The sanctuary
The column-and-mirror vortex — the cave of impossible beauty.
Germán Póo-Caamaño from Victoria, Canadá — CC BY 2.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0
Granada's Charterhouse is Spanish Baroque's absolute summit — the shock deliberate: an austere exterior hides an interior detonating in gold, plaster and marble till the eye finds no rest: the famous sanctuary a vortex of twisted columns, mirrors and precious stones called "the cave of impossible beauty", the white sacristy a "Sistine of plasterwork" in carved unrepeating waves. It is the Alhambra's complete pedagogical opposite: unbridled Castilian triumph-ornament against Nasrid spiritual geometry — and seeing both in one day explains Granada's two adjoining centuries. On the university edge (a short bus or fifteen minutes' walk from the cathedral) — a dazzling hour far from every queue.
The column-and-mirror vortex — the cave of impossible beauty.
Carved white waves, no motif repeated.
Paseo de Cartuja, 18011 Granada
Puerta de ElviraThe Puerta de Elvira is a massive stone arch that was the main gate of Muslim Gr14 minutes walk4.4
Puerta MonaitaOne of the gates of Granada's Islamic wall, standing in the upper Albaicín, amon14 minutes walk4.2
Palacio de Dar al-HorraDar al-Horra is a fifteenth-century Nasrid house at the top of the Albaicín, and15 minutes walk4.3
Ermita de San Miguel AltoA small chapel on the hill above the Albaicín, the highest point you can reach o16 minutes walk4.8
Basilica of San Juan de DiosThe San Juan de Dios basilica is Granada's chamber of gold: an eighteenth-centur17 minutes walk4.9Granada of two days plus: emphatically — its hour of astonishment keeps for life. One Alhambra-and-Albaicín day: don't juggle the priorities. Architecture devotees will find it obligatory, not optional.