Granada, Andalusia – September 2016
I’ve been to this city before. 7 years ago to be precise. The city was as beautiful as I remember it, surrounded by majestic Sierra Nevada mountains, right in the heart of Andalusia. Along with Seville and Cordoba, Granada belongs to the famous triangle of cities with Arabic / Moorish influence in southern Spain. The Moors have left their mark on almost everything – architecture, cuisine and culture. If you ever travel to Andalusia make sure you’ll visit at least one of these three places -you won’t regret it.
Although there’s a small airport, we chose to fly into Malaga instead and to take a direct bus to Granada from the airport. It was a comfortable 2 hour ride and we got treated to some lovely scenery on the way. The journey took us through the gentle rolling hills, olive farms and the distant snowy peaks were inciting our imagination what’s coming up – ancient palaces, flamenco, tapas (I even prepared a map of Granada’s best tapas bars) & vino not necessarily in that order but those were the main objectives on our weekend’s agenda!
We made a decision to stay in the old part of the city called Albayzin. It is a white village within a city directly opposite Alhambra palace. With its typical Moorish buildings with window shutters, flower pots and narrow winding cobblestoned streets it doesn’t get more romantic than that. Wandering around is the number one activity here, but do not be fooled by its romantic nature – wearing heels here would be a big mistake!
Every now and again you will come across little running water fountains or beautiful displays of Arabic fabrics and lanterns in the little souvenirs shops lining the streets.
Our little apartment was very conveniently and strategically located close to the main square called Plaza Nueva (read food and wine!) and the entrance to Alhambra. We discovered our building had a fantastic little roof top terrace which was to become our breakfast and night-time spot as it boasted breathtaking views of Alhambra.
On the first night we decided to put my tapas map to the test and went out to search for that ultimate and delicious tapas . There were quite a fair few bars on my list, but we settled on Bodegas Castañeda with its extensive tapas menu. We sampled a lot – the grilled artichoke with anchovies was so tasty, olives, dates, boquerones in vinegar, manchego cheese, chorizo, grilled aubergines with honey, spanish omelette, pimientos de padron (little green peppers) all washed down with Sangria. Our bellies were positively bursting with yummy food and all the while during this feast a young Argentinian guitar player was trying to seduce the entire bar with his guitar and singing. Tired after our travels but fully satisfied we concluded that our first night was a success and one of our goals have been accomplished. It was more than clear that if we were to continue in this style, I would have to buy some new – bigger – clothes! 😉 We made a quick stop at the local supermarket to buy some essentials for our breakfast and headed back to our cute apartment. Little did we know that our neighbours have prepared a night of fierce and intense fiesta (just not including us). They were everything but considerate throughout the entire night, and without going into further details, earplugs are on my essential-items-to-take list from now on.
Next day slightly bleary-eyed and exhausted after having very little sleep, we started with a couple of cups of strong coffee. After so much noise of last night, the sunny terrace seemed so incredibly serene with the dominating sight of Alhambra and sleep or no sleep we started to be really excited about visiting this amazing monument.
As soon as we booked our flights, we also booked our tickets to Alhambra. You can visit the main Palacio Nazaries only at a set time as they only let limited amount of people to visit per day so if you want to visit, book your tickets well ahead to avoid disappointment.
Alhambra – it’s hard to actually define what it is. Is it a castle? Is it a fortress? A small town, a royal palace? It’s pretty much all of these combined. A totally fascinating and impressive cluster of buildings in an even more amazing location mightily overlooking and guarding the town below. It occupies a forested hill with parks and beautiful water features everywhere you look. Once you’ve climbed up the steep hill and have managed to catch your breath, you will realise how huge this place actually is. I feel utterly humbled when I visit places so ancient and am so grateful that these monuments stood the test of times and we can still enjoy their beauty today.
My favourite is the Palacio Nazaries. Everyone was walking in total silence and in utter awe at the delicate designs and intricately decorated walls, carefully taking each step as if not to disturb the haunted past that is still lingering in the buildings. But it wouldn’t be a true Spanish visit without a group of Spanish tourists breaking into singing whilst touring the palace’s orange tree gardens. That made everyone smile. Another favourite of mine is the Palacio de Generalife with its lush Arab gardens and fountains. They call this the leisure villa of the sultans who used it during summers. It’s a happy place where the colourful flowers, sunlight and water sounds come alive and are complimented by yet another amazing view of Alhambra.
I could go on gushing about this place for hours but I won’t as tonight was a Flamenco night!
After our exhausting sightseeing (we also went to see the main cathedral in Granada and other sights nearby), we quickly freshened up in our apartment and just before the sunset, we climbed up to Mirador de San Nicolas through a maze of cobblestone streets. This is quite a quirky and lively little square with a balcony style viewpoint where everyone seems to come to catch the sunset over Alhambra. There are many artists from painters, guitar players to dancers providing a lot of entertainment. The colours were vibrant in the evening sun and the dizzying smell of flowers just made this the perfect spot to sit down for some vino tinto and people watching soaking up the romantic enchanted atmosphere.
Flamenco – in brief, it’s a kind of a folk music from Spain which developed over the centuries. It typically consists of four parts – the singing, clapping, dancing & guitar. Of course there are plenty of places offering tourists a taste of authentic flamenco but you have to choose carefully. Tripadvisor is your friend indeed. I narrowed it down to three different providers and it was a mixture of stelar reviews and location that made me choose Jardines de Zoraya. Flamenco is not everyone’s cup of tea. I absolutely love flamenco guitar as it’s so passionate, seductive and nostalgic if not outright sad. They sat us in the first row and we were absolutely terrified that the flamenco show might end up being interactive. Now I’m all up for a flamenco night out, but not to participate. Luckily for us and all the surrounding people, no such embarrassing episode happened.
Flamenco is very expressive form of dance and music. There were four artists – he had dark eyes, dark hair, young Antonio Banderas-esque playing his guitar with mesmerising flair. She was beautiful but serious, when she danced her face radiated passion and pain. She was moving with some serious technical skills too. Whilst she was dancing, the other two male singers were giving narratives about the dance to which we didn’t understand, but it sounded very emotional. The whole experience was absolutely brilliant. Am I going to buy flamenco shoes, probably not, but the rhythm was incredibly catchy and I found myself tapping along the artists.
We only spent two days in Granada, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Our main objectives were all achieved. The sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky. I expect to return soon, somehow I have the feeling that Andalucia will lure me back into her arms with her beautiful scenery, architecture, culture, lovely food and smooth wines. I remember a song I heard in a musical once that stuck with me to this day “…my mother told me tales of Spain, I think that’s where she longed to be. Of mountain bandits she once sang, Andalusia’s memory. I dream of oceans rolling on, they take my heart where I must come. Andalusia mountain home. Andalusia’s streams, run through my blood, run through my daydreams. Andalusia’s sky, when it calls me, I feel my heart fly…” Hasta pronto Andalusia 🙂
Eyes On The Cloud 