Granada y Schtuff

This weekend a few of us organized a trip to go to the city of the Granada. I know that I’ve said this for every place that we’ve gone so far, but I honestly think it may be my favorite city in Spain. The feeling of the city is just so laid back and it has its own air about it unlike Salamanca, Sevilla, or Lisbon. 

Granada is located in the Autonomous Community (basically their version of states) of Andalusia about three hours due east of Sevilla. Since it is in Andalusia there is just an overflowing amount of Arabic culture still present in the city and is even more amplified here being that it was the capital of the Arabic nation back in the day. The layout of the city is very different because it is extremely disorganized which is common with Muslim cities of the time we’ve learned. That being said I never once felt lost. Also there’s no Plaza Mayor which I didn’t realize until the end of the trip.

What makes up for it’s lack of organization and main squares is the massive Alhambra castle. It is an old Arabic castle that held the Sultan of Al-Andaluz and all of his best buds back in the fifteenth century. We toured through all of the gardens, palaces and squares that were contained in this absolutely massive castle. The palaces were very restored due to the fact that it was uninhabited for about 200 years but there are still amazing ornate rooms in every corner. The craftsmen created plaster molds and were able to fill every palace inside the walls with complex geometric patterns, while expert carpenters crafted wood ceilings that were so perfect that they never needed nails or anything to stay together. All this being said, I still think that it’s tough to choose the amazing palaces over the amazing royal gardens they had. The gardens were more than a pretty sight; every shrub and flower had a fragrance that together made your nose just as interested as your eyes. What more is that Granada is filled with pomegranates (granada is actually the Spanish word for pomegranate) and almonds, which add that other dimension of taste to the garden as well. There was definitely a reason that the Queen Isabel wanted to be buried in La Alhambra after her death.

Later that day we went on a free tour through our hostel to Las Cuevas de Sacromonte***. Our guide was an absolutely hilarious English writer that lived in Granada and taught us a ton about these caves. Essentially there are caves all over Granada because it’s a legend that all of the Jews buried their gold in the mountains before they left during the Inquisition. Hundreds of years ago people would dig all over the mountains to no avail and leave these caves that squatters would then inhabit. So all of these caves are just free housing that homeless people or just poor travelers will live in for extended periods of time. We were able to walk through some of the caves and they are very impressive to be honest. It’s definitely a cool and sustainable subculture that grow most of their own food, cook and live without any modern amenities. This would be a good point to say that there are TON of hippies in Granada that live in or around these caves. Note I said hippies, not hipsters. As you get farther into the valley most of these dwellings have been gentrified by the homeowners so they can get electricity, gas, etc. but also to prevent their houses from caving in…which happens. Although the last one happened over twenty years ago. Super cool stuff going in Granada people I tell ya.

Then on Friday Mauro and I went on another tour to walk through the city and get some more history from this awesome guide about the Albaycín, which is a huge Arabic section of the city. There were a ton of cool things about this neighborhood, from defense mechanisms of narrow streets and uneven steps to secret gardens and tapas bars. Throughout the entire city there are these waters taps that bring fresh water from the mountains via aqueducts that were made in the 9^th century by the Muslims. It reminded me a lot of Rome in that I just needed to buy a small fifty cent bottle of water and then could fill it up with crystal clear water as many times as I wanted for free.

Last, but certainly not least was the food in this city. Wow. Tapas are the absolute bomb here with an awesome fusion of the typical Mediterranean diet of Spain and the Shawarma taste of Arabia. We got some delish kebabs the first day we were there with hummus and tzaziki sauce with rice. But the best is our last night when we just went to two different tapa bars. You get a €2 (~$2.75) beer, wine or tinto de verano and get free delicious food with it. The first place we went made amazing sandwiches with fresh bread, goat cheese, onion and jamón then Argentinian empanadas and Mexican flautas…all for five bucks a person. After that we went a to an Arabic place and got some delicious falafel, shawarma beef, cauliflower, and potatoes for another 2.50. Let me say this much: a two beers with two great small portioned meals for $2.50 kicks the ass of any dollar menu or five dollar footlong any day of the week. If I ever have a restaurant/brewpub/make food for myself this is what I’ll be doing.

So basically Granada was amazing and I never felt the need to go out to any clubs because of the awesome tapa bars and friends to accompany them. I don’t know if it was the amount of hippies present or if it was because I was getting over the flu, but Granada just was such a calming and relaxing city that I hope to go to again. My phone is acting up once again so I don't have any photos of this wonderful city, but that's all the reason to come back. If you want to actually see what we did you should check out some people's Facebook pages that I came with. Hope all's well on the homefront!