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Granada
Location
Property For Sale At Baza
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Introduction
to Granada Living
Granada is the capital of the province with the same name, situated in
the eastern part of the region of Andalucia. Geographical and scenic diversity
characterizes the land. There is the coastal area with its warm climate; the
extensive, fertile Genil plain; and the mountainous regions with a colder
climate, where we find the 3,481 metre Mulhacen, the highest peak on the
peninsula.
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The city of Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains
at the confluence of the Darro and Genil rivers. Its unique history has bestowed
it with an artistic grandeur embracing Moorish palaces and Christian Renaissance
treasures. As the last Moorish capital on the Iberian peninsula, it also holds
great symbolic value. |
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Granada has
been shaped by the hills, where the old dostricts in the Albaicín and the
Alhambra were founded, brimming with steep, narrow streets, beautiful nooks and
corners, and marvellous landscapes. The new part of the city is situated on the
plain, crisscrossed by the large arteries of Gran Vía de Colón and Calle de los
Reyes Católicos, and where the busy streets around the Cathedral are
found.
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The Moors
crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 and settled in what was then a small
visigoth town perched atop the Alhambra hill. Here they settled, erected walls,
and laid the foundation for the prosperous civilization that would follow. It
was in the 9th Century when Granada rose to importance after the fall of the
Caliphate of Córdoba. Its splendour was reached in 1238, when Mohammed ben Nasar
founded the Nasrid dynasty, and the kingdom of Granada stretched from Gibraltar
to Murcia.
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| This dynasty
bore twenty kings until King Boabdil was forced to surrender Granada to the
Catholic monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, in 1492. During three
centuries, a magnificent and rich islamic culture flourished, leaving Granada
with architectural marvels of the caliber of the Alhambra, declared a World
Heritage Site along with the Generalife and the Albaicín. After the Reconquest,
the city continued to thrive, stimulated by the Catholic monarchs who ordered
the construction of new civil and religious structures.
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The Alhambra
and General life.
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A short stroll from the centre of the city to the "red
hill" will lead us to the most enchanting structure of Hispano-Moorish art from
the Nasrid culture, the Alhambra.
The journey begins at the square called
Puerta Real here take the street Calle de los Reyes Católicis, while beneath it
the Darro River flows, chanelled at the beginning of the 19th Century. To the
right at the Plaza del Carmen, there is the Town Hall.(Ayuntamiento), installed
in a former convent of the Carmelite Order finished in 1627. Nearby, at Calle
Mariana Pineda number 40, you will find the Corral del Carbón a former Moorish
corn exchange and inn from the 13th century, featuring a splendid archway
entrance. Standing in the Plaza de Isabel la Católica, there is a monument to
Isabella accompanying Columbus, the work of Mariano Benlliure in 1892 to
commemorate the discovery of America four hundred years
earlier.
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To reach
the Alhambra, you can take the Cuesta de Gomérez which ends, like so many
streets in Granada, at a gate or "puerta". This particular one, the Gate of Las
Granadas has three arches and was built in 1536 by Pedro Machuca by order of
Carlos V.
The oldest fortress in Granada is the Bermejas Towers, the main
entrance to the Alhambra is at the south side and is the Gate of Justice. The
Wine Gate provided access to the high part of the Alhambra; the main side with
the pointed horseshoe arch faces the Alcazaba.
The most important of the
three palaces is the Comares Palace. Built by the sultan Abul-Hachach-Yusuf I.
Its façade is exquisite.
El Patal gardens provide access to the Generalife
built in the 14 th century and surrounded by splendid terraced gardens with
fountains, pools and spouting water. It was the summer residence of the Nasrid
Kings. |
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The
Cathedrals and Surroundings.
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The narrow
streets that make up La Alcaicería and Zacatín, are the old Moorish silk market
and area of skilled craftsmen, today
a colourful commercial area.
The
Cathedral was built between1518 and 1704, and although started in the Gothic
style, most of the structure is Renaissance. It has a basilica ground plan, and
the 17th century façade, composed of three large arches, was the work of Alonso
Cano and evokes the great Roman triumphal arches.
The church of El Sagrario
that you can see today is the 1704 reconstruction, forming part of the group of
buildings attached to the Cathedral and Royal Chapel. Its ground plan is in the
form of a Greek cross, and it contains important paintings from the 15th and
16th centuries, as well as a lovely Renaissance baptismal font carved from white
marble. |
The millenary town of Baza in Granada province, the primitive Iberian and Roman
Basti callled Batza by the Muslims, has a rich monumental heritage left by the
different cultures who have inhabited it throughout history. It is a town
with interesting remains which can be visited in the Archaeological Museum. The
monumental Colegiata Concatedral de la Encarnación is of major importance as
well, and the town features some oldest Arab baths in Spain. Between Baza and
Castril, the visitor will find a lunar landscape scattered with dave dwellings
such as those in Benamaurel, where the blue waters of the dam of Negratín
contrast with the ochre tones of the earth. Castril has white houses perched on
a massive rock woth the remains of the Islamic castle at the top. It is the gate
to the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Castril, which boasts the Cueva de Don
Fernando, the longest and deepest cave in the province of Granada.  |
Guadix
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Immediately below one’s feet lies a broad yellow plain, perfectly bare
and bounded by crinkled, ochre coloured mountains, and through the middle of
this plain there runs a deep green splash, looking like ink that has been upset
from a bottle, whish is the oasis formed by the river of Guadix and its
tributaries”. Excerpt from “South from Granada” by
Gerald Brenan
This area has been historically known as a crossroads and a natural route
from eastern Andalucía and is now traversed by the A-92 national road.
The terrain has an attractive lunar feel with towering hillsides that serve
as a prelude to the heights of the Sierra Nevada range. An
incredible landscape of ochre hills with a vast rich green fertile plain
populated by mulberry and poplar trees nestling at the feet of the ochre hills
and giving the setting for the cathedral town of Guadix which
is overlooked by the Alcazaba and coincidentally has the largest collection of
caves in Europe.
More than 3,000 families live in these dwellings that are cool in summer and
warm in winter and there is even a cave museum to show what these homes are
actually like.
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Guadix holds quite a religious history; around A.D. 70 the
Christians adopted it as the first of their missionary stations in Spain. Legend
has it that San Torcuato and his six companions were chosen by St Paul to preach
the gospel in the area and the mining areas and possibly the slaves that worked
in them appeared to have attracted them to the Guadix region. San Torcuato
settled in Guadix and his junior, San Cecilio was left to preach in Granada so,
with this illustrious beginning to Christianity in this area, the bishop of
Guadix takes precedence over all the other bishops of Spain.
The author Gerald Brenan tells of a miracle in connection with San Torcuato,
where an olive tree that grew at the door of the basilica was covered in flowers
on the eve of his festival and on the following day, May 1st, bore fruit. Gerald
Brenan describes this as“ a quiet little miracle, befitting the Iberian
temperament and also an appropriate one.”
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| To the south of the province, bordering the
Sierra Nevada lies Marquesado de Zenete, the
earth all around has a characteristic reddish colour due to the mining of iron
ore nearby. This is an area of mining villages and small agricultural
communities, such villages are Alquife,
Ferreira, Lanteira and Jerez del
Marquesado, whitewashed with a main traffic of burros (donkeys)
carrying fresh grass along the narrow streets which are also frequented by
flocks of cabras (goats) and ovejas (sheep). The area offers the opportunity to
walk, cycle or to enjoy horse and pony trekking. Also here lies La
Calahorra with its spectacular Castillo de Calahorra a domed 16th
Century castle standing on a knoll that can be seen for some distance from
whichever way you arrive there. La Calahorra is also the gateway to the
spectacular route of the Puerto de la Ragua where, during
winter, cross-country skiing and dog sledging all year round
pony trekking and is available.
To the east of the province lies the Parque Natural of the Sierra de
Baza also known as the “Isla Botánica”. So called, as
it is an isolated area of more humidity than its surroundings.
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| La Sierra de Baza covers 52,337 hectares
and covers four municipalities; Baza, Caniles, Gor and the Valle de
Zalabí municipality that is made up of Alcudia de
Guadix, Exfiliana and Charches. The
source of the Río Verde rises here and there is a great variety of fauna with
native Mediterranean forests coexisting with coniferous forests that have been
recently introduced. It is possible to see a variety of raptors, for example the
Real eagle and Egyptian vulture and also there are many wild mammals to be seen,
including wild cats.
Towards Granada to the west of Guadix in the leafy valleys of poplars and
olive groves, crowned by red peaks and dotted with caves lie the pueblos of
Purullena, Graena and La
Peza. Purullena is particularly renown for its cave
dwellings and for the rows of shops lining the main street selling
locally made ceramics.
In the centre of the province of Granada and to the northwest of its capital
is the Sierra de Huétor, in which lies the municipality of
Diezma, standing at 1,233 metres and offering the best views of
the Sierra Nevada. The Parque Natural of the Sierra de Huétor covers 12,428
hectares and includes the municipalities of the fertile valley of
Cogollos, Huétor Santillán, Benalúa de
Granada, Víznar, Alfacar,
Nívar and Diezma.
This area includes the sources of the Ríos Darro and
Fardes. Oaks and Maples can be found growing together with the
coniferous trees and species like the wild goat, wild boar and the Real eagle
can be found here.
The Sierra de Castril forms the border between the provinces
of Granada and Murcia it covers an area of
12,215 hectares and due to being a very steep area boasts an abundance of
waterfalls and caves. Oak trees and coniferous forests in the highest areas
dominate the vegetation; wild boar, wild goat and wild cats can be found in the
area.
The Sierra Montillana lies on the border of the provinces of
Granada and Jaén, to the north of the city of Granada and the western edge of
the municipality of Guadix.
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