This modern city and province south of the peninsula has the highest peak in the Spanish peninsula, the Mulhacen. The capital of the province is protected by mountains in the north and southeast where the motorway runs through valleys towards the sea.
Remains have been found throughout the province dating the first inhabitants of Prehistory; you could say that every civilization and culture that has passed through the peninsula has stayed at some point in history in this Andalusian territory, from Iberians to Romans and Arabs. The first settlements were situated on a hill that is part of what is now known as the Albaycin.
From Romans to Iberians, all benefited from access to the sea of Granada and its natural resources. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths abused the native population throughout the southern peninsula, which caused them to rebel and help the Arab conquest that penetrated from the south, after which the coexistence of different cultures and religions (Christians, Jews and Muslims) under one Muslim rule was achieved.
Now a neighbourhood while in the past it was the capital of the kingdom. It has a typical Arabic layout of narrow, winding streets to the point that it is not very recommended to drive.
A walk through the streets takes us to a past with beautiful views of the Alhambra, Sierra Nevada and the entire city of Granada.
Built over the city of Granada and fortified for defence, it had a castle and a town within it. The Alhambra was built with clay soil of the area, hence the name 'Al-Hamra´.
Today, the Alhambra is the most important palace of Islamic architecture and renowned internationally. The construction was started in the mid-thirteenth century by Mohamed I and his successors until Mohamed V built between 1362 and 1391 most of the royal palaces preserved today.
The location of Granada with Sierra Nevada Mountains as a natural defence added a great difficulty to the Christian troops who wanted to conquer the city.
The period of Arab rule was a time of prosperity in the country, during which the Alhambra was built. It was also a refuge for Andalusies fleeing from the territories conquered by the Christians.
Following the previous heyday came the Christian conquest exploiting the political and economic crisis of the kingdom of Granada, which added to a series of sieges finally give victory to the invaders after a series of pacts with Boabdil, King of Granada, in 1492.
After the conquest Boabdil was named king of the Alpujarra, where he lived with his wife Morayma until his departure to Fez in Africa in 1493. Morayma died just before leaving and she is believed to have been buried in Mondujar where she still continues to rest along with Muley Hacen, Aliatar, Yusuf and perhaps one of her sons, who died shortly before... ending thus the reign of the last kings of Granada.
Granada became under Muslim rule one of the major cultural and commercial centres of the ancient world.
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