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Published: April 4th 2007
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Oh Granada . . . Of the four Spanish cities we visited, this is the one I had been looking forward to the most. I had only heard wonderful things about Granada - home to the Alhambra, one of Europe's most visited sites. However, this is also the city that seemed to pass by in haze.
After getting a mediocre night's sleep on our bus from Valencia (I was amazed to actually nab a broken 4 or 5 hours) we arrived at the Granada bus station around 6 am. We hopped a local bus as dictated by our hostel's directions, navigated the streets in the dark (since it gets light surprisingly late), dropped off our bags at the Oasis Backpacker's Hostel, and rushed up to the Alhambra. Before we arrived in Spain we hadn't realized the great extent of the Alhambra's popularity. Apparently you can preorder tickets up to one year in advance; however, until I opened up my Rick Steves' guidebook in Barcelona, we hadn't thought about such an option. Turns out it's even worse during Holy Week . . . so, of course, when we tried to book two tickets from our hostel computer in Barcelona, there
were no more online tickets available. Thus, we knew we had to be in line as early as possible in order to have a chance at seeing the Alhambra. Walking the hill up to the ticket booth on very little sleep was killer, the temperature felt colder than most mornings I had experienced in Ireland, and we arrived at the top to find an extremely long line had already formed. However, we were in Granada for one day and there was one site we absolutely had to see . . . thus we waited. Ultimately, Emily and I wasted three hours of our lives in the Alhambra ticket line (probably developing hypothermia) only to arrive at the front and realize it was moving obscenely slowly because they had 2 people selling tickets. Here's to Spanish efficiency. But we got tickets, and that's what really matters.
The Alhambra, as the last Moorish stronghold in Europe, is a remnant of this civilization's splendor. The Nazarids, an ethnic group of Spanish Muslims, held Granada until it ultimately fell to the Christian Reconquista in 1492. The Alhambra grounds consist of four parts: the Generalife Gardens, the Alcazaba (the fort dating from the mid-13th
century), Charles V's Palace (built by the conquering Christian king), and the Palacios Nazaries (the Moorish Royal Palace). All of these sites provide a window into another world, and are interesting to visit. However, the one main attraction is the Palacios Nazaries. The Islamic art and ornamentation incorporated into the design of this palace is amazingly beautiful; it is impressive to realize what other cultures created while Europe was sleeping through the dark ages. Emily and I followed the Rick Steves' walking tour of the palace provided in his guidebook - it was a little confusing since the names of the rooms aren't labeled within the palace, but his descriptions are clear enough that we could figure it out eventually. This gave us a better picture of what specific architectural choices symbolized, and the history of the palace. The Alhambra grounds as a whole are quite beautiful, and we enjoyed walking around and seeing the sights . . . the rain, while being unwelcome and making our pictures a little less picturesque, didn't deter us a bit . . . Not until it started hailing as we were walking back down the hill, that is.
Our attempts to visit
the rest of Granada, however, kind of fell apart because of the rain, the cold, and the sheer exhaustion. Emily and I hit the train station to get our tickets to Algeciras (thankfully much less eventful than buying our tickets to Granada . . . I also randomly ran into a friend from Miami who was studying abroad in Luxembourg - that was fun). Then we wandered a bit . . . especially through the Arabic section of town where our hostel was. They had some neat little shops that were fun to poke around. And we stopped for a while when we saw a crowd gathered outside one of the cathedrals for a Holy Week celebration - there was supposed to be a parade, but the rain put an end to that effort, so there wasn't much to see. Come 6 pm, though, we were back at the hostel ready to just relax for the rest of the evening. Our hostel did have an amazing dinner option - for 3 euro we had hot and sour soup, salad, and vegetable curry - amazing. And I ran into ANOTHER girl from Miami who had been studying in France. Small World.
So . . . add Granada to the list of places I have to see again . . . preferably when it's sunny.
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