Queen Isabella set to “return” to the Alhambra

The production team of the TV series ‘Isabel’, which tells the story of the life of Queen Isabella ‘the Catholic’, visited the Alhambra this morning to choose locations for outdoor scenes and to seek inspiration in the city in preparation for the filming of the second season, which will take us through the Reconquest of Granada and the first steps in Columbus’ journey of discovery, among other momentous episodes from Spanish history.
Accompanied by the Director of the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife, María del Mar Villafranca, the director of the series, Jordi Frades,  the managing-director of the TV production company Diagonal TV, Jaume Banacolocha, and the Councillor for Tourism of Granada City Council, Rocío Díaz, visited various parts of the palace city, such as the Camino de Ronda (the mediaeval entrance to the monument), the Court of the Myrtles and the Palace of the Lions, in which some of the scenes from the series may well be shot.
Impressed by what they had seen on their whistlestop tour, which ended with a visit to the Chapel of the Convent of San Francisco,  Banacolocha and Frades acknowledged after their brief trip around the monument that “filming in the Alhambra is a dream”. 
In the new episodes of the series we will see shots of the Alhambra and of the nearby town of Santa Fe, where in 1492 King Fernando and Queen Isabella signed a detailed written agreement with Christopher Columbus in relation to the expedition that ended in the discovery of America. 
The aim of the makers of the series is to recreate the life of Queen Isabella as accurately as possible. The filming of ‘Isabel’, produced by Diagonal TV for the TVE Spanish television channel, is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2013 and in addition to following the main characters in the series, viewers will also find out what an important role the Alhambra played in Isabella’s life.