Alcazaba
This combination palace and fortress sits just above the excavated ruins of the Roman theater dating from the 1st through 3rd centuries C.E. It does not occupy the highest ground but does command an irregular rocky spur that towers over most of the city.
Begun shortly after the Arab conquest of 711, the largest sections were built between the 11th and 14th centuries, during the Taifa period in Andalucía, when the central Moorish empire had disintegrated into small squabbling kingdoms. Just as Catholic churches often reused stones from Moorish buildings, the Alcazaba is filled with fluted Greek-style columns dating from 300 to 200 b.c.e., and occasional blocks of Roman stones with Latin inscriptions still visible. The most evocative part of the complex is the well-preserved interior palace, with its palpable air of domesticity.
Tip: The main entrance to the Alcazaba lies up a series of cobbled steps on Plaza de la Aduana, but there’s an elevator behind the Ayuntamiento (city hall) at Calle Guillén Sotelo and Calle Francisco Bejarrano Robles. WARNING: The elevator is closed Mondays.
This combination palace and fortress sits just above the excavated ruins of the Roman theater dating from the 1st through 3rd centuries C.E. It does not occupy the highest ground but does command an irregular rocky spur that towers over most of the city.
Begun shortly after the Arab conquest of 711, the largest sections were built between the 11th and 14th centuries, during the Taifa period in Andalucía, when the central Moorish empire had disintegrated into small squabbling kingdoms. Just as Catholic churches often reused stones from Moorish buildings, the Alcazaba is filled with fluted Greek-style columns dating from 300 to 200 b.c.e., and occasional blocks of Roman stones with Latin inscriptions still visible. The most evocative part of the complex is the well-preserved interior palace, with its palpable air of domesticity.
Tip: The main entrance to the Alcazaba lies up a series of cobbled steps on Plaza de la Aduana, but there’s an elevator behind the Ayuntamiento (city hall) at Calle Guillén Sotelo and Calle Francisco Bejarrano Robles. WARNING: The elevator is closed Mondays.
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