Granada

Dinner at a Moroccan Restaurant/Shisha Bar

It is SO AMAZING here!!!! I am so absolutely in love with this place I don´t even know where to start with describing it.  First of all, the city is just an amazing exotic mix between Arab and Spanish culture.

Tea Room

 Side by side with tapas restaurants (where your tapas is free with a drink) are shisha bars, kibob and shwarma joints, and an entire street filled with tea rooms.

The city is also hilly, which is totally different from flat Seville.  It reminds me a lot of SF in that way, with the early mornings being a bit cooler and things heating up quickly in the middle of the day.  The view is also more beautiful than Seville because of the amazing vistas that you can see from the tops of the hillsides, particularly of the grandeur of the Alhambra palace nestled on top of the mountaintop. More about Alhambra later, I have enough photos of that extravaganza to fill a book.

We are staying at the famous White Nest hostel, where apparently many reviewers say that this is the best hostel they´ve ever stayed at.  The service certainly did not let us down.  As soon as we got there, steaming cups of tea met us with friendly faces, one of whom sat down with us for ten minutes and drew out a detailed walk on a map along with markings of all the best tapas restaurants and places to visit.

Tastiest Clams Ever!

Mushroom Risotto with Crispy Jamon

At 10pm that night, we ventured out on the town on a tapas tour.  We experienced some great tapas - including pescaitos (tiny fried fish), langostino plancha (grilled shrimp), some jamon wrapped in a cheese on a toast point, and finally finished things off absolutely amazing mojitos for only three euros a pop.
 Did I mention that in order to receive a free tapas dish you must order an alcoholic drink? People here are just trying to get you drunk all the time.  

Tour Group

The next morning, we went on a free walking tour of the city that was also arranged through the hostel (really two thumbs up with this place, guys! Stay here if you´re ever in Granada).  Now this really was excellent.  The tour guide is an Aussie who truly knows his way around the city, winding us up and down the hillsides to visit the Jewish quarter, then the Arab quarter of the city, interspersed with stopping at particularly beautiful spots to relate interesting tidbits about the history of Granada.  Much of it revolved around the Arabic influence.

Islamic Baths; Hammas

I learned that when the Christians reconquored the city from the Arabs, they gave everyone who chose to stay and convert a name that was particularly marked in its Christian symbolism so these Arabs could be tracked for years to come.  For example, Iglesias (church), Banderas (flag) and Cruz (cross)  -- know anyone with these last names? An Enrique, or an Antonio perhaps? Even a Penelope?  Their last names reveal that they all have Arab roots in their ancestry.  Basically, what I got was a real live history lesson, delivered on the site where all the action occurred.  Nothing could have been better.

Famous Flamenco Cave

I also heard about the Guitanos (Gypsies) that live here.  Before today, I had no idea that Gypsies actually originated from Rajastan, India!!  They then roamed all over the world, and many of them came to settle here, and became virtuosos at the flamenco guitar.  There is actually a mafia culture over flamenco here, where only members of certain families can play in certain areas of the city.  My tour guide, who is learning himself, promises that he has heard some of the best flamenco guitar of his life just hanging out at these bars.

There are also many caves high up in the mountainside, where many hippies reside.  The rock is very soft here, and lends itself well to digging.  Unbelievably, many homes there merely have facades of a regular house, but once you go in, you quickly realize that you have actually stepped into a cave. 

Alhambra in the Background

Although brief, hopefully this description has given you a flavor of the collision of many cultures in this city.  It is what I love best about it, and what gives the atmosphere here such a sense of mystery.  Tonight, I sat watching the sun set over the Alhambra palace from the hilltop Plaza St. Nicholas.  I felt like I was lost in an ancient, beautiful and tragic world, where greatness once bloomed and died on these hillsides.