
Tales of the Alhambra
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.91
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kevin Foley
About this listen
One of the most entertaining travelogues ever written, Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra is a heady mix of fact, myth, and depictions of secret chambers, desperate battles, imprisoned princesses, palace ghosts, and fragrant gardens, described in a wistful and dreamlike eloquence. Irving, who also penned "Rip Van Winkle" and "Sleepy Hollow," wrote Tales of the Alhambra during a stay at the legendary Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The Alhambra is a combination fort, palace, and gardens dating from the thirteenth century, filled with fantastic Arabic architecture (ornate plasterwork, ceramic tiles, sculpted marble fountains, and archways) and plenty of room for imagining the days of its former greatness, which Irving brings to life most memorably.
Even though Tales of the Alhambra is over 170 years old, it seems as if it was written yesterday. There are tales of princes, genies, lost and found loves, enchanted treasures, battles, hellish headless horses, and commentary on the Spanish landscape and nature of the Spaniards that he lives with. Full of bewitching music, the smell of roses and exotic perfumes, fiery sunsets, and the ghosts of the past, Tales of the Alhambra is a sensory treat as well.
Public Domain (P)2010 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
-
-
Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
-
The Ornament of the World
- How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
- By: Maria Rosa Menocal, Harold Bloom - foreword
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.
-
-
Excellent Book
- By Zahid Ahmad on 08-14-18
By: Maria Rosa Menocal, and others
-
The Moors in Spain
- By: Stanley Lane-Poole
- Narrated by: Rodney Louis Tompkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Moors in Spain is an overview of the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Stanley Edward Lane-Poole (1854 - 1931), the author, was a noted British archaeologist.
-
-
Terrible Narration
- By Michael on 09-13-20
-
Old Christmas
- By: Washington Irving
- Narrated by: Phil Paonessa
- Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warm and delightfully festive, this charming and long forgotten holiday classic was inspired, in part, by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and other celebrations of old-time Yule. Splendid suppers, rural churches, cheerful dances, and hearty spirits imbue this short novel with the magic of the season.
-
-
A classic tale- well read
- By Nancy & Greg on 01-02-20
-
Don Quixote
- Translated by Edith Grossman
- By: Edith Grossman - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 39 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures. But his quest leads to more trouble than triumph. At once humorous, romantic, and sad, Don Quixote is a literary landmark. This fresh edition, by award-winning translator Edith Grossman, brings the tale to life as never before.
-
-
My Fourth Try at an Audible Quixote
- By James on 12-24-12
By: Edith Grossman - translator, and others
-
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon
- By: Washington Irving
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1820-21), Irving explores the uneasy relationship of an American writer to English literary traditions. In two sketches, he experiments with tales transplanted from Europe, thereby creating the first classic American short stories: "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".
-
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
-
-
Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
-
The Ornament of the World
- How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
- By: Maria Rosa Menocal, Harold Bloom - foreword
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.
-
-
Excellent Book
- By Zahid Ahmad on 08-14-18
By: Maria Rosa Menocal, and others
-
The Moors in Spain
- By: Stanley Lane-Poole
- Narrated by: Rodney Louis Tompkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Moors in Spain is an overview of the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Stanley Edward Lane-Poole (1854 - 1931), the author, was a noted British archaeologist.
-
-
Terrible Narration
- By Michael on 09-13-20
-
Old Christmas
- By: Washington Irving
- Narrated by: Phil Paonessa
- Length: 2 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warm and delightfully festive, this charming and long forgotten holiday classic was inspired, in part, by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and other celebrations of old-time Yule. Splendid suppers, rural churches, cheerful dances, and hearty spirits imbue this short novel with the magic of the season.
-
-
A classic tale- well read
- By Nancy & Greg on 01-02-20
-
Don Quixote
- Translated by Edith Grossman
- By: Edith Grossman - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 39 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures. But his quest leads to more trouble than triumph. At once humorous, romantic, and sad, Don Quixote is a literary landmark. This fresh edition, by award-winning translator Edith Grossman, brings the tale to life as never before.
-
-
My Fourth Try at an Audible Quixote
- By James on 12-24-12
By: Edith Grossman - translator, and others
-
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon
- By: Washington Irving
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1820-21), Irving explores the uneasy relationship of an American writer to English literary traditions. In two sketches, he experiments with tales transplanted from Europe, thereby creating the first classic American short stories: "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".
-
Ghosts of Spain
- Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past
- By: Giles Tremlett
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 19 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The appearance, more than 60 years after the Spanish Civil War ended, of mass graves containing victims of Francisco Franco's death squads finally broke what Spaniards call "the pact of forgetting" - the unwritten understanding that their recent, painful past was best left unexplored. At this charged moment, Giles Tremlett embarked on a journey around the country and through its history to discover why some of Europe's most voluble people have kept silent so long.
-
-
Smug Sensibilities
- By Vino Mafia on 03-25-22
By: Giles Tremlett
-
Isabella
- The Warrior Queen
- By: Kirstin Downey
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history.
-
-
Poorly narrated
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-15
By: Kirstin Downey
-
A Concise History of Spain
- By: William Phillips Jr., Carla Rahn Phillips
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook traces Spain's development from prehistoric times to the present, focusing particularly on culture, society, politics, and personalities. It introduces listeners to key themes that have shaped Spain's history and culture, including its varied landscapes and climates; the impact of waves of diverse human migrations; the importance of its location as a bridge between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa; and religion, particularly militant Catholic Christianity and its centuries of conflict with Islam and Protestantism.
-
-
Underwhelmed
- By Anonymous User on 02-20-20
By: William Phillips Jr., and others
-
Spain
- The Trials and Triumphs of a Modern European Country
- By: Michael Reid
- Narrated by: Asa Siegel
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spain's transition to democracy after Franco's long dictatorship was widely hailed as a success, ushering in three decades of unprecedented progress and prosperity. Yet over the past decade, its political consensus has been under severe strain. A stable two-party system has splintered, with disruptive new parties on the far left and far right. No government has had a majority since 2015. Michael Reid overturns the stereotypical view of Spain as a country haunted by its Francoist past.
-
-
Ok book
- By "btomaz" on 06-27-23
By: Michael Reid
-
For Whom the Bell Tolls
- By: Ernest Hemingway
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1937, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight", For Whom the Bell Tolls.
-
-
Don't "Clean Up" Hemingway
- By John W. Aldis, MD on 08-13-09
By: Ernest Hemingway
-
The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
-
-
Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
-
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise
- Muslims, Christians, and Jews Under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain
- By: Dario Fernandez Morera
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scholars, journalists, and politicians uphold Muslim-ruled medieval Spain - "al-Andalus" - as a multicultural paradise, a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in harmony. There is only one problem with this widely accepted account: It is a myth. In this groundbreaking book, Northwestern University scholar Darío Fernández-Morera tells the full story of Islamic Spain. As professors, politicians, and pundits continue to celebrate Islamic Spain for its "multiculturalism" and "diversity", Fernández-Morera sets the record straight.
-
-
I should have known better all along.
- By David on 07-31-16
-
The Great Railway Bazaar
- By: Paul Theroux
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes - the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto, and the Trans-Siberian Express - it describes the many places, cultures, sights and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met.
-
-
Just about as good as it gets...
- By david d. on 03-27-11
By: Paul Theroux
-
Willa Cather's Prairie Trilogy
- O Pioneers! - The Song of the Lark - My Antonia
- By: Willa Cather
- Narrated by: Sara Nichols
- Length: 29 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Prairie Trilogy is a series of three novels centered around life in the Midwest during the late 19th/early 20th centuries by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather. First, in "O Pioneers!," we meet Alexandra Bergson, who inherits the family farm after her father dies and leaves her to care for her three siblings. While many immigrant families are giving up their farms and moving back to the city (or to their home countries), Alexandra decides to try to tough it out on the prairie.
-
-
Where was the audio director or editor?
- By Thomas R. Diaz on 03-18-25
By: Willa Cather
-
España
- A Brief History of Spain
- By: Giles Tremlett
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spain's position on Europe's southwestern corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilisational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the Near East. Hordes from the Russian steppes were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants.
-
-
Junk
- By Don T. on 01-27-23
By: Giles Tremlett
-
History of Portugal
- A Captivating Guide to Portuguese History from Ancient Times to the Present
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Portugal has a rich history that dates to prehistoric times. The first settlers left amazing art behind in the form of rock carvings and rock monoliths. Even though Portugal is probably best known for exploring the world during the Age of Discovery, the history of mainland Portugal is rarely described outside of the country. The purpose of this audiobook is to familiarize English speakers with the events and personas that built the Portuguese kingdom, its overseas empire, and the state that Portugal is today.
-
-
Solid overview
- By Casey Parsons on 11-13-22
-
Sicily
- An Island at the Crossroads of History
- By: John Julius Norwich
- Narrated by: Michael Healy
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Sicily," said Goethe, "is the key to everything." It is the largest island in the Mediterranean, the stepping-stone between Europe and Africa, the link between the Latin West and the Greek East. Sicily's strategic location has tempted Roman emperors, French princes, and Spanish kings. The subsequent struggles to conquer and keep it have played crucial roles in the rise and fall of the world's most powerful dynasties.
-
-
DISAPPOINTING
- By SRdto on 11-22-16
What listeners say about Tales of the Alhambra
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K
- 11-15-21
Agonizing
Sorry, this could be the worst performance I have ever heard for an audio book. The prose, as expected is outdated but when combined with the almost computerized, unemotional reading, I simply cannot get through this. Good luck
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sergio Remon
- 04-06-16
Wonderful story, questionable reading
I don't think I really need to mentioned why Tales of the Alhambra is a wonderful read. It's a classic of travel...what?...Fiction? The real issue here is the reading. Now in general, I would not say that Kevin Foley is not a good reader. He speaks in a clear if somewhat stilted manner (which could be partly because of the source material.) My real issue with his reading is the insistence of using what is some sort of, I don't know what... Mexican?...Accent. I find the use of this accent insulting as it makes the character (or persons) speaking it sound like dimwitted fools. This is an overall unfortunate situation. As many of the writers who visited Spain from the 1800's to the mid 1950's (Hemingway, Pritchett, Welles, and Michener) have a habit of portraying the inhabitants as ignorant, illiterate peasant fools. this greatly diminishes their writings on the subject. All of this is made worse when the audio book reader, like Kevin Foley does here, give the speakers a ridiculous and wholly inaccurate accent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jefferson
- 12-29-11
A Fascinating Travelogue, History, and Fantasy
In Tales of the Alhambra, Washington Irving recounts his 1829 sojourn from Seville to Granada and his stay in the marvelous Moorish castle-palace, the Alhambra. He engagingly describes the Spanish landscape and people and the Moorish civilization that played such a vital role in Spain for so many hundreds of years. Irving's writing is vivid, imaginative, beautiful, and witty. And he clearly loved the enchanting courtyards, gardens, fountains, rooms, decorations, inscriptions, towers, walls, and vistas of the "pile" that epitomized the romantic heart of Spain for him: "Perhaps there never was a monument more characteristic of an age and people than the Alhambra; a rugged fortress without, a voluptuous palace within; war frowning from its battlements; poetry breathing throughout the fairy architecture of its halls."
In addition to telling the history of the Alhambra, Irving retells the tales set in or around it that he heard from local people or read in old manuscripts. The tales are humorous, eerie, or moving fantastic legends that feature Christian or Moorish characters from throughout the history of the Alhambra: ancient necromancers, chivalric knights, love-struck princes and princesses, talking birds, enchanted soldiers, phantom armies, foolish kings, sensual Padres, discreet duennas, spying barbers, punctilious governors, roguish bandits, proud poets, poor students, magical treasures, and more.
Reader Kevin Foley is professional, but almost too bland and metronomic, so that at times I wished that Ralph Cosham had read this book, the full, revised, 13.5 hour 1851 edition, instead of the 8.5 hour 1831 first edition. Foley does spark into life when he reads Spanish or English with Spanish or Moorish accents or English spoken by a hawk, an owl, a bat, a swallow, a dove, a raven, or a parrot. And Irving is so excellent that I do recommend this audiobook for anyone who has visited the Alhambra or who is thinking of doing so. And for anyone who likes travel literature and Arabian Nights-like tales or who is interested in the Moorish empire and its influence on Spanish culture.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RdC 1965
- 02-25-17
Excellent performance for this marvelous book!
This book is really a great read! You find yourself in two long gone worlds: that of 19th century Spain, and that of the old kingdom of Granada and it's legends.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!