Granada, Sunday 7th April: eventually found our apartment, Calle Zacatin 5, in the middle of the town – right in the Alcaicería, the original souq and silk market, with lanes not much more than a metre wide. We checked in with a most helpful Elvira. The city was totally jammed with people, and police road blocks had prevented our taxi driver from taking us as close as would be normal. The apartment was on the 3rd floor, fortunately with a lift.
After unpacking we took an exploratory walk, firstly in the direction of the cathedral. We spotted an open door, and were in an enormous church, so big that we thought it was Granada Cathedral. Turned out it was the adjoining Sagrario Church – in the shape of a Greek Cross, it seemed big enough to be a cathedral in its own right, with the dome supported by 4 huge pillars. Then we exited, looked right, and saw just how much bigger the cathedral was.
As it turned out, we never made it into the cathedral, although we did go a few days later to the also adjoining Royal Chapel. We then headed away from the cathedral towards The Alhambra, through the Pomegranate Gate, having to walk steeply uphill, eventually reaching the Justice Gate (Puerta de la Justicia) which is where those with online tickets (us) can enter.
On Monday we spent more time getting used to Granada's layout. Decided to try a guided Guru Tour, at the recommendation of the American couple we had met in Jerez. We checked in online the night before and met the group of about 20 in the nearby Plaza de Bib-Rambla. The group included a couple of Aussies from Sydney, a bit younger than us. The tour took us past the cathedral and into the lower Albayzin area, the old Moorish quarter. Our first stop there was at a small church, San Gregorio. Inside were about 8 nuns dressed entirely in white, with one playing a small organ. Apparently they never talk to each other; in fact they are so heavily veiled that they never see each other.
Our next stop was at a viewpoint looking over the Darro River to the heights of the imposing Alhambra on the other side. June spotted a person in another tour group (Spanish, it turned out) who looked so much like Tony Chiffings that we nearly went up to try speaking to him – see the photo below, if you know Tony. Not entirely convinced of the worth or value of such a tour. Our Rick Steves guide book is usually sufficient.
The importance of Granada to Spanish history cannot be overstated. It was the last Moorish bastion in the multi-century struggles between various versions of Islamic ruling groups and the Christians, culminating with the victory of Isabel and Ferdinand, in 1492, in Granada, which they made their capital. This was more than 250 years after the fall of the then-capital Córdoba, not all that far away. The final surrender of the last Moorish sultan, Boabdil, took place in the Alhambra. However, we can't load up the text with such material, so will aim for max-pics, min-text. There is all manner of material published on these events, by people who actually know something about it; we never heard about almost any of this when being "educated" about world history: apart from 1492 when Colombus got the go-ahead from Isabel, just after he apparently witnessed the surrender of Boabdil to her and look-alike first cousin and husband, Ferdinand.
Tuesday 09/04. Early morning walk up to the Alhambra, temperatures at 6C, with our tickets for the 8:30 am time slot, the first of the day. Pre-booked, and just as well, with passports being necessary to get in the gate. And we were first in the queue, the first time in our lives for any queue. What an experience, as we were able to go through most of the three Nazarine Palaces (Palacios Nazaríes), almost completely unaccompanied by other people. The plan was to first see these inner palaces, for which one could only enter in a 30-minute window, and then take our time to see the other paid-for attractions, the Alcazaba castle and the Generalife palace and gardens, as well as the (free) palace of Charles V.
What can one say? We've tried to take photos, but have also bought a book. All we can really do is marvel at what we saw, include some photos here, and include a number of extra pictures below.
It's not difficult to see where a lot of the inspiration came from in the various design features in the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat – the stalactite ceilings, the calligraphy, and the tilework, just for starters.
After quite some time in the Nazarine Palaces, we went to the second location on our ticket, the Alcazaba Fort. Great views over Granada and the Sierra Nevada mountains, still with a covering of some snow, from the extremely massive towers of the Alcazaba.
Then into the palace of Charles V (Carlos I of Spain, who was named Holy Roman Emperor). A free entry, it is massive and square from the outside, but inside it is circular, with apparently excellent acoustics, although by this time there were too many people in there to determine if this was so. Excellent museum there.
The final part of the visit was to the Generalife, about a 10-minute walk further up the hill. The Sultan used this as a summer retreat (although it's hard to see how it would be much cooler than his Alhambra digs).Overall we must have spent at least 6 hours there. Wandering all through the various palaces, the fort and all the courtyards and gardens was a wonderful experience.
Next day, Wednesday 10th, we decided to test the Hop-On/Hop-Off Granada "bus", two trailers of covered seats, each carrying about 25–30 people, pulled by a little bus with a tight turning circle and skilled drivers, who were able to manoeuvre this inherently unmanoeuvrable setup around impossible corners and the narrowest of streets. Unlike the usual double-decker HOHOs seen elsewhere, this one actually goes inside the city, rather than encircle it. But there are Lots of bumpy cobbles to endure. No sooner had we got on at Stop #3 than we decided to try out #6, the Carthusian Monastery, brother outfit to that in the Chartreuse of France (they even sell the liqueur). Lots of OTT Spanish Baroque.
More walking in the afternoon in different parts of the town, after taking the HOHO back to the flat and some lunch. The walk included the university's somewhat unkempt botanic gardens, including a Gingko tree over 150 years old, not that we had previously ever heard of it. Then it was back to the Alhambra for our second visit to the Nazarine Palaces, a suggestion by Helene Marsh, but starting at 10 pm! It was different, and we went in as relative experts this time. However, our feet were dragging somewhat after the hour or so that we spent there.
Next day we went first to the Royal Chapel, labelled as the top Christian sight in Granada. The crypt below holds the actual bodies of Isabel and Ferdinand as well as their successors, Philip 'The Fair' and Juana 'The Mad', along with Prince Michael of Portugal – no idea where he fits in. On the ground level, the memorials to the two sets of rulers are huge, carved in Italy in 1521 from Carrara marble, and then shipped to Spain. No expense spared. And no photos permitted, either, so you'll have to imagine the magnificence of the tombs and all the other priceless regal items exhibited there.
What else did we do? More walking, found a large department store, El Corte Inglés, which had a slightly DJs feel of a couple of decades ago: lots of expensive stuff, lots of staff. Then we ran again into the Austrians from Ronda. Turns out they had no car problems in Seville: they parked (for free) at one end of a Metro line, took it to town, and walked 30 metres to their apartment. Easy.
Did some more exploring and walking the next day, but we probably booked one night too many in Granada. In fact we've probably got such timings wrong in a number of places, but we have to live with what we have chosen. On the other hand, less time at places would have meant more rushing around and tighter schedules. We are both enjoying Spain and learning a little about it along the way.
Spanish people seem laid back in general. Smoking is ubiquitous, as are the cigarette butts on the ground. But the place is generally clean and tidy, everywhere. For example, cleaners are out on the streets in the (early for Spain, 8 am) morning, even on Sunday. Infrastructure seems plentiful, and it seems to work. According to Ameer, Spaniards are not in general well paid (he said a lot get no more than 1500 Euros a month, approx. AUD$30,000 p.a., which seems hard to live on). But he says most live in apartments they don't own, and have a easy-going attitude to life and their lot. Hard to tell, but some must eat out 3 times per day: the bars and sidewalk cafes seem crowded everywhere. Public parks and plazas are plentiful and well-maintained, but otherwise most do not have their own patch of lawn to walk on (or mow!).
Saturday lunchtime saw us heading out of Granada by train for another historical city and former capital, Córdoba – the same name as the Argentinian city where Helen spent a year on Rotary Exchange over 20 years ago.
mike
2024-04-16
Amazing pictures again, and the landscape! Did you feel any shades of the gulf and levant in the architecture? Norman Davies claims that Europe was defined by Islam, at both the eastern and western edges of the continent, so he talks a lot about the reconquista.
nicoll
2024-04-16
Fabulous!