Q 01/05

Which mountain range forms the backdrop to the Alhambra, rising to the south-east of Granada?

A) The Pyrenees

B) The Sierra Nevada

C) The Sierra Morena

D) The Cantabrian Mountains

Answer · why

B) The Sierra Nevada

The Sierra Nevada. Its highest summit, Mulhacén, is named after one of Granada's last sultans, who legend says was buried up there.

Q 02/05

The name Alhambra comes from Arabic al-Hamra, meaning what?

A) The beautiful one

B) The high one

C) The red one

D) The fortress of God

Answer · why

C) The red one

The red one. The name is short for the Arabic for 'the red fortress', most likely after the reddish clay of its outer walls.

Q 03/05

Which river carves the ravine on the Alhambra's north side, separating it from the Albaicín?

A) The Tagus

B) The Genil

C) The Guadalquivir

D) The Darro

Answer · why

D) The Darro

The Darro. Small as it is, the river waters the whole palace: a canal taps it upstream and carries the flow to every pool and fountain on the hill.

Q 04/05

Alhambra, California, named after a book about the Spanish palace, is a suburb of which city?

A) San Diego

B) Los Angeles

C) San Francisco

D) Sacramento

Answer · why

B) Los Angeles

Los Angeles. The developer's daughter was reading a popular book of tales about the palace, and at her urging the new tract took its name from it.

Q 05/05

Which French composer wrote the piano prelude La Puerta del Vino, named after a gate of the Alhambra?

A) Maurice Ravel

B) Georges Bizet

C) Claude Debussy

D) Erik Satie

Answer · why

C) Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy. He evoked Granada at the piano more than once though he had spent at most a few hours in Spain, and Manuel de Falla admired how Spanis...