English and the World · Spain · 3 · Granada · A1–C2 · A1–A2 free
The oldest quarter of Granada: white houses and hidden gardens, Arab baths a thousand years old, a church built on a mosque, a mosque built five centuries later, and the most famous sunset in Spain. Choose your level.
The Albaicín, Granada
The Albaicín is the oldest part of Granada. It is on a hill opposite the Alhambra, across the river Darro. It has narrow streets, steep steps and white houses. Many houses have a garden behind a high wall: in Granada, a house like this is called a carmen.
Cars can’t usually go into the small streets, so people often walk, or they take the little red bus. In the mornings, neighbours sometimes talk in the small squares, and cats always sleep in the sun.
In Calle Calderería, a street of tea shops, people often drink mint tea and eat sweet cakes. The shops sell lamps, carpets and spices.
The Mirador de San Nicolás
At the top of the Albaicín there is a square with a church, San Nicolás. From here you can see the whole Alhambra, with the white mountains of the Sierra Nevada behind it.
Every evening, visitors come to watch the sunset. The Alhambra usually turns red and gold. Musicians often play guitar, and the square is always full of people. It is never quiet at sunset!
Next to the square is a mosque with a white minaret. It opened in 2003: it was the first new mosque in Granada for about five hundred years.
🦉 Want more? Sophia explains the present simple in The Instant and the Standing Rule (Lesson 1), and words like always and never in Carefully, Rarely, Almost Never (Lesson 10).
Language: how often? Adverbs of frequency
| How often? | Adverb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 100% | always | The square is always full at sunset. |
| about 80% | usually | The Alhambra usually turns red. |
| about 60% | often | Musicians often play guitar. |
| about 30% | sometimes | Neighbours sometimes talk in the squares. |
| 0% | never | It is never quiet at sunset. |
⚠️ Word order: the adverb goes before most verbs (Musicians often play), but after be (It is never quiet).
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Where is the Albaicín?
2. What is a carmen?
3. What can you see from the Mirador de San Nicolás?
4. What opened in 2003?
Write always, usually, often, sometimes or never.
5. The square is full of people at sunset. (100%)
6. It is quiet at sunset. (0%)
7. Neighbours talk in the squares. (about 30%)
8. The Alhambra turns red at sunset. (about 80%)
Choose the correct sentence.
9. Which sentence is correct?
10. Which sentence is correct?
11. Which sentence is correct?
12. Which sentence is correct?
Go there!
Walk: start at the Plaza Nueva → walk along the river on the Carrera del Darro → go up the steps into the Albaicín → arrive at the Mirador de San Nicolás an hour before sunset → come down through Calle Calderería for a mint tea. Wear good shoes: the streets are steep and the stones are slippery!
Your task: write six sentences about life in your street or town, with always, usually, often, sometimes and never.
It tells the story of Granada’s oldest quarter: the Zirid walls and gates, the 11th-century baths of El Bañuelo, the cisterns, the palace of Boabdil’s mother, the church built on the main mosque, the new mosque of 2003, and today’s debate about tourism and residents, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.
It tells the story of Granada’s oldest quarter: the Zirid walls and gates, the 11th-century baths of El Bañuelo, the cisterns, the palace of Boabdil’s mother, the church built on the main mosque, the new mosque of 2003, and today’s debate about tourism and residents, with grammar, practice, etymology and a visit plan.
The A1–A2 version above is free for everyone.