No room at the palace

The Moorish towers of the Alhambra 支配する Granada

The line of slowly shuffling people which snaked along に向かって the Alhambra, the majestic Moorish palace which 支配するs Granada's skyline, wasn't やめる of 開始-day-at-Wimbledon 割合s, but it was bad enough.

Then （機の）カム an 告示 from the ticket office: the Alhambra was 十分な and no more 訪問者s would be 許すd in that morning. As the disgruntled hordes 分散させるd, I couldn't help but feel smug.

The previous day I had called in at a 支店 of the BBVA bank in the city centre and 調書をとる／予約するd a 12.30 入ること／参加（者） slot to the Alhambra for just a few cents' （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 above the '7 admission 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金. The 処理／取引 had taken a couple of minutes.

The Alhambra is the most popular historical monument in Spain, and 入ること／参加（者） is 限られた／立憲的な to 5,000-6,000 people per day depending on the season, a 人物／姿／数字 that can easily be より勝るd by 需要・要求する. So it is certainly 価値（がある） pre-調書をとる／予約するing, either at any 支店 of the BBVA in Spain or 経由で the 公式の／役人 website, www.alhambratickets.com The Alhambra would surely make any shortlist of Europe's most みごたえのある buildings. Nestling below the snow-capped 頂点（に達する）s of the Sierra Nevada and surrounded by the cypress and juniper trees of the palace gardens (or 'Generalife'), the setting is breathtaking.

塀で囲むs, turrets and towers of the 要塞 turn ruby red at sunset, when the Alhambra lives up to its 指名する, a 汚職 of the Arabic for 'the red 城'.

Its history 反映するs the rise and 落ちる of イスラム教徒 力／強力にする and 影響（力） in Spain. The 初めの 要塞, 設立するd by the 首長s of Co rdoba, was built in the 11th century, with the Nasrids, the last 広大な／多数の／重要な Moorish 支配者s of southern Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries, 追加するing the other Islamic buildings.

Granada and the Alhambra finally fell to the 軍隊s of Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492, an event that 示すd the 完成 of the Christian reconquest of Spain. In the 16th century, Emperor Carlos V 追加するd an enormous Renaissance palace, which sits rather uneasily with its Moorish 隣人s.

There are strong 思い出の品s of Granada's Moorish past, too, in the hillside ４半期/4分の1 of the Albaicin, 直接／まっすぐに opposite the Alhambra. The 1,000-year-old Arab Baths are 井戸／弁護士席 価値（がある） a visit, but the 地区's main charm is its maze of cobbled streets which 突然の end in miniature sun-filled squares.

The largest square, El Mirador de San Nicolas, 供給するs superb 見解（をとる）s of the Alhambra and 行為／法令／行動するs as a magnet for both tourists and souvenir-selling gipsies. にもかかわらず the guidebooks' worrying 警告s about 捕らえる、獲得する-ひったくりs, I 設立する the 地元のs pleasant and friendly.

After visiting the open-空気／公表する cultural centre, which 含むs half-a-dozen 再建するd 洞穴 dwellings, I returned to the centre for an 吸収するing flamenco show which was supported by a chorus of chirruping cicadas.

The shows in Sacromonte's 非常に／多数の gipsy 洞穴 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, 一方／合間, tend to be far more brash - and more expensive.

Eating out in Granada is 広大な／多数の／重要な fun, and extraordinarily cheap. In many parts of Spain the old tradition of serving 解放する／自由な tapas with a glass of ワイン or beer is dying out, but not here.

If you're unlucky you might be 直面するd by a trio of sad olives, or plate of stale crisps, that passes for complimentary tapas in much of the country nowadays. You're ありそうもない to be disappointed, though, if you 長，率いる for Meson Cunini, just around the corner from Plaza Bib-Rambla.

Here I joined a noisy （人が）群がる tucking into a freshly-made paella packed with clams and prawns, which tasted all the better for 存在 o n the house.

I also feasted on half a dozen octopus （犯罪の）一味s, crunchy fried aubergines and a couple of slivers of cured ham during a lunchtime 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 はう. My only expense was for the four glasses of ワイン I knocked 支援する during my 動きやすい 軽食-fest.

広大な／多数の／重要な food, evocative music, a wonderful 気候 and a world famous and stunningly beautiful historical 場所／位置: Granada is just about the perfect 週末 目的地.

But, to 避ける those tiresome long 列s, it 支払う／賃金s to remember the secret is most definitely out.

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