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Published: March 16th 2011
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My Islamic Friend
First guy I discussed Islam with. Taught me about the 5 pillars. Granada, Haiti, Poland, Nicaragua...Well, just Grenada really.
My arrival into Granada was not the best...I had missed my first bus from Barna and had to pay another 70 big ones for the privilege of a 15 hour ride. I got into Granada at 3.30am, without having had any sleep on the bus. It was a short taxi ride and quick check in, so I hit the hay at 4am. Sleep? No such luck. It was warm, two guys were snoring, and at one point a piece of fluff from the blanket got up my nose and I had to spend 15 minutes sneezing and crying to get it out. Boo.
After a long shower in the morning, I went for a walk around the town - which improved the mood greatly. The Oasis backpackers hostel is located right in the middle of the old town, a very Arabic, winding, narrow streeted neighbourhood. The Moorish influences I had seen hints of in other parts of Spain were very evident here, from the layout to the architecture. From the city, you can see the Alhambra - an 14th century Moorish fortress, built on the highest hill in the area. After the
stroll, I headed back to the hostel and joined the street art tour. A local artist calling himself "child of the paintings", or "El Nino de las Pinturas", has created a huge portfolio of work on the cities walls. After this rambling ascent (the old part of town is on a steep gradient), we went to see the cave where our guide lives. There are two types of cave house in Granada - clean, legal caves, with plumbing and electricity; and filthy, illegal squatter caves, full of stinking hippies. Luckily, his cave was of the legal variety. The caves were originally dug out because of the high temperatures in summer; in the cave, it's always about 16 degrees. Later in the evening, we took a tapas tour. The tour consisted of me, a Kiwi, two English girls, a Dutch girl, two Belgians, a French dude and a Polish guy. Multi-cultural drunkeness. The tour missed out on what I reckon was the best Tapas in Granada - Le Bodega Castaneda.
The next day, I didn't do much of anything, tourism wise. I walked further through the city, and got into all the small, hidden areas for a good nosey around.
I noticed that all the street signs had pomegranates on them - which, of course, Granada is named for. In the afternoon, I went to an Arabic place for mint tea and to smoke my first hookah, a water pipe on which you smoke flavoured "shisha". Not hashish, ok? The shisha I had was apple flavoured; it was intense and smooth, and not at all like smoking a cigarett. Really it was more like breathing flavoured air, though it makes you a little light headed. They give you a little plastic piece to put in the end of the pipe for hygiene, and when I looked at it afterwards it was blackened...I imagine the same thing happened to my lungs. Sure enough I ran out of breath pretty quickly the next few days. Hookahs are good for a one-off, but I wouldn't do it regularly. Later in the evening, a gang of us went to see some Flamenco music and have some more drinks. There was no dancing, unfortunately. Not even from us.
I didn't sleep very well that night, so I rose at 6am and went to sit on the terrace to watch the sunrise. It was flipping
cold, but a thing of beauty. As the sun crept up from behind the Sierra Nevada mountains, new areas of the city became more detailed. What had been a blur of streetlights now resolved into rooftops, balconies, chimneys. I saw the streetlights blink and fade as their diodes registered the sunlight slowly. They failed one block at a time, giving a nice sequential effect. After this, I went up to the Alhambra. Remember, the 14th century fort? It was an awesome sight from the town, but inside...The architects were told that they could pretty much do as they pleased, but keep in mind three words: Paradise on Earth. And they pretty much accomplished it. From the outside, the Alhambra (litterally translated as "The Red One") is cold and forbidding, a symbol to the townspeople of just who was in charge here and could squish you very easily. Inside, it is a lush, green haven, with fountains and flowing water, and some incredibly beautiful and detailed plaster and tiling. All of it is in the Islamic style, with white clean lines and green and blue detail. I spent 4 hours wandering the various towers, chambers, prayer spaces and gardens, and trying
to put myself in the mindset of someone living there when it was built. Bliss. The Moors were eventually booted out by Ferdinand and Isabella - bit of a mistake, as all the good architects went with them - and the fortress fell in to disrepair. Luckily, it is now restored, largely, and is one of the best things to visit in Granada. For 12 Euro a ticket, I am not complaining.
This was my last night in Granada, unfortunately, but we finished it off in proper style: my friends from Argentina and Germany cooked up some burgers, and I prepared a salad and the fillings for the burgers. We had tons of stuff, and people came along and joined us, trading beer or cigaretts or songs for burgers. It was really a great moment, the kind of thing you imagine happening when you go to travel. After the BBQ, we headed up to the St. Jose overlook, a famous viewing point over the city. We sat and drank and played songs on the guitar, before heading to the cave house again and carrying on the party. In the morning, I said a regretful goodbye to Granada, and caught
the bus to Algeciras, from which I would travel to Morocco. The bus was typical of Spanish buses: crowded, hot and late.
Granada is one of the more special places I have seen on this trip; I would highly reccommend it to anyone seeking a laid back, beautiful place, with history, sights, hiking and of course, some awesome free tapas.
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