Allie in Spain (and Ireland): Granada (or how I learned to avoid gypsies and love free tapas)!

I spent this past weekend in Granada. We left early Saturday morning for our 6 hour bus ride and arrived in the early afternoon. Our time there was limited, seeing as how we had to leave the next day on a 6pm bus to get back to Madrid around midnight (conveniently, in the bus station which is 2 blocks from my apartment). It was a pretty exhausting trip for one weekend, and I wish I had had more time there, but it was definitely worth it.

Granada is located in southern Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia (Spain has 17 autonomous communities, think states) and is the capital of the province (think county) of Granada. It's located in the Sierra Nevadas and and is a popular destination for skiers. The urban population is about 500,000, making it the 13th largest in Spain.

Ok that should set you up for background. After all those random facts and figures, my objective analysis of Granada is pretty much that it's a hippie town. The town is covered in random grafitti splatters that say things like "Granada será el tumbo del facismo" (Granada will be the tomb of facism) and "La iglesia es muerte" (the church is death). Very welcoming. We walked through various plazas which were filled with dread-locked jugglers and which had some major botelloning going on (aka drinking in the streets). I am probably giving you a bad impression of what is actually quite a nice city - just think of a sort of mini San Francisco, there were definitely nice parts, but also parts where you felt like you were about to get mugged, if you get my drift. Not to mention the gypsies, but I'll get to that later.

So, we arrived in Granada around 1:30 on Saturday - upon arrival at the bus station, you feel like you're in a very modern, industrial city. We got on the bus to our hostel, and then we had to transfer to a mini-bus. I wondered why this was necessary, and then when we began climbing up into the narrow streets of the mountainside, I realized why. Riding this mini-bus was a somewhat terrifying experience. We raced through sharp corners and narrow alleyways, all the while pushing pedestrians up against the walls. Although this ride was not quite on par with my journey through a raging river while in the back of a truck with 10 other people that I underwent while in Honduras 2.5 years ago, it was certainly one of the more horrifying vehicular experiences of my life. But, we did finally arrive at our hostel, the Makuto Guesthouse, which is located in Albayzín, one of the oldest Moorish quarters of Granada.

Our hostel was fantastic. It has a very relaxed, hippie feel, a tree house, hammocks, and a "chill-out" room (no translation necessary). We stayed in a 4 person dorm with a guy from Switzerland and some other mysterious person who I never actually saw. Although I've stayed in hostel type places before when traveling in large groups, this was my first authentic hostel experience and I'd say it was definitely positive. The staff were super friendly and helpful and it felt really safe.

After we got settled in, we walked down to Plaza Nueva, one of the main squares, for some lunch. Fortunately, Granada is one of the few remaining cities in Spain that still cherishes the tradition of bringing you a free tapa with every drink you order. So, we ordered a few drinks and got various tapas, all of which involved some form of pork, potatoes, or both, but were mostly quite delicious. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no way to eat cheaply in Granada without getting slightly tipsy. Granadans must be the drunkest people in all of Spain, or at least that's my theory. It was really cheap though, we paid probably an average of 2 euro for a drink and a tapa to share.

After this, quite appropriately, we visited the Cathedral. This Cathedral was built in the 16th century after the Reconquista and the expulsion of Moorish rulers. Although it originally had a Gothic design, due to the delay in construction it was built during a time of Renaissance influence and has many Baroque elements as well. It also contains the Royal Chapel where Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand II are buried. After leaving the Cathedral, we walked around a little where we were swarmed by women with rose sprigs who try to con you into getting your palm read and then apparently they steal all your money. Don't worry though, I did not fall victim to this trick, thanks to Rick Steve's Spain travel guide in which he described their exact ruse before I even saw it. But seriously these gypsy women are everywhere and they are aggressive. Too bad I am about 5 inches taller than everyone else, fair skinned and green eyed, otherwise maybe I wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Then we headed back to our hostel for un descanso, where we were promptly invited to join the hostel workers for a barbeque dinner. Kind of hard to turn down barbeque on Superbowl weekend (after all I am an AMERICAN!), and I was curious to see what exactly Spanish barbeque is. Before dinner however, we decided that we might wander up the mountain a little farther and check things out. We asked our hostel receptionist about the caves, which are supposed to be a popular tourist attraction (although Rick Steves does not include it in his guide book, and since Rick Steves taught me how to avoid gypsies, I trust him completely). This conversation went something like this:

Me: ¿Que son las cuevas? (What are the caves?)
Hostel Guy: ¿Quieres una? (Do you want one?)

My friend and I exchange confused looks. We then proceeded to find out that the caves are apparently a place where people live. People turn them into houses and paint on the walls and play guitar all day. Or something like that. Maybe that's why we would want one. When we asked how long it would take to get there, he said that it depended on if we knew the way. Well obviously we didn't. He then said:

"Si no conoces el comino, quizas estarás alli para siempre. Si decides que quieres vivir alli."
(If you don't know the way, maybe you'll be there forever. You could decide you want to live there.)

Consequently, we decided not to visit the caves. Instead, we walked up the mountain a ways (uphill cobblestone street = great for my perpetually injured right ankle) and we stopped at the Mirador de San Nicolas, which boasts an incredible panoramic view of the city. We came back later to see the Alhambra lit up night which was too cool for words. There were a ton a people, and it also had a nice, relaxed feel to it. Another interesting random fact about Spain - people just let their dogs run around without leashes and they always come back to their owner. They are so well behaved. And CUTE. They made me miss crazy Re-Run. After this, we returned to the hostel for our barbecue. So to answer the question of what Spanish barbecue entails, it's pork. And tortilla española (potato omelet), which is delicious but I'm not sure if it counts as barbecue. Hmm. We ate with a group of girls who were au pairs in Madrid - one from Germany, one from Sweden and one from Finland. They all spoke excellent English and good Spanish, not to mention the language of their respective countries. I feel so inadequate.

We then went out to examine the Granadan night life, which didn't seem to have much going on at 11 at night (too early for the Spaniards). We went to a few tapas bars and then to this middle eastern restaurant (which there are a ton of), just because they had some really amazing looking baklava and we drank some fantastic mint tea. Then we just decided to go back and turn in early because we had a long day ahead of us.

Now I know that this blog is getting very long, so I'm sorry if I'm boring you, but I haven't even got to the most important part yet: La Alhambra. Now if you don't know what the Alhambra is, don't feel badly, I didn't either until a few weeks ago. But it's actually the most visited monument in Spain, and now I understand why. The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex, constructed in the 14th century by the Moorish rulers of Granada. It is situated in the mountains, as to be the highest part of the city, and covers about 1,530,000 square feet. There are 3 main structures - the Nasrid Palace (named for the dynasty of Moorish rulers), the Alcazaba, which is a citadel with a watch tower, and the Palace of Carlos V, which he added after Catholic Spain retook control of Granada. Then there is the area of Generalife, which was supposed to be a recreational area for the kings to escape the formality of the palace. Most of it is old Moorish style architecture, except for Palacio de Carlos V which is more Renaissance style and the only way I can describe it is that it's absolutely incredible. The whole thing is surrounded by beautiful gardens and it has an indescribable sense of history. Check out the pictures below to get a real feel for it. There was also a temporary Matisse exhibit in the Palacio de Carlos V, so we checked that out as well. Apparently Matisse was inspired on his visit to the Alhambra and it influenced a lot of his artwork. Same thing happened to Washington Irving who wrote a series of stories based on the Alhambra. It's just an inspiring place. And it has the most amazing views of the city.

After spending all morning/early afternoon in the Alhambra, we headed back down to the city for some lunch - aka free tapas. It was unseasonably warm so we relaxed in the sun of Plaza Nueva for a while. We also did a little souvenir shopping. Then, sadly, it was time to board the 6 hour bus back to Madrid and get a good night's rest for classes the next day. So despite a few weird experiences, I really enjoyed Granada and would definitely recommend adding it to your bucket list. The Alhambra is incredible and it's certainly worth seeing. More to come later this week on the beginning of classes and life in Madrid. I am also heading to Seville next weekend so there will be more on that as well. Here are some pictures (for those of you on facebook, check out my Granada album for more):