

One thing that doesn't appear in all history books is that the fact that under the rule of the Arab kings, many jews unofficialy held high positions in the city.  and there was a long period of relative peace and harmony, in spite of the fact that the rulers prayed to Allah and the other communities were supressed to a certain extent.  When the Catholic Kings reconquered the kingdom of Granada, that ended.  The Inquisition of Torquemada, carried out on behalf of his king and queen, tortured all jews and arabs that they could find and many changed their faith to escape the infamous inquisition.  They were called "conversos" and, if you go to Granada today, and indeed throughout Andalucia,   you find many many families who are the direct descendants of the conversos, Catholic by faith, but with family names that were originally sephardic.    There are many arabic words in our language too.  And the architecture in many places are some of the finest examples of moorish architecture in Europe.  I live on the coast and we have phoenician influences too.

In Morroco, there are still families who have an ancient key "to their house in Granada"

Here is another link that I have on my web page - about Granada which also has some wonderful photos

http://www.red2000.com/spain/granada/

Thanks again for a wonderful forum topic.  You have made my day!!
Love
 Jenny

Nice.....very nice !!! I love being able to visit our planet this way. One can almost feel the breeze moving across the hills and taste the food.

Thank you.

Joe Buccheri

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Hello Dave and Jenny :-)

granada is a wonderful place indeed. I imagined myself in lomg lasted times walking along the streets. I've read some books from the times when there were maoors (hm, not sure of the spealling of this word, but I hope you get what I mean!!) In my oppinion that was a very interesting time to live ... and exciting too.

Thank you for your invite to this interesting trip :-)
With friendship,
Anamaria

Hi Dave :) thank you, for showing Beautiful Granada to us, and great information, and thank you Jenny for your link, it really looks like a very beautiful place to be!! Have a wonderful day :)