I finished Córdoba, right? Not bothering to check now but I think so.
Going to Córdoba, Granada and Sevilla with the Cortland group tomorrow, but there won’t be too much repetition between what I did and what we’re doing (and the things I already saw, I can’t wait to see again!)
In the tourism circle of “hey let’s look at pretty buildings”, Granada is very famous for one thing and one thing only: The Alhambra. I did not go to the Alhambra when I was there; I will be going with the group. Lots of people I talk to think that that’s the only thing in Granada worth seeing. I even thought this at first, which is why I planned to stay only one day.
Well, I was wrong (and also very uninformed). I got of the bus, took the #3 or whatever to the center of the city, and had to transfer to another bus. So far, Granada just looked like a general city, nothing interesting.
Then the second bus came. First of all, it was a short bus, and lots of people wanted to get on. I had my giant homemade rucksack (a backpack with belts rigged to hold my towel) and my laptop case which was funcioning as a clownishly oversized camera bag (in Malaga I caved and bought a small backpack for city exploring). So I ended up compressed into a corner of the bus with all this stuff.
Then the bus turned onto a narrow street. Then another. Up a steep hill. It barely fit on these roads. It bounced feet into the air on potholes and cracks in the cobblestone. But my stress quickly faded away when I looked out the window and saw where I was. The Albaicin. I hadn’t really looked up much on Granada or any of the other cities I saw before leaving because I had too much last minute stuff to take care of. So I didn’t really expect to be staying in a neighborhood that looks almost exactly the same as it did in the 1200′s under Arab rule. Tiny winding streets connecting in overlapping patterns or possibly lack of patterns. All the walls whitewashed. Spectacular views of the Alhambra (the Albaicin is situated on one hill facing another on which lies the Alhambra).
Checked into the hostel, a small inconspicious backpackers place on a street the width of a small car. Run by nice people, one girl asked me a couple questions about English (she wanted to know what someone had meant by the ‘highlight’ of a bar or something.) Also, and if you know me, you know what a big deal this is, there was a spanish guitar there! Like, just sitting in the common room for anyone to play. I saved it for when I was waiting for laundry to dry, needed to get out and see this neighboorhood.
So I did.
Got lost for a while, which is fun. It was a little sketchy by this house up on the top of the hill (turned out to be a convent), and noone was around. Also I almost wandered into the gypsy neighborhood. It’s really more of a place you should be invited to (more on that later).
Yes, there are still gyspies. The gypsy neighborhood of Granada (Sacramonte) has over 2000 “caves”, homes dug into the earth, and is either the largest or one of the largest in the world.
Eventually I ended up going down the hill, near the “river” (it’s more of a creek or stream really) Most of the lower parts of the city are dull, but this part was near the Alhambra and had a good vibe. Lots of outdoor cafes ad stuff. I tried to get to the Alhambra just to look around. I found out you needed a ticket to go in and that because of Semana Santa, it was hard to get one and there were alot of crowds. Somehow, I failed to find the road to the Alhambra, and decided just to save it for the group trip.
The Semana Santa progression I saw back up in the Albaicin was one of the best I saw. It wasn’t particlarly big, but the location was perfect. Parts of Córdoba were kind of like this, but here it just felt more enclosed, it was more like it’s own city.
A little more wandering, then back to the hostel to do laundry. Played some guitar (I wrote something vaguely spanishe that just came back to me: Am Cm/A Dm/A E7b9 – so I don’t forget again). Sat on the balcony with an Australian guy and drank a couple Alhambra beers. Sadly, it’s not that great of a beer. But at least we had great views of the real Alhambra to drink to. Took more pictures. By the time it got dark my clothes were done and I hung them up there to dry. It was FREEZING and windy, but the girl at the desk assured me it wouldn’t rain.
I went down to the main part of the city to look for more progressions, which in retrospect was a bad idea. For one, I was already starting to get kindof sick of them (they’re not dramatically different from eachother). Also, I got lost on the way back to the hostel. Always plan your return route. I would’ve retraced my steps but I got lost trying to leave the Albaicin that night and just happened upon where I wanted to go. Also, I suck at relating a map to the surroundings it supposedly indicates. Even with help from several bartenders and waitresses (certain ones more than once), I had to take a taxi cause I gave up.
Next day, Tim (the Australian guy, I think that was his name), told me at breakfast about a english language group tour of Granada that was supposed to be cheap and actually pretty good. He said he was gonna go and talked me into it. Also at breakfast, and this was really surprising, I ran into a girl I had met at the hostel in Córdoba. Rafael (that can’t be her name) and I had talked about how we were both going to Granada, but she had left earlier than me because she couldn’t sleep. We were vaguely planning of taking the same bus which would’ve been nice. Funny I didn’t see her till breakfast though.
Went to the meeting place for the tour, which was not only just down the hill but also really close. If I could’ve figured out where I was going the last night I could’ve gotten back in 5 minutes.
The tour guide, as it turned out, was a guy from Oregon who started doing this so that he could keep living in Granada. He wasn’t a student or anything, didn’t say how he got there. He did it for tips (in the end I gave a modest 5 euro). The tour centered on the Albaicin, which was fine cause there really isn’t much of interest in the main part of the city. He Had a lot of good stories which I’ve already kindof interspersed in here. Showed how all the churches are actually converted mosques (you can see outlines of the arches). He told stories about the wine parties they’d have here under the Moors. They didn’t practice the strictest form of Islam here. Also, small history lesson, Granada was the last city in Spain to be taken from the Moors. This happened in 1492 (big year), and in fact Ferninand and Isabella were more proud of this than of sending Columbus on his way.
One thing he told us, and I found this both immensely interesting and funny, is that the Moors built the city in this location because they believed that heaven floated above the twin hills of the current Albaicin and Alhambra. He then joked about how this is what draws all the hippies to Granada. It was seriously like there was a convention, way more than in Potsdam! I forgot to mention earlier, but they all hang out at this one place called the Mirador de San Nicolas, in the Albaicin with one of the best views of the Alhambra. There they sit, twirling their dreads, beating on congas. Don’t wander too close, the guide said, or you’ll find yourself in the same`spot tomorrow doing arts and crafts in the sun.
Didn’t sound too bad, (though I would get real sick of that crowd real fast) but I had to get on my way. Lame. Wish I could’ve spent another day, but I’ll be sure to get back sometime.
