We managed to schedule a weekend away from our helpx site, it's destination much thought over and anticipated. Part of the draw to Andalucia in the first place was Granada. I don't know where I heard it or who from, but I swear that somewhere throughout my travels, praise for this city was noted. Another place where east meets west. I had an idea of what kind of impact centuries of Moorish rule may have on a city. That idea didn't exactly match with my idea of what western Europe might be like. Instead, I thought back to the east. Back to Sarajevo, to Istanbul, these places of Europe where strong eastern influences drew my attention, intrigue, and passion for travel.
I was not disappointed with what I found in Granada. I found a beautiful, charming and unique city. One who's entire historical district is a well preserved UNESCO site. An easily walkable old town with memorable scenes around every corner.
It didn't take long to find one of those colorful souvenir shops. The ones that if you found them in New York, a dreadlocks, patchouli-pushing hippy would be attending the counter. With its tapestries on the wall, and handcrafted necklaces and bracelets by the counter, it was the color explosion out onto the street that drew us in. Like in Istanbul, the shop didn't fall short on its ornately designed glass nargilas and lanterns. This particular shop was the first of its kind that we stumbled across. Though relatively stranded on a side street on the periphery of old-town, it was a foreshadowing of a district filled with shops of this kind.
This is one of the entrances to the Alhambra. When you search for pictures of Granada, the first images that pop up are images of the Alhambra. Many of them probably look similar to the one occupying space at the top of this blog post. The Alhambra is a palace fortress built largely in the 11-th century standing strong on a hill-top looking out over the city. You can tell by looking at this picture the extent that the contents inside this fortress were protected. The walls are high and thick. The gates have at least a couple of levels to pass through and there don't seem to be many of them. It is the main tourist attraction in the city and a must see.
Many people say that they live with no regrets. Unfortunately, I can't say that. Furthermore, it seems like the more I travel, that pile of regrets gets larger. One of these regrets is that I didn't enter the Alhambra and take a walk around the palace grounds. I did get inside the walls, caught the views from one of its wall and saw a couple of buildings. I didn't, however, enter the grounds it is most known for with its ornate Moorish decoration and fountains. Even though these 'travel-regrets' seem to pile up, when they are attached to a place, I look at each regret as a really good reason to return. Granada is surely worth returning to and I have at least a couple of things to check-out when I do.
A charming church occupied a central location by a stream in the valley separating the two big UNESCO sites of Granada. Its a small church with a colorful steeple and a quaint bell to call out mass. On that particular Saturday, while waiting to begin our walking tour, we managed to catch a wedding in this center of Granada tourism.
Though two of these photos are of the Alhambra, they are taken from Albayzin. Albayzin is the part of town with the real Moorish feel. The narrow winding streets, Moorish houses, and small squares among other things, put this location on the UNESCO world heritage map. Its main attraction, however, seems to be on another hill. The Church of San Nicolas boasts one of the best views of the Alhambra in the city. We visited the spot more than once and there was always lively crowd there, taking in the view day and night.
We didn't catch a bull fight, but for just a couple of euros we had a chance to enter the bull ring and roam around as we pleased. With the ring to ourselves we pretended to be matadors. We realized that we weren't the only ones when we saw some children under the stands practicing their stabbing technique. We walked through the areas where the bulls are kept, where they await the big show, await their deaths. In some parts of the dungeon, ropes hung from grates on the ceilings, their other end attached to the doors. People up on the grates could heard the animals without being in the same room and putting their own bodies at risk. The real surprise for me was the effect of the acoustics. Standing in the middle of the ring, a clap from a spectator deep in the stands sounds like they're right next to your ear.
A stroll around the streets of Granada will reveal some interesting and attractive sites. The green and white tiles of some of the roofs match the Andalusian flags flying outside of official buildings. I was surprised to see that in the regions of Spain where I visited, regional flags rather than the Spanish flag were much more prevalent. A more complete understanding of this tendency requires a good long look into Spanish history and the Spanish Civil War.
Looking much further back into Spanish history you find a statue of Columbus appealing to Isabella. It wasn't long after the Spanish crown won victory over the Moors in Granada when Columbus approached Isabella in the city of Cordoba to discuss his voyages to present day America. Though the event depicted by the statue did not take place in Granada, one of the main actors is buried there. The remains of Ferdinand and Isabella are located in the Capilla Real de Granada not far from that very statue.
A couple of weeks prior to visiting Granada we were welcomed at our helpx hosts about an hour south of the city. The daughter of our host took us on a walk around the area and it didn't take long to notice the bright red, bursting, fist-sized balls hanging from the trees. They were pomegranates, and the redness of their fruit looked juicy and delicious in a dry and dusty mountain landscape. After a walk through the market a couple of days later I realized that the word for pomegranate in Spanish is Granada.
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