staying in Alhambra area mid July: apartment wo A/C but with fans

In the old days, pre aircon, things were built to mitigate the worst of the heat, so yeah, big stone walls, shade, etc. can help take the edge off. Mitigate, not eliminate.

I would expect Granada in mid July to be at least as hot as NYC in mid-July, possibly more so.

Different people have different tolerances for heat. And expectations have changed, with the advent of air conditioning. I'm sure some people would be OK with fans, others would whine. No real way to know for sure.

Granada has higher average July temperatures than NYC (average daily highs/lows of 94/64 F vs 84/69 F for NYC), but it's much less humid. To be technical, it has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, which means hot but dry summers -- the best American comparison would be a somewhat hotter version of the inland parts of the Los Angeles metro area (which also has a Mediterranean climate), if you're familiar with that kind of weather.

That said, it's still up to you whether you'd find that OK. I'd find it much more tolerable than humid New York summers, but if you are sensitive to heat you may want to pass.

I’d take him at his word. My apartment in Southern Spain (years ago) near Cadiz had no A/C and we had very few days over a 3 years period where we thought it was warm. There are probably window blinds, typical in Spanish homes, you can lower to keep much of the heat out. It was worse in winter because there was no heat in the apartment and the only heated room was the one with the mobile butane heater.

thank you everyone! all very helpful responses. we will take a gamble and stick with the reservation.