Route Albaicín

On this high quality route, we will stroll through the streets of the upper Albaicín which, narrow and silent, lead us to discover surprising stories, full of authenticity: from its Ibero-Roman and Visigoth origin, to the opening of the long Hispano-Muslim period in the 8th century and ending at the end of the 15th century, leaving traces of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

The Muslim structures and buildings in the Albaicín that we know today were built on the remains of the Roman Forum, reusing many of its materials in cisterns, baths, houses and walls.

In the Muslim foundations we find an infinity of Roman ashlars and remains of Roman roads, such as the one located under the foundations of the church of San Juan de los Reyes. This Roman Forum remains hidden under our feet today, in the area of the Placeta de las Minas and Camino Nuevo de San Nicolás.

The Archaeological Museum of Granada, located in the Casa de Castril, in the old district of Axares, in the lower Albaicín, gathers exceptional testimonies of that Roman period.

In the 6th century, the Visigoths found a late Roman city in decline and chose it as their settlement. Remains of Visigoth coins and capitals have survived.

It was between the 8th and 9th centuries when it was occupied in the Caliphate period by the Arabs, to take on new impetus and splendour in the 11th century with the Zirid Taifa that took control of the Cora of Elvira, whose capital was in Medina Elvira (an archaeological site at the foot of the Sierra Elvira, between Atarfe and Pinos Puente).

It was Zawi ibn Ziri who in 1013 recovered the old walled Roman municipality as the seat of his palaces and dynasty, extending the territory down the hill towards the river and building a new wall . This is the origin of the Garnata medina and the main and monumental entrance to this new 11th century Hispano-Muslim city was Puerta Elvira, from where we will begin our route.

Itinerary: From Puerta Elvira to Bañuelo passing through San Nicolás.

Duration: 3 hours. Meeting point: Puerta Elvira.