Spanish
Cultural Tours
Your holiday of a lifetime in Andalucia, Spain
Welcome to Spanish Cultural Tours - Your holiday of a lifetime in Andalucia, Spain
Granada
Granada where we will explore Lorca's favourite haunts, visit the Alhambra and Arab baths.Granada is built on several hills and stands at an average height of 2175 feet above sea level. Between Granada and the Mediterranean (only 48 kilometres as the crow flies) runs the imposing Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain range in Spain, at the feet of which, along the sea, sub tropical fruits thrive. Eternal snows, plentiful water, a fertile plain and a burning summer sun. These ingredients make Granada unique.
While most of Moorish Spain succumbed to the Christian reconquest, Granada somehow held out, remaining in Arab hands 2 centuries longer than anywhere else. This mountain kingdom excelled in all the arts of peace – in silk and ceramics, tile making, architecture and the decorative arts. Ferdinand and Isabella finally conquered it in January 1492 after a ten year war and they chose the city as their own burial place. The word Granada means pomegranate.The Albaicin was declared a monument to humanity by UNESCO, this ancient hill is full of Moorish remnants, including Moorish houses. The typical Albaicin homestead or ‘carmen' is an ancient house, set behind high walls in steeply ascending lanes, it's garden full of jasmine, cypress and orange trees.