In 1492 the 800-year invasion and occupation of the Iberian Peninsula in general and of Spain in particular, by the Muslim Moors of North Africa, was ended when the last remaining Moorish King, Boabdil, surrendered his City and State of Granada to the Christian army of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The defeat was a virtually bloodless affair.

The Christians had been making inroads into Moorish-held territory for years and Boabdil undoubtedly saw the writing on the wall. He asked that the gateway by which he and his entourage left the city be sealed up forever and his wishes were respected. He paused on a hill above the city, now known as “The Sigh of the Moor”, and wept for what he had lost. His Mother upbraided him, saying “You weep like a woman for what you could not hold onto like a man!”

Ain’t that just like mothers!

True, there were still pockets of rebellious Moors here and there. It is reputed that Albufeira in Portugal was actually the final stand of those few Moors that remained defiant. However, the end of Moorish domination and rule did not mean the end of Muslims in Spain. Far from it. Granada still has a large Muslim population, which seems to be able to co-exist peaceably with its Roman Catholic Christian neighbours. They would seem to be treated equitably and fairly. I detected no evident racial or religious intolerance.

The same may not have been said in the past. The Moors, throughout their occupation permitted Christians and Jews to continue to worship in their own way. None were forced to convert to Islam. Indeed, the Quran demands that the “People of the Book” (Muslims, Christians and Jews) be accorded respect and equality as believers in the same God.

However, that didn’t stop the Moorish rulers imposing a tax on all non-Muslims to permit their continued right to worship in their own way. It is therefore of little surprise that the Christians imposed a similar tax on Muslims after the re-conquest. It went towards the cost of construction of the extensions to The Alhambra ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella.

And it was the self-same World-renowned Alhambra that motivated our visit to Granada. So it was that a long weekend was planned and booked.


Monarch Airways
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monarch has started direct scheduled flights to Granada from London Gatwick airport. One flight per day in each direction whisks you in around 3 hours from the UK to Spain. The outbound flight doesn’t depart until 3.25 in the afternoon so by the time you arrive, the rest of that day, save for a chance to eat out for an evening meal, is lost. However, the return flight doesn’t depart Granada until 8.20 in the evening so you still have a whole day to enjoy before heading for home.

Our flights were aboard an Airbus A320 that seemed to be in good condition and which experienced no problems on our flights. In both directions the flight arrived ahead of time and the baggage was presented promptly in the Terminal at both ends.

The degree of comfort is no more and no less than you would expect of a budget airline. As is normal, your ticket does not include food and drink. On the outward flight we chose not to indulge, having already eaten handsomely at Gatwick in Frankie and Bennie’s.

On the return flight we decided to have a snack as we were not expecting to be finally home until approaching midnight. Unfortunately, this provided our one gripe over the on-board service. We had chosen from the menu, vegetable paninis at £3 a time. Despite our only being seated in row 5, by the time they reached us only one was left! That really should have been better planned! With your meal you get a box of orange juice, a Chunky Kit-Kat and a cup of tea or coffee.

The tickets were £100 per person.

By the way, a quick word of warning. I found to my horror that Parking Express LONG TERM Parking at Gatwick is now up to an exorbitant £8.20 PER DAY! If had known that I would have booked with my favourite, Tudor Rose. They have a minimum charge of £30 but even so it would still have been cheaper.


Granada Airport
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Granada Airport is quite modern. It is situated about 25 minutes from the city centre by taxi. The airport is clean and airy with perfectly adequate number of check-in desks, seating and refreshment facilities. There is a small shopping area but the choice is not extensive. I would suggest that you don’t leave it until the last moment to buy your souvenirs. There is no Duty Free even for travellers outside of the EU. I have travelled through far, far worse airports than this one!

The Internet suggested that buses to Granada from the airport would not be running at the time we were due to arrive. However, as it turned out, there were two coaches waiting there. Clearly the new Monarch schedule poses opportunities for the eager coach operator. It cost us 3 Euros each to take us to the stopping point close to the Cathedral. From there we would have to make our own way to our hotel.

We decided to treat ourselves to a taxi back to the airport on our return, right from our hotel. The Internet suggested the price would be likely to be 35 Euros. In the event the driver charged us only 24 Euros so he got a good tip!


Guadalupe Hotel
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We had selected our hotel by the usual method of a Google search. We chose the Guadalupe because it offered a very good room price of 76 Euros per night and was within a stones-throw of the entrance to The Alhambra. A family run hotel with around 50 rooms, it looked very good value for money.

It proved to be an excellent choice although, situated where it is it is not centrally located, being high up on the Alhambra hill. It does, though, have good communications with the centre of the city, by bus or taxi and, provided you are reasonably fit, the delightful walk down through the Alhambra gardens will take you 10 minutes. The walk back, however, will take you more like 25 minutes.

Our room was in the Annex, 25 metres further up the hill. All meals were taken in the main building, which is also where we were to be found in the bar in the evenings. Our room (Room 223) was comfortable, clean, well decorated and of a decent size. The bathroom had a shower over the bath and also had all of the appearances of a whirlpool bath, except the whirlpool didn’t work! We reported it but it wasn’t fixed during our stay.

The only other drawback was that the one and only window in our bedroom had no view whatsoever. Still, you don’t come to Granada to look out of your bedroom window. However, a view would have been nice.

You do get satellite TV but the only English language stations were CNN and a just barely receivable Sky News. Fortunately reception was just about good enough to keep us up-to-date with the progress of the final Ashes Test Match.

We had breakfast each morning in the restaurant and had the choice of a buffet containing the usual suspects of cereals, fruit, yoghurts, cold meats and cheese as well as a hot selection of sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs. Various types of bread and croissants are available as well as fruit juices, tea and coffee.

We also had an evening meal in the restaurant on the Saturday evening. The menu appears not to change on a daily basis. Various dishes were on offer and, spotting one of my favourite dishes, braised oxtail, we decided to give it a try. The food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Washed down afterwards with monumental spirit measures in the bar, we slept well!

The staff, with the sole exception of one bartender, who seemed to have a permanent chip on his shoulder, could not have been more friendly or helpful. Our stay cost a total of 383 Euros (£250) for the two of us for three nights, including breakfast, the evening meal with wine and copious quantities of drinks and snacks in the bar.

The Hotel Guadalupe is highly recommended. You can visit their website at: http://www.hotel-guadalupe.com/plantillas/index.ph p?l=en


Public Transport
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In Granada the Bus and the Taxi reign supreme. Alhambra Bus (what else!) provides numerous routes throughout the city. Routes 30 and 32 serve The Alhambra and hence the hotel. Individual journeys cost 95 Cents and you can also buy, for 5.40 Euros, a ticket valid for 9 journeys. A machine as you enter the bus is provided for the ticket to be validated and the journeys clicked off.

The taxis are almost exclusively Caja Rural and new Skoda Octavias. They all seem to be in good condition. All journeys are metered. The taxi we took from the city centre up to our hotel the night we arrived cost 3.40 Euros.

In addition there are a couple of open-top tourist sightseeing buses that do a circuit of all of the sights of interest in about an hour. It’s like the ones you get in most big cities. You get a set of disposable headphones for the commentary in various languages. You plug them into a socket by your seat. There are also a couple of much smaller buses (not open top and no commentary) that do a circuit of the Arab Quarter. This is because of the much narrower streets.

You can travel on them for up to 24 hours from purchase of your ticket and you can get on and off at any of the stops to explore further. At 10 Euros we found this very good value. We just wished we had done it first rather than last as we saw a number of places where we would have spent more time had we known about them. It really does cover all that is of major interest in Granada.

Stop off at the Lorca Museum and Gardens or, if blood-sport is your thing (it’s definitely not mine!) then the bullring (Plaza del Toros) is on the route as well.

The High Speed Train is due to arrive in Granada in a couple of years so it will be possible to travel in speed and comfort by train all the way from the UK for those with a Fear of Flying. Granada also has a railway station for “normal” rail travel though we did not use it.


Granada – The City
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Granada is home to some 300,000 souls. And I do mean home. If there is one over-riding impression that you get of Granada it is that it is a “lived-in” city. Unlike many modern cities that are more or less ghost towns at the end of the working day, Granada is alive all the time. This is because people live where they work. Businesses, shops, houses and apartments are all intermingled.

Granada sits at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (The Snowy Mountain), the range of mountains that climb up to nearly 3,500 metres, created, like the Pyrenees, by Africa crashing into Europe. Granada’s location is attributable of this geological feature. Founded originally by the Romans, its local climate benefits from the cooling breezes from the mountains and from the abundant water supply from the melting snows of Winter.

After the Romans came the Visigoths, one of the races that ultimately brought about the destruction of the Roman Empire. Originating from around the Black Sea, after they destroyed Rome, instead of sticking around to pick up the pieces they set off on the long migration around the Mediterranean through what is now Southern France, to take occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. Granada was one of their main cities.

Then in the 8th Century came the Moors of Northern Africa. They had been advancing invincibly along the north coast of Africa all the way from the Middle East. Finally, the irresistible prize of the Iberian Peninsula stood before them. The Moorish army swept across the Straits of Gibralta and overran all before them, driving the Visigoths back into obscurity.

Little remains in Granada of the Romans or the Visigoths but evidence of Moorish occupation is all around. One small sign of previous peoples may possibly be found in the middle of Avenida de la Constitucion. The traffic, often bad, is currently severely hampered by the excavation of buried ruins in the middle of the road. No information is evident about what has been found. Are these Roman or Visigoth remains? Who knows. Until a decision is taken about what to do the traffic will be a nightmare as it is squeezed around the obstruction.

The end of the Avenida leads into Granada’s main thoroughfare, Gran Via de Colon. The Gran Via runs roughly East/West across the centre of the city and effectively divides it into two, the northern Arabic quarter and the southern Christian one.

The northern half of the city is itself divided into two by the valley of the River Darro whose waters provide the supplies that feed the fountains and pools of The Alhambra. On the western hill is the Albaicin, predominantly home to Granada’s Muslim population. On the eastern hill is The Alhambra itself.


Albaicin
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The slopes of both of these hills are very steep. You have to be fit to explore either in foot. But both are worth the effort. The Albaicin in particular is a fascinating maze of little alleyways. Every turn exposes a little courtyard or an open square, many with unbelievable views over the city.

Particularly you should head for Caril de San Augustin. This terrace here has the most staggering views, across the city to the south but more especially of The Alhambra on the hill on the opposite side of the valley. As soon as I saw it I knew that it was from this very spot that many of the famous photos that everyone will recognise were taken. The danger is to simply sit and stare.

To reach here, head first north up Carrera del Darro, which runs from the Plaza Nueva at the corner where the Albaicin, the Alhambra and the Christian quarter meet. The road runs along the edge of the River Darro, which can be seen on the right above the Plaza, at which point it disappears into a culvert that takes it underground all the way to Granada’s second and major river, the Xenil.

We were amused to see a large family of geese that had taken occupation of this stretch of the river though, at this time of year (September) it is little more than a stream.

Halfway up, the road opens up into a square where you can eat al fresco courtesy of a couple of restaurants. We didn’t but subsequently wish we had. It looked delightful and the menus looked interesting. But, there’s only so much you can do in three days! Above the square turn left up just about any alleyway and make your way up to the highest point of the hill. This is your destination. You know you are going in the right direction if you are going uphill!

Take your photos, spend some time but don’t stay all day; there is still much to see. From the terrace head downhill back towards the city. Up here on the hill, mostly its houses, churches (yes, even in the Muslim quarter) and mosques. As you descend you enter the back of the Arab commercial quarter. Here are hundreds of little stores and tea shops where you could happily spend a day looking for bargains and haggling over prices.

As the ground starts to flatten out you know you are reaching the “frontier”. Depending upon which way you go you could emerge onto the Gran Via or back into Plaza Nueva. Either way, it’s time for refreshments.


Eating Out
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One thing you won’t run short of in Granada is places to eat. On every street and at every corner you will find something to suit. In the Plaza Nueva you will find several restaurants which extend their premises out onto the square. Indeed, most seem to eat in the open even though some establishments levy a surcharge for doing so.

Other than a drink the night we arrived, we only ate twice in the Plaza. The first was not actually on the square itself but in La Gran Taberna bar on the lower corner across the road. This is a typical Tapas bar. The food is excellent and very reasonable value. Downstairs there is really not much more than standing room but walk towards the rear and you will find stairs up to the balcony. Here there are many tables where you can sit, eat and drink and watch the World come and go in the bar below. A beer and six dishes for two cost just over 20 Euros. Recommended.

The other one we tried was at the top end of the Plaza. Actually, here the square is known as Plaza Santa Ana but the only difference seems to be that Nueva is south of the street called Carcel Alta and Santa Ana, north. It’s called Diego Rubio Antigua. Here we ate in the open. We had a Paella con Marisco Solo (Seafood Paella) that was of good quality and more than adequate quantity. The bill came to 37 Euros including a bottle of wine and some mineral water. The location proved to be a little noisy as the local university students all seemed to have parked their scooters right across the road.

We ate out on the night we arrived, in the Christian quarter, in the Bib-Rambla square, which you will find right behind the Cathedral. The whole of the square is surrounded by eateries, from traditional Spanish style to the obligatory Pizzeria. We avoided the latter for no other reason than we didn’t come to Spain to eat Italian.

Here we ate at Cafeteria Alhambra. Once again this is a restaurant with eating in the open though here they have a purpose-built covered area that at least makes for provision in case of rain (of which there was none at all during our visit). Once again we had a paella (yes, I do know there are other Spanish dishes), but this time a Paella Mista (Mixed Paella). The quality was good though by no means the best I have ever had. With wine the bill came to 52 Euros.

On our final night in Granada we ate close to the hotel at La Mimbre. This is about 100 metres from the hotel, down the hill. It is right by the exit to The Alhambra and so does a roaring trade at lunchtime. Indeed, if you don’t book in advance, you won’t get a table.

In the evenings there is no need to book. The night we ate there it was three-quarters empty. At this time it caters only for local trade and there really isn’t much more than that provided by the few hotels such as the one at which we were staying, and they, in any case, have their own restaurant.

However, the experience was enjoyable, despite my first choice dish from the menu being unavailable! The local feral cats clearly considered the restaurant their kitchen and came out in force. However, they were all well-behaved, healthy and clean and truly beautiful animals so we didn’t mind their presence. The bill, including feline entertainment came to 65 Euros.

Clearly, in the time we had, we only skimmed the surface of what was available. We saw many other places we would have liked to have tried but you can only eat so much. I doubt you would go far wrong wherever you ate (other than at the McDonalds) and the prices all seemed to be very reasonable, probably due to the abundant competition.


Shopping
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Of course, you don’t have to restrict yourself to the Albaicin for your shopping. However, for a shopping area that’s just like an Arab Souk, selling exactly what you would expect, it’s great. In fact it actually extends across Gran Via into the Christian quarter, occupying some of the alleyways squeezed between the Cathedral and the original major thoroughfare (now pedestrianised) of the Zacatin.

It is already evident here that you are moving into a more Western shopping environment. Make your way through to the adjacent Reyes Catolicas, which is now the main route for traffic and follow it south-east to wide open square of the Puerta Real, with its huge fountain and before you you see a very different scene. From here until you reach the river Xenil at the end of Alcera del Darro you will find Granada’s “West End”.

Alcera del Darro itself exemplifies this area. A dual-carriageway with the central reservation and a public walkway bordered by trees, it enables a leisurely stroll safe from the traffic, until you try to cross to the shops on either side.


Sightseeing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We don’t really do monuments. If you are into museums and things, Granada has an abundance. The only place we felt it obligatory to visit was the Cathedral. You have to pay to enter (3 Euros) and entrance is from the Gran Via.

The only problem here (and indeed throughout Granada) is the hordes of Gypsy women sticking sprigs of rosemary in your face and demanding money. Now, why on Earth I would want a sprig of rosemary beats me. I have a ton of it in my garden. If I needed any I would have brought it with me. In future, if we come back to Granada, I will come prepared with one and then, perhaps, they will leave me alone!

The Cathedral is impressive in size though I have seen far more attractive interiors. St Pauls this isn’t. Unfortunately, at the moment the central Nave is undergoing restoration and is obscured by scaffolding. It is surrounded by a semi-circular colonnade, in the archways of which in normal times hang huge pictures that clearly must completely fill the top half of the arch, given their shape. Right now they have been taken down to protect them whilst the work is under way and are displayed free-standing at the outer edge of each arch.

One place that we would have visited but didn’t is the Museo Garcia Lorca located on Arabial. This is on the route of the City Sightseeing Tour so you can jump off here to explore some more. Lorca is a Hero and Martyr of the Spanish Revolution. He was shot by Franco’s army but his name lives on in honour in Spain where Franco’s is reviled.

The museum is surrounded by beautiful gardens that are alone worth a visit.

And, of course, there’s the Alhambra.


Tales of the Alhambra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Throughout Granada you can, of course, buy souvenirs of your visit. One we saw that we would have liked to have bought was a book of illustrations of the Alhambra. Like others of its kind (we have a similar one of Rome) it illustrates the Alhambra as it is today with each illustration overlaid by a clear film part printed with a picture of how the scene would have appeared when it was originally constructed. We saw several people with these books, comparing today with yesterday. We would have bought one ourselves but couldn’t find one in English.

What we did find was “Tales of The Alhambra” by W. Irving. I had assumed when I picked it up that it was a modern guide to this site. It contains dozens of pictures taken throughout. However, once I started reading it it became very evident that this was anything but a “normal” guide.

It turned out that W. Irving was Washington Irving, America’s first Ambassador to Spain. The book relates his experiences during a visit to Granada in the company of his friend, a Russian Diplomat (wow, how times have changed), in 1829. The two rode to Granada from Seville. The book documents his trip and his extended stay in the Alahambra.

I read a substantial portion of this book before our visit and recognised the places he described even now, nearly 200 years later. I would strongly recommend reading this book before you visit.

If the name, Washington Irving, sounds familiar then this is no surprise. This book is not his only work. This self same Washington Irving is also the author of “The Legend of Sleep Hollow” made, not so long ago, into a film starring Johnny Depp.


The Alhambra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had booked on the Internet ahead of our visit a guided tour of The Alhambra. We chose Sunday morning for this. The tour takes around 3 hours and cost us 83 Euros for the two of us. This includes the cost of entry to The Alhambra and also to the Generalife (No, not General Life – that’s an insurance company – that’s the joke the Guide tells you).

No words of mine can ever do justice to this simply magnificent place. It’s far more than just a building, indeed it is many buildings. The Alhambra was in fact a town in itself. There are three palaces and the whole is surrounded by defensive walls that have stood the test of time and earthquakes.

Descending from the walls of the Alhambra are lush gardens that extend all the way to the Albaicin and the Christian quarter. Traffic here is restricted to access solely by buses, taxis and coaches and to the vehicles of those who live and work in the Alhambra and the hotels and businesses that are built within the gardens. Many of the pathways are pedestrian access only; traffic has to take a detour to reach the top. We often walked between the city and our hotel, just to enjoy the peace and quiet, despite the steep gradient.

If you have motor transport and want to visit the Alhambra then you have to access its vast car park from the south-eastern end of Granada. Travel out of the city south-east along Carrefera de la Sierra. On your left you will pass the historic Jewish quarter. Most of the houses here nowadays are modern but you wonder how they manage to cling to the side of what looks to all intents to be a virtually vertical cliff! More to the point, how do they actually get up and down to their houses?

Follow the signs and you will double back on yourself, climbing steeply up the opposite side of the Alhambra hill from the city. The views on the way up are amazing. The traffic here is often very heavy with visitors making there way to the Alhambra.

We, however, just walked across the road!

Actually, we didn’t. Across the road is the Ticket Office where those who arrive to “do their own thing”; buy their tickets to do their own personal exploration. We, however, were part of a guided tour. We entered by the tour gateway further down the site.

Here you enter the courtyard beside the Fortress. This is close to the “Wine Gate” which is where the toilets, refreshments and souvenirs can be found. From the terrace where you can get a tremendous view over the city of Granada. Beside the terrace is the palace erected for Charles the Fifth of Spain. It is currently undergoing renovation and is not open to the public.

Here the tour starts. From this point onwards everything is a sheer delight. The architecture, the decorations, the gardens just have to be seen. This site has undoubtedly the greatest “Wow” factor I have experienced since we visited Venice.

All of the locations will be immediately recognisable to you if you have ever seen any pictures of the Alhambra. I did, and especially because of Irving’s book. The Hall of the Ambassadors, The Court of the Lions, with its central fountain, surrounded by 12 marble lions, although only 11 are on show at the time that I write this. One has been taken away to be used as a model to recreate the lions as they were before they suffered the ravages of time and climate.

In the right-hand alcove of the court is the fountain at which were beheaded the 36 Abencerrages, amongst whose number was accused, probably falsely, to be the supposed lover of Boabdil’s wife.

In the grounds, between the Alhambra and the Generalife is the monastery of San Francisco. Today this has been converted into a Parador where you can stay for a holiday that is truly memorable.

The tour is a full three hours and covers not only the Alhambra but also the “Summer Palace” of the Generalife. The time flew by and the only evidence we had of our experience was the aching of our legs from all of the walking and climbing.

I took around a hundred photos during our visit and even then I captured only a fraction of what could have been taken. Mostly these wonderful images remain in my head. I will never forget my visit. Maybe one day I will return.


Summary
~~~~~~~~~~~
Granada is without doubt an intriguing city. We loved our visit and would happily return. Granada and the Alhambra is one of the “1,000 Places to see before you Die”. “Been there, seen that, done that, bought the T-shirt” this isn’t. It’s so much more than just a tick on the list. It’s the sort of place that makes life worth living.

Oh, and sorry about the title. I just couldn’t resist.