Spain - Granada

Granada holds particular significance in Spanish history as the last city to fall from Moorish hands (in 1492) during the Reconquista. Following the Reconquista, the city was made the capital of a newly united Spain by Queen Isabel and her husband King Ferdinand. Granada is also the city where Queen Isabel agreed to sponsor Columbus’ voyage to ‘India’. Granada remained the capital of Spain until King Phillip II moved the capital to Madrid in the late 1500’s. This move marked the end of Granada’s significance, as well as the beginning of the end for the Spanish empire (at the time it encompassed much of Europe as well as parts of North and South America). Much of the fall of the Spanish empire can be attributed to the rise of the Protestant Christian church (and to Spanish overspending – sound familiar to anyone?). So, Martin Luther not only knocked the Catholic Church down a peg or two, he also contributed to the decline of the Spanish empire. Not too shabby for a German monk!

Our trip to Granada started with a three hour train ride through the countryside of southern Spain. What I didn’t realize at the time was that southern Spain has a lot hills and mountains (short ones, but still mountains). This leads to a really slow and winding train ride. Where our average speed on northern European trains was in the neighborhood of 90mph, our average speed on this train ride was only about 40mph. We got plenty of time to admire the scenery and the miles and miles of olive tree fields spread out on nearly every possible inch of land. We arrived in Granada about 3:00pm, checked into our hotel and got to sightseeing!

To get ourselves acquainted with the city and the area around our hotel, we followed a walking tour in our favorite guide book (Rick Steves for those of you just joining us). We started at a 14th century Moorish inn for merchants and their camels; then, wound our way through the narrow streets of an old Moorish silk market now filled with tourist stands. Our next stop was the Plaza de Bib-Rambla. Once the center of Moorish Granada, the plaza is now home to a lovely fountain and our hotel. A few blocks later, we arrived at the cathedral and the royal chapel.

The cathedral was built by the conquering Christians on the site of a destroyed mosque (much like the cathedral in Seville) and is one of only two Renaissance-style churches in Spain. The royal chapel was constructed in the early 1500s to serve as their final resting place of Isabel and Ferdinand. We started our tour of these buildings in the royal chapel. Sorry, no pictures were allowed, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. At the center of the chapel were the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabel as well as the tombs of Philip the Fair and Juana the Mad (they succeeded Ferdinand and Isabel). The tombs were topped with sculptures of the four rulers, each lying on a pillow, hands folded on their chests. The other highlight of the chapel was the high altar, dedicated to John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. The altar depicted scenes from the lives of the two Johns, as well as scenes from the conquering of the Moors in Granada.

After we finished our visit of the royal chapel, we went next door to tour the cathedral. This ended up being my favorite cathedral in Spain and maybe my favorite of the cathedral’s we’ve seen in our travels thus far. What made this place so different? The interior was painted white. Instead of the dark, gloomy feel of most European cathedrals, this place was bright, and filled with light. The beautiful stone work was still easily visible through the paint, and the gold decorations and painted altar piece really stood out against the bright white. I am continuously impressed by the engineering and craftsmanship present in these cathedrals, but being able to really see the details was a special treat. Plus, our pictures turned out so much better!

We headed back to the hotel to change into something a bit warmer before heading out to the San Nicolas viewpoint for dinner. We were surprised to find it was actually getting cooler as the sun went down – Seville seemed to radiate heat well into the night. Our walk took us from the heart of Granada, along the Paseo de los Tristes (a walkway along below the beautiful Alhambra grounds, next to the Darro River), and into the Albayzin neighborhood. The Albayzin neighborhood is the most well-preserved Moorish area in Spain. It was all narrow roads, high white-washed walls, and towering Cyprus trees. It also happened to be located on the hill across from the Alhambra, making the plaza next to San Nicolas church a prime location for snapping a few pictures as the sun went down.

Allow me to interject a little about the Alhambra since I’m going to be talking about it for most of the rest of this post. The Alhambra was constructed as a Moorish palace in the 13th century. It served as home to Moorish kings until the Moors were driven out of Spain in 1492. Successive Spanish rulers added to the buildings of the Alhambra until the capital was moved to Madrid. Eventually, the palaces were used as a barracks by Napoleon in the early 1800’s. Today, the palaces, fort, and gardens are open to the public (through a ridiculously complicated ticketing and reservation system – if you want to go, know what you’re doing and make reservations well in advance). More of the Alhambra later.

We got to the plaza a little early for sunset, so we decided to find a place to get some food. We lucked out and found a restaurant on the plaza with tables on the roof – the perfect way to view the Alhambra. Chris spent most of dinner hanging over the railing taking pictures. Such a silly boy. After dinner, we took a few more pictures on the plaza and then walked back down the hill to our hotel.

The next morning, we were picked up a few blocks from our hotel and driven WAY out of town to one of the many, many olive tree farms located around Granada. We joined a family that shared our rooftop perch at the restaurant and a couple that we would see again later on our trip to Cordoba (small little world) for a morning of learning about olive oil! We learned that olive trees grow very slowly, but start producing olives almost as soon as they are planted. We also learned that a large portion of the world’s olive oil comes from Spain, and most of Spain’s olive oil is produced in the Southern region of Andalucía.

 After the tree farm, we were taken to an old oil mill. The farmers used to bring their olive crops here to be ground and pressed. They were given a share of the oil based on how many kilos of olives they brought to the mill. We finished up the tour with some olive oil tasting! When our tour guide asked us to drink the oil straight from a little cup, Chris and I both looked at her like she was nuts. However, I was surprised to find that a tiny little sip of olive oil was actually pretty good, and you really could tell the difference between the various types. After the first sip, we were given bread to eat with the rest of the oil in our cup. The decision to book this tour was a bit spur-of-the moment, but it turned out to be a great one. We learned something a little unusual about the region, and we go to get out the city and into the mountains around the town.

The final stop on our tour of Granada was La Alhambra. As I said earlier, construction on the complex was started by the Moors in the 13th century and added to by later Spanish rulers before being ransacked by Napoleon in the 1800’s. The complex is made up of four main parts: Charles V’s Palace, Alcazaba (old fortress), Generalife gardens, and the Palacios Nazaries. We had reservations for the Palacios Nazaries during the last hour before closing, so we were able to enter the rest of the sites starting at 2pm. We started by making our way to Charles V’s Palace. On the way, we stopped in a beautiful rose garden and an old Mosque bath house. The palace is a square building with a two-story circular courtyard in the middle. The courtyard is ringed with two covered walkways supported by multi-colored marble columns. The interior rooms are now home to two small art museums, neither of which were all that interesting.

Our next stop in the Alhambra was the Alcazaba. This area was an old military fort, and parts of it date back as early as the 9th century. We climbed lots of tower stairs and walked along the tops of the walls all around the fort. We were getting some great pictures of Granada and the rest of the Alhambra when it started to pour!! Always, prepared, we pulled out our rain coats and got our camera and ourselves out of the rain as quickly as we could. Thankfully, there were plenty of covered areas in the fort to walk through until the rain stopped.

Passing through the wall gardens surrounding the Alcazaba, we made our way across the site to the Generalife Gardens. The gardens only got ‘one star’ in our guide book, but they would be a don’t-miss item on our list! The gardens were originally the sultan’s fruit and vegetable gardens as well as the location of his summer palace. Today, the garden is filled with roses, cypress hedges, and lots of fountains. We toured most of the gardens in the rain, but once the sun came out, they were really something to see. At the far end of the gardens, perched on the edge of the hill, was the sultan’s summer palace. Our guidebooks described it as “…the closest thing on earth of the Quran’s description of heaven…” If someone told me I would spend eternity in a place that looked like this palace, with its mountain views and perfectly landscaped courtyards, I would say, “Sign me up!”

We wondered around the gardens for another half hour or so before making our way to the line for the Palacios Nazaries. We took advantage of the lines of people waiting to play our favorite game – find the Rick Steves books! We added a new element to the game this trip by trying to take pictures of the other people with their books – we’re weird, we know.

Finally, it was our allotted time to enter. What we saw inside was most certainly worth the hassle of their ticket buying process. Every room was covered, floor and ceiling included, with hand painted tiles, carved wood and stone inscriptions, and what can only be described as stalactites carved into many of the ceilings. Courtyards decorated with peaceful pools were scattered throughout the palace, giving the sultans and other inhabitants a place to beat the hot Spanish sun. It was good to be sultan in 14th century Spain! One of the highlights of the palace was supposed to be the Courtyard of the Lions. However, the courtyard and its lions are currently under restoration, so we only got a little peak at what is considered the most beautiful space in the palace. When it’s in place, the fountain is made up of 12 lions and used to function as a clock (with each lion spouting water at their appointed hour). The Christians took the fountain apart when they conquered the Moors and could never get it to work again. Part of the restoration will be to make it function as intended. Oh well, I guess this just means we’ll have to come back some day.

Upon exiting the palace, we walked through a few more of the adjacent royal gardens before making the long trek back to the entrance and our bus stop. We hopped on one of the city’s crazy red minibuses and rode it to the Albayzin for another dinner with a view of the Alhambra. We called it a night a little earlier than usual but took our time walking back to our hotel from the Albayzin.

Granada was a magical place with an interesting mix of Moorish and Christian architecture. The mountains served as a beautiful backdrop for the city and made Granada my new favorite place in Spain.