The Puerta de Granada, the gate you are about to walk through, is one of the best-preserved entrances in Úbeda’s medieval walls. Dating from the tenth century, the Arab period, it belonged to a powerful defensive system made up of two enclosures and nine main gates. The round arch you see is simple and unadorned, without an advanced tower, a modest yet authentic entrance that has remained virtually unchanged for more than a thousand years. Beside it, the trace of a walled-up opening recalls that access was once protected from the rampart walk by a machicolation. The gate takes its name from the Camino Real de Granada, the great road that linked Úbeda to the Nasrid kingdom. Local tradition says that Queen Isabella the Catholic passed through here in 1489 on her way to the conquest of Baza, and that it was at this very spot she vowed not to change her shirt until Granada fell. Another, more playful legend tells of a treasure hidden by the Moors during their flight, revealed only to the person able to eat an entire pomegranate beneath the lintel without dropping a single seed. These tales have no historical foundation, but they have been told for centuries and add to the charm of the place. Now fully restored, the Puerta de Granada is one of just three medieval gates still standing in Úbeda and a rare testament to its Arab past. By passing through it, you are literally walking in the footsteps of a thousand years of history.