Albaicin....

....is an area that sits on a hill to the north of the city and overlooks the Alhambra

It is an ancient Muslim neighborhood with narrow, winding streets, whitewashed old buildings, and marvelous views of Granada and the Alhambra. It is also an UNESCO World Heritage site and dates back to the fourteenth century.

It was built as a defensive town and thrived as one of the centers of Granada under Muslim rule.

To get to it is a slog up a rather steep hill but the "slog" is worth it as there are some shops on the way up selling very good quality Arabic/Muslim artefacts which are worth a look (and are air-conditioned) and also at the lower level there are a couple of nice buildings

Albaicin and the Alhambra (which is on the hill opposite) are separated by a river (misnomer really as very little water was flowing) and on the Alhambra side are some ruins from times passed

A buttress of what was an arched bridge 

As you get further up the hill there is a view of another UNESCO World Heritage site - Sacromonte

Sacromonte is a gypsy district situated to the east of Albaicin and is noted for its many cave dwellings built within the sides of the hill poking out here and there between the scrubby bushes and cacti.

It towers above Albaicin and we didn't have the energy to foot slog up there (there is a 🚌) but some of the cave houses were visible from below

While there are Arabic shops and restaurants/cafes at the top of the Albaicin the main reason tourists make the trek up is the view of the Alhambra ...

.... and also of greater Granada below

Sherry was in a shop at the time so took the following selfie with the Alhambra in the background - razor is going to be put to use tonight!

One has to be thankful that going down is a lot easier than going up particularly that by then we were well into the hottest part of the day.

As a challenge we tried to get back to the apartment without looking at a map - long story short we failed the challenge!