The Cultural Riches and Hot Shade of Granada

Yesterday we finished up a two-plus day stint in Granada, Spain. Lots of highlights, with a quick overview after the jump.

We arrived in Granada after a fairly grueling trip that took us on on overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid (not recommended, but for another post), three hours layover in Madrid with a station change (not too bad all considered), and then a few more hours from Madrid to Granada with a transfer in between (again, not too bad). Needless to say we arrived to Granada a bit worn down.

But the arrival to Granada could not have gone much smoother. Easy taxi ride from the train station to our apartment, and what a great place. It was located in a neighborhood called the Albayzín. This neighborhood is one of the oldest in Granada, and it's just amazing. Tiny, winding pedestrian-only streets.

Middle-eastern food. Tea shops. Arab sweets. Just unlike anyplace I've ever been. And though I've never been there I expect that this area of Granada is somewhat like some cities in Morocco or other areas of North Africa. Just guessing, but that's how it felt. The apartment was very well designed and we found it very comfortable in addition to being well-located. While the apartment was in the Albayzín, it was not in the heart of this neighborhood, which was to our advantage since the hills are pretty steep as one gets deeper into this neighborhood, and that would not have been easy going with the LL. We were right on the edge. In the Albayzín but close to some of the more modernized areas of Granada. So we're talking more like 18th century for much of the new part of the city. No, we are not in the United States anymore.

But there's much  more to Granada than the Arab quarter. It's an amazing melding of Christian and Muslim influences. Our first night there we simply found a convenience store with some spaghetti and some wine and called it good. The next day we started trying to check some things off our our sightseeing agenda. Our first stop was the cathedral. Wow! I've seen several cool cathedrals in Latin America. This place was just on a totally different scale. While many of the churches in places like Quito and Lima are just fabulous in terms of the details of he side chapels and artwork, the Granada cathedral was obviously designed to make a point, that point being that Christians are as grand and powerful as the Moors and then some. The place is just overwhelming it its scale, though I've not been to other great European cathedrals in France and Italy, so I'll maybe make that comparison at some other point. And Ferdinand and Isabella are buried here. You can get the idea here, though the photos just don't do the place justice.

 

We also stopped in at the Royal Chapel which is located right next to the cathedral, and we checked out a Moroccan-Spanish restaurant in the neighborhood for lunch. Had a very nice meal and the LL enjoyed the nearby square where she could chase the pigeons and we could chase her. She also loved the monastery. It was dark and quiet and she just loved walking around the various little chapels and other rooms used for various functions of the monastery. She could not have cared less about the cathedral. But she loved the quiet and simplicity of the monastery. Probably helped that not as many areas were cordoned off so she was more free to roam

I would note that the square with the pigeons that the LL liked so much was quite sunny. We had highs of around 95 degrees during our time in Granada. Anyone who knows how annoyed I get by the heat will be surprised to learn that I did not find Granada overly hot. You might say, well, it's a dry heat. The dry heat argument is garbage. I've been to Arizona in 95 degree heat and it is horrible. I hate it. The key factor in Granada is the shade. It's everywhere. Pretty much every street is so narrow that except when the sun is directly, and I man directly, overhead, the entire street is shaded. We used the air conditioning in our apartment, but we would not have had to. The way those old buildings are constructed is just amazing in terms of maintaining cool.

One of the highlights of our visit came that first full night. I heard about the San Nicolas Mirador (viewpoint) which is a hill overlooking the city of Granada on a hill opposite the Alhambra, which we would visit the following day. I also heard there was a good ice cream place up there, so we decided to hike up the hill through the Albayzín. It was quite a hike, but it was very much worth it. The San Nicolas plaza was filled with people and there was music in the square. We took in the view and then noticed a restaurant with a great terrace overlooking the Alhambra across the valley on a different hill of Granada. What a breathtaking view.

We enjoyed some drinks and a light meal and then headed over to the ice cream place down the street. Very good ice cream. The LL has an egg allergy so most of the ice cream was off limits, but the fruit sorbets were very good and she enjoyed orange sorbet made with local oranges. It was delicious. Jana and I had honey and fig blossom ice cream. That was a new one for us, and very tasty. The LL met a little girl in the square after finishing her ice cream and that just made her day. We then headed back down the hill to the apartment, and it was just such a peaceful walk. The tight winding streets of the Arab quarter, there was music floating through the air for just about the entire walk. We heard guitars and flutes and jazz of various sorts. Some coming from restaurants, but mostly just people in upstairs windows practicing their art. Hard to overstate how nice this was. 

Why yes I do like orange sorbet!

The next day our only goal was to visit the most-visited attraction in all of Spain - the Alhambra. This is the Moorish palace complex in Granada that is just crawling with tourists. We were there in a sort of shoulder season, and I could not get a standard ticket a month in advance. Had to buy a Tourist Cart at a bit of a price premium to make sure we could see the three main palace areas in the Alhambra. It was crowded. Many of the tourists were nasty. The LL and Jana got yelled out by a guard for sitting down and having a rest to drink water (someone just about got a free French lesson from me on that one). And we had to be there at a very particular time in order to visit the palace. I hate having to be at a certain place at a certain time with the LL, particularly when her routine is still in flux due to the traveling time change. No strollers allowed in the Nasrid Palace. But it was still worth it.

Stop sitting there! (And, no, that is not the water she was drinking.)

The Nasrid Palace consists of three palaces. One was the public area of the king's court. Think of this as the government buildings of the realm. Have a problem? This is where you came to get it solved. The next was the ceremonial area. This is where dignitaries would be received and formal functions happened. Then there was the third palace which was the private, family part of the complex - the personal residence of the king. It appears to have been a good thing to be a Moorish king, at least while you were in charge and until the Christians arrived. Things got a bit harder then. But just look at this place.

And the Narsid Palace is really only a small part of the Alhambra. The complex is massive. There are beautiful gardens. Other buildings. A really old castle ruin. And on and on. We spent the entire afternoon here. And we were spent. Dinner was wine and cheese and olives and various cured meats at home, and I'll say that meal did not suck. Really great day.

Next day was a late morning train. Had no trouble hailing a cab on the street. Loaded all our stuff into the car, and off to Ronda. That's where we are now, even deeper in the south of Spain. Hopefully there will be time for an update on that in the next couple days.