Granada

Ditching Morocco and arriving in Granada involved a short taxi ride, an hour-long ferry, a quick bus transfer, and a four-and-a-half-hour train (with some down time in between of course). We left petty early, but with all of the traveling and the time change, we didn’t arrive in Granada until late afternoon/early evening.

As always, we started by checking into our hostel – which was quite nice and seemed to be popular with people our age from all over the world. We then spent an hour or so around the hotel because most of the city was taking a siesta. (I mean that literally. The whole city has siesta hours.) Once we were settled, we hit the streets of Granada to make some use of the remainder of the day.

Not far from our hostel was the Cathedral of the Incarnation (7) – Granada’s turn at a giant Catholic church. Though you would think I would be growing tired of cathedrals by now, this one ranks among my favorites that I’ve seen so far. Sure, it was a giant, cavernous building made of stone hundreds of years ago like every other one I’ve seen. But it was different in many ways as well.

For starters, the main part of the church was circular rather than rectangular or shaped like a cross. That was a first. All around this circle were a variety of chapels and altarpieces at which tourists could gawk. It also had more stain glass windows than other churches we have seen in Spain – which made it feel more familiar to me. And unlike most of the other giant cathedrals we had seen, this one seemed as though it could still feasibly host mass. It had plenty of pews that actually could see the altar, and it even smelled of incense. It seemed like an active Catholic church.

The inside was also much more modern than other gothic churches we have seen. It had art pieces, embellishments, and other elements that dated as recently as the 18^th century if I remember correctly. And of course, it was dripping with gold which gave it a particularly Spanish feel.

After the cathedral, Reed and I just walked around the city to take things in. I had the map in hand as I tend to be the navigator. Spanish tourist maps aren’t exactly the best. Many streets are unlabeled, all of them windy. Sometimes smaller streets are on the map; sometimes they’re not. So counting streets is out of the question. And street signs are hidden whenever possible. Spanish cartography needs work. It’s no wonder Columbus got lost. (Looking back, this was a bit of a tangent. My friend Maureen complains about my tangents, so I’ll just call this my Ode to Maureen.)

(By the church they were selling dried fruits and homemade teas. It smelled and looked amazing.)

So we spent the evening getting a feel for the city. Granada is somewhere between Madrid and Seville. It has a smallish, Spanish feel reminiscent of Seville, but it’s a bit larger and more commercial. It still looks quite Spanish, but you’ll pass things like H&M, Lacoste, or even Rolex when walking down its beautiful streets. While American shopping is concentrated in shopping malls, Granada’s stores are right on historic avenues. It also isn’t overrun with must-see sites in every corner. Of all the cities we’ve seen in Spain, this one seemed most like a place where you would actually live – apart from tourism.

We wrapped up the day by having “the menu of the day” on a local restaurant patio. (You know the ones where you pick a ready-made arrangement of three small courses.) And the next morning we were up early to walk to La Alhambra.

From what I hear, La Alhambra is the most visited site in all of Spain. This Moorish structure housed an entire town including the sultan’s royal palaces within its fortified walls. As La Alhambra looks down on most of modern-day Granada, walking there involved a very steep and very long climb. And since it was an entire town after all, there was plenty of walking to be done there as well. Most of the pictures in this post that have Islamic influences were taken at La Alhambra. The palaces were interesting, and the whole structure was nice to see, but I didn’t think it quite warranted the title of Spain’s #1 attraction. Of course, it was strikingly beautiful, but I was personally more impressed by the more colorful Reales Alcázares in Seville. La Alhambra also has vast gardens, but since the climate is so similar to California, they really weren’t that exotic.

In the second half of our second day, we walked through various must-see neighborhoods of Granada including one particular part of the outskirts known for scattered caves. The area is built over Roman catacombs and features many homes carved into the mountain side. You also see a handful of much smaller, less-than-glamorous caves where gypsies and the homeless sometimes take refuge.

That pretty much concluded our tour through scorching Granada. And my final conclusion is that it seems like a fun place to live. Next, we were off to our second of four overnight trains – this one destined for Valencia.

Hasta pronto.

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More Pictures of Granada: