Andalucía - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 555

tional identity card or credit card, at the Alhambra ticket office when you pick up the
ticket on the day of your visit.

PALACIO NAZARÍES
Full of mesmerising, symbolic, geometrical patterns, this is the Alhambra's true
gem. Arabic inscriptions proliferate in the stuccowork.
Built for Emir Yusuf I, the Palacio de Comares served as a private residence for
the ruler. It's built around the lovely Patio de los Arrayanes (Patio of the Myrtles)
with its rectangular pool. Inside the northern Torre de Comares (Comares Tower),
the Sala de la Barca (Hall of the Blessing), with a beautiful wooden ceiling, leads
into the Salón de los Embajadores (Ambassador's Hall), where the emirs would
have conducted negotiations with Christian emissaries.
The Patio de los Arrayanes leads into the Palacio de los Leones (Palace of the
Lions), built under Mohammed V - by some accounts as the royal harem. The
palace rooms surround the famous Patio de los Leones (Lion Courtyard), with its
marble fountain channelling water through the mouths of 12 marble lions. On the
northern side of the patio is the richly decorated Sala de Dos Hermanas (Hall of
Two Sisters), probably named after the slabs of white marble at either side of its
fountain. It features a fantastic muqarnas dome with a central star and 5000 tiny
cells, reminiscent of the constellations.
The Palacio Nazaríes is also open for night visits ( 10-11.30pm Tue-Sat Mar-
Oct) . Tickets cost the same as daytime tickets: the ticket office opens 30 minutes
before the palace's opening time, closing 30 minutes after it. You can book ahead
for night visits in the same ways as for day visits.

GENERALIFE
Within the palace of the 'Architect's Garden', the Patio de la Acequia (Court of the
Water Channel) has a long pool framed by flower beds and 19th-century fountains,
whose shapes sensuously echo the arched porticos at each end.

CAPILLA REAL
Offline map Google map

Chapel, Mausoleum

( www.capillarealgranada.com ; Calle Oficios; admission €3.50; 10.30am-1.30pm &
4-7.30pm Mon-Sat, 11am-1.30pm & 4-7pm Sun Apr-Oct) The Royal Chapel , adjoin-
ing the cathedral, is Granada's outstanding Christian building. Catholic Monarchs