The pomegranate city: In Granada

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Granada - the city of pomegranates. Pomegranates (aka Granada) are a symbol fertility, birth, and eternal life and it was adopted as the name of this city buy Catholic monarchs after their final victory over the Moors. I've enjoyed my time here in this city which started with a quick flight from Barcelona where I think I saw the Sierra Nevada mountain range and miles of olive trees which was an interesting contrast to Barcelona which was very much built around squares and the port activity of the city. Granada has several things for the visitor and I was fortunate enough to find a good hotel right in the middle of the city, though I didn't realize at the time that my room is right next to an all-night club. So while I'm within walking distance of many of the good sights, I'm also not able to sleep at night.

Oh well. I've had the opportunity to visit the great cathedral which is one of the biggest in the entire European Union. It is truly amazing to walk through the cathedral and see the beautiful iconography and pray. On the way there vendors were setting up their stalls and I got to see more of the architectural art elements that greet visitors and locals alike. I then went in search of the Alhambra, one of the most visited sites in Spain, which if you are planning on coming here please know that you must purchase a ticket in advance, they were turning a people away right and left. Before I got there however I took a left at Albuquerque and wound up at a really beautiful natural garden built on the grounds of martyred Christians. It was straight up walking there, I definitely worked to get there, and it was so beautiful because it had all been sort of naturalized, compared to the heavily cultivated gardens in the Alhambra Area. So I was very lucky to wind up in those gardens even though I felt like I was going to die from walking straight up hill for 10 billion miles.

Anyway, for the Alhambra I was able to purchase garden tickets and I feel very lucky to have been there as they are sold out for the next week or two if you want to get into the full palace/fort. Granada is known as one of the last Muslim strongholds in Spain and there's a huge Muslim influence here, actually walking the streets can feel more like I'm in the country of northern Morocco than in Barcelona. Last night I had Syrian food and today my coffee vendor was speaking Arabic to his friend, and most of the vendors speak Arabic or are wearing the burka.

The streets are clean, the people are wonderful and I feel very fortunate to be here before it gets too hot and too filled with tourists. I've seen some beautiful architecture and had some incredible food.

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Photos

Prayer candles are coin operated
Pretty clever way to keep fire concerns down.