Alhambra Palace marks 30 years as UNESCO site
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 @ 9:47 AM
GRANADA'S iconic Alhambra Palace is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a UNESCO heritage site this week by opening up parts of the complex normally off limits to the public and offering guided tours.
The most-visited historic site in Spain, the Moorish palace - dating back to the Nazarí dynasty of the Middle Ages - will be flung right open to visitors.
Sites which are usually shut to tourists include the Torres de la Pólvora, or 'gunpowder towers'; Los Picos ('the peaks'); Las Infantas ('the princesses'), the Gateway of Seven Floors, the Nazarí house, the public baths in the Mosque and the viewing point from the south pavilion.
They are otherwise out of bounds for conservation reasons, to prevent their becoming damaged by literally millions of people from all over the world traipsing around them all day and every day.
By booking in advance, visitors can also enjoy guided tours of parts of the massive complex which are undergoing restoration, and the allotment plots in the Generalife gardens.
A 'golden book', or special visitors' book, allows tourists to share their experiences of the Alhambra and leave their indelible stamp on it.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com