Who was really the first traveler to visit the Alhambra in Granada?
August, 24; 2025. By Arscodex
Tales of the Alhambra animated miniseries still
And so we ask ourselves: Who was really the first traveler to visit the Alhambra? With this publication's eagerness to find the first example of anything, we have asked ourselves this question, which we have already posed and which we will pose again: Who was the first illustrious "tourist" (traveler, more accurately; ha ha ha) to the Alhambra?
Here, the name of Washington Irving quickly comes to mind. He lived in the Alhambra itself for several months in 1829, and where he wrote most of his famous Tales of the Alhambra.
On this note, a thought: although we now see the Alhambra's palaces restored and gleaming, when Washington lived there they were in a state of ruin (hence the writer's vision of the future, too).
But good old Washington wasn't the Alhambra's number one illustrious traveler, since in European circles, perhaps a few years before the American writer's visit, and in a budding romantic movement that would engulf all of Europe during that century (the 19th), there was an equally illustrious visitor: the French poet Chateaubriand, who insisted on visiting the Alhambra ruins in 1807, approximately 20 years before Irving's visit to Granada.
The Alhambra in Granada, along with other Andalusian monuments that dot the southern Spanish landscape, is perfect for visiting: It has all the magic of the East, but it's in Europe. Everything is easy these days; the monuments are well-maintained and restored. Perfect for visiting. As they say, "a great experience."
Now, what has happened after Irving's Tales has been a mutation, an evolution, and Andalusia and Spain are not just the Christian, Arab, Jewish, Visigothic, Roman, Phoenician, or... In this post, we like to think that it is now a mixture of all these things and that it has a new, special charm that will captivate everyone.
Although he did not specifically visit the Alhambra, returning to the main topic of the article, there was another writer who took notice and mentioned it in his writings, as he had a connection with Spain having visited it following in the footsteps of his father, who held a military charge: Victor Hugo.
Finally, to conclude, we can say almost without a doubt that the first illustrious traveler to visit the Alhambra was the French poet Chateaubriand, and following very closely behind him, at number two, and in a very special and heartfelt way, is Washington Irving, who gave us his tales as a present.
And today, as we say, millions of illustrious travelers visit the Alhambra every year. Are you going to miss out on being one of them?
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