Granada

I have a confession to make about Granada. I’ve been unfairly holding a small grudge against the city for some time now. It started when one of my college classmates who had studied there openly declared Granada the most beautiful city in the world. At the time, I had just gotten back from South Africa and had been quite taken with Cape Town. High off my own recent experience, I wasn’t open to such bold assertions.

Since arriving here, I’ve heard numerous Spaniards tell the story about the time Bill Clinton visited Granada and called the sunset from the Mirador de San Nicolás in the famous Albaicín neighborhood the most beautiful he had ever seen. The first few times I heard this I responded by reminding the person that Bill Clinton was not only a politician and therefore skilled in the art of dancing around the truth but that he was especially talented even by his occupational standard. However, I later admitted to myself that my response was clouded by my own contempt, however small it was. Furthermore, I had no real way of proving whether he was being genuine or not. I mean I’m fairly certain he did inhale that Marijuana cigarette and he did have sexual relations with that women but who knows, maybe it really was the most beautiful view he had ever seen.  

So that brings me to my trip. I went with a group of about five teachers from both Spain and the U.S. who all live in a nearby town. It was a good combination of people seeing the city for the first time and people who knew the landscape well enough to help those who hadn’t seen it get the most out of the trip. Having Spaniards there also prevented me from speaking English the entire weekend, which is always a good thing. Saturday we headed out to Albaicín, the historic neighborhood that holds the famous view that Clinton raved about. The hike up to the vista was done mostly on narrow cobblestone streets like this one below. 

We finally arrived to the Mirador de San Nicolás. Breathtaking, spectacular, and awesome were all inadequate to describe this view. It was the most beautiful combination of a human construction and natural backdrop I had ever seen. This photo doesn’t do it justice but it still may give you some idea of what I was looking at. La Alhambra is the main centerpiece seen here.

A little background on Granada: It was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. Fernando and Isabel completed the reconquista here in 1492 and forced the last of the Muslims out of the country after 700 years of reign. La Alhambra (aside from being a great Spanish beer) was a palace and fortress built by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in the 14^th century and was thus done in Islamic architecture. It was amazing to be in Europe and at the same time get to see such an incredible monument representing another civilization’s culture. Because we toured at night and my camera takes horrible night photos, I don’t have a lot of good ones. However, I will be back at some point to do a day tour. Here are some examples of the kind decorative display on the walls and ceilings throughout the complex. I often associate this kind of detail on such a large scale with renaissance Europe but La Alhambra was every bit of that, just in a different way.

After the trip to La Alhambra, we wanted to go out and experience the nightlife of Granada. However, it was still quite early to be going out by Spanish standards (it was only 10:30 or 11:00 if my memory serves me correctly). So we went out and had a few drinks and tapas before experiencing the real nightlife. In the process we ran into these people (seen below). I heard a few different takes on what exactly they were all about. The first person told me they were students who liked the university life (partying, going out, etc.) and never wanted to leave so they supported this existence by playing music for money. I then talked to another person from our group and was surprised to find out he was a former member of this group as he seemed very ambitious and driven. He told me that they play for events or upon private requests (say you had a girl you were in love with and you wanted to impress her). The second conversation doesn’t necessarily negate the first, but it did change my perception of them a little bit. Either way, they made for a great time.

Granada lived up. It was a great weekend with great people. And although I'm still partial to Cape Town, Granada is a close number two. Lastly, it wouldn't be a blog about Spain without a cathedral picture. Granada's cathedral was the grandest I have seen in Spain to date.