Just back: Granada

I really liked Granada and found it to be much more authentic feeling than Sevilla, and the Sierra Nevada background is beautiful. The Alhambra is absolutely incredible. The single best sight that I went to in my entire backpacking trip, which says a lot. You can easily hit all the tourist sites in two days, which is what we did.
From Sevilla, we took a bus to Granada. The buses were nice and very easy to use. We stayed in Hostal Arroyo, which was fine, nothing special. Hostals were much cheaper here than in the other main cities we went to in Spain. The cathedral is impressive and the surrounding area of shops (especially the Albaceria) is really pretty. The Albacin (Arab quarter) is very interesting. This is Granada’s maze-like area (which all the cities we saw in Spain had), but it is much poorer and run down and has less shops than the others. It starts out touristy, but quickly becomes quite unpopulated. Definitely worth exploring, but I wouldn’t travel alone there at night. If you wander around long enough, you should find the Mirador of St. Nicholas, which gives a terrific view of the Alhambra. The Arab bathouses (El Banuelo) were nice, but only the star-shaped sky lights really stood out as worth visiting for.
Most of the second day was spent at… (drum roll please)… the Alhambra. Nothing I could say about this fortress/palace could possibly do justice. The whole first day we saw its tough, simple, brooding exterior as we walked around Granada. But the inside is so bright and colorful. Ponds of water, fountains, and flowers are all over. Nasrid Palace is the centerpiece, and deservingly so. The detail in the stone is mind-boggling. Arches, engravings, tiles, columns as far as you can see. I know I’m not describing it very well, but take my word for it. If you ever have the chance to see the Alhambra (that means, if you’re anywhere in Southern Spain or even Madrid) do not pass it up.
Anyway, let me know if you want me to tell you any more about what I did or planning it (or if you just want to hear me use the words “beautiful” and “Alhambra” in the same sentence again).

Adam

I fully agree with you, Adam!

I can think of many many other words in the same sentence with Alhambra like for example:
fantastic, interesting, wonderful, fascinating, brilliant, exciting etc.

Btw, the North American diplomat and historian Washington Irving, who lived in Alhambra for some time, has written a very interesting book about Alhambra. I guess the English title is "Stories of Alhambra" ("Cuentos de Alhambra" in Spanish). It contains charming legends from Alhambra and it´s beautifully illustrated. It´s also translated to many other languages.

I concur!! Granada is a very special place not to be missed!! (And I'm not saying that just because of my name...)



Denise
aka GRANADAGIRL

I completely agree with what everyone here says about Granada and the Alhambra, I literally get choked up when I think of the details and my days spent there last January. I picked up a copy of Irving's Tales of the Alhambra and started reading it the day after I visited the interior. The story was especially poignant after the fact, as you can still imagine Irving there almost 200 years ago. I still can not explain the magic spell that the Alhambra cast over me, I long for the day when I return.

Yes, thats the title. Thanks for correcting me, laduque!
Tía

i'm glad to hear others found granada so special. like i said in the post, the alhambra is worth seeing regardless of how much you have to travel to do it. even if you're just going to madrid, it's worth looking into day trips to granada. it may souhnd ridiculous, but the travel and incovenience will be well compensated.

It never ceases to amaze me as to how many people find that "special place" somewhere in Spain. Our boards seem to prove that point.

Before I went to Spain, I wondered why there were so many famous artists who had been Spaniards, and I couldn't truly fathom what drove so many people in that direction.

Then, after walking the streets of the cities and villages, and seeing the grandeur of the mountains, plains, and coastlines, I began to understand. When you live in such beauty, it's hard not to want to recreate it on canvas.

Wolf

Right, Wolf!

It´s impossible to understand the dedication before visiting Spain. I can´t blame the sceptic ones, but they don´t know what they miss.

I get goose pimples of reading the Spain-lovers posts here but at the same time it gets more difficult to decide which part of the country to visit next time.

Tía

Adam, Thanks for your info on Granada and Seville. I am off to the Costa del Sol in 2 weeks, and plan to spend the 2nd week touring the major cities and towns. This will be my 5th trip, but have not yet gone inland and these 2 cities are on the agenda this time round. I am so looking forward to seeing the places I have only read about and you have whetted my appetite even more. Thanks again.

Yes! everybody is right!
Granada is truely great place to go. I was there in 1997 and stayed at one of familiy own pensions. It was excellent experience although i couldn't speak Spanish at all but the experience made me to go back to Spain in 2001 and made me to study Spainish. I still keep in touch with a girl who was daughter of the pension owner.

Me encanta Granana mucho!!
If you go to Granada, stay at a pension.

Hi everyone, Here I am back home after a great vacation on the Costa del Sol. Last Monday my daughter and I took a tour bus to Granada from Benalmadena at a cost of 5300 pts each. We started out at 7.20am and after a stop en-route for coffee in the Loja area, we arrived in Granada about 10.30am. The weather was warm but overcast, but this did not spoil our day. We were given a short time to ourselves to walk around the shopping area and whilst in El Corte Ingles I bought a book by Washington Irvine called Tales of the Alhambra. He was the American Ambassador to Spain and there is a plaque dedicated to him inside the Alhabra. This book gives a very good insight into the region and palace as it was in the early 1800's. Anyway, after we re-joined the bus, we were taken to the Alhambra, where we were allocated a guide for the tour. This was really useful as all the history of the palace was explained to us. My thoughts turned to imagining what life was like back when the Moor kings lived there with their harem. The guide told us about the courtyard of Lions and how true it is I don't know, but the story goes that the 12 lions were a gift from the Jewish people, and were accepted as a mark of friendship. At the time the gardens were covered in rich foilage and this was allowed to grow in height which in turn hid the lions from view when the king had visitors from Islam, this was so as not to offend them. When he had a visit from a Jewish king , he had the foilage cut back to allow the lions to be seen again. How diplomatic was that? The gardens of the summer palace were beautifully kept and the fountains added to the tranquility of the overall visit. The views of the whole area and mountains were magnificient! After lunch and several hours later, we were then taken on a tour of the famous sights before leaving for home. Well worth the time and money to see such a beautiful region.