GRAND GRANADA II

St. Nicholas Mirador offers a stunning view of the Alhambra from its tourist-filled terrace but our son also went to another mirador with less tourists

El Ladrillo II restaurant was our dining choice twice for its fresh fish, excellent service, and atmospheric al fresco charm.

Casa Pasteles in the Albaicin is THE coffee and pastry stop , popular with locals and visitors for its freshly baked goodies. Plaza Bib-Rambla Café is a good sweet stop downtown. At the Alhambra patronizing the snack kiosk allows you to eat a quick, economical lunch in a panoramic setting.

Huge crowds clustered around the Catedral so we moved away from it only to stumble upon a procession straight out of a movie. So, serendipitously, my husband took photos and a movie of this religious event.

Quick Tips:

Downtown Alhambra is a bit dull only in that it is more modern and familiar, less charmingly Moorish, than the Albaicin or even the Plaza Nueva that has old Arab tea rooms and tapas bars with some Andalusian verve (See photos). But the romantic in me loved the Albaicin where I could look up during daylight to the Sacromonte to see the remains of the old protective wall that encircled the Albaicin and at night see lights twinkling in the Sacromonte gypsy caves where flamenco shows are put on for the tourist trade.

There are many websites (just check on Google or the sites I've cited in this journal and its predecessor, GRAND GRANADA I )with apartment and hotel rentals in the Albaicin and Plaza Nueva so you can enjoy the special charms of uphill Granada. If you prefer downtown, around the atmospheric Plaza Bib-Rambla we saw some rather respectable looking budget hotels located above the shops.

Best Way To Get Around:

The Albaicin’s traffic is restricted to taxis, minibus, residents’ cars, and a few authorized tour busses. You get so used to its quiet and you wish you could stay there forever! Walking is the best way to explore the Albaicin; around every corner there seems to be a charming house, some gorgeous flowers, or an interesting Mudejar architectural detail. We often saw locals using the minibus for trips downtown.

The airport is about 20 minutes away from center by taxi.At the Alhambra you have about a 10- minute walk uphill from the ticket office,but,on exit,the walk to the minibus stop is an easy five minutes or so. Busses run at least three or four times an hour. Granada is a walk at night town, it seems. In the Albaicin after 9pm, there are no busses, but you can walk to practically everything within 20 minutes.

A block away from our rental, this restaurant’s ambiance and food epitomize Andalusian dining. Though miles from the seacoast, this restaurant features seafood, especially the "barca" plate recommended by Rick Steves on his dining list for the Albaicin. My husband and son both agreed with him that the "barca" was good value and relished it; I didn’t enjoy it as I dislike calamari of which it was full. "It" is a huge platter of fried (in olive oil) fish, so huge my husband and son had difficulty finishing their portions. On both occasions that we dined there at mid-day, this restaurant was nearly full, mostly with locals.

The lower dining area in which we seated ourselves was under a rollaway roof that was a sophisticated cousin to the thatched roof over the upper terrace at our rental carmen. Since it rains seldom during much of the year in Andalusia this type of roof often covers dining areas in homes and restaurants in the Albaicin. When it rains any disturbing amount, this restaurant’s waiters direct patrons up the staircase to the left of the entry where there is additional dining space under a regular roof. We did not go upstairs for, on our first afternoon visit, it only sprinkled for about five minutes.

There are two El Ladrillos; the original, smaller one with out-door tables on the cobblestoned Plaza Larga and this one that is just steps away from Salvator church and on the same narrow street as El Zoraya, another restaurant where we saw two dogs resting on the roof. As my husband took the photo, one of the dogs shied away; the other boldly stayed on his precipitous perch. In this upscale "brick" restaurant, the half-tiled walls are extensively decorated with views of the Alhambra and Andalusia. The tiled bar to the right of the entry is similarly blue-tiled and had a couple of customers even at mid-day.

On both occasions, service was prompt and attentive; we had the same young waiter who seemed rather relieved when I ordered in my limited Spanish. On our first visit, I enjoyed an excellent steak with Roquefort sauce, which my husband also chose. Our son opted for conejo (rabbit) with red pepper sauce that he really dug into. We all had flan for dessert. On the second visit, son and hubby had a cold asparagus appetizer and I had my favorite gazpacho. On both occasions they had a carafe of house wine and I had my usual lemon soda. IVA (tax) was 7% and the bill for both visits averaged 26-27 euros, very reasonable indeed.

We hopped on the mini-bus at the bus stop adjacent to St. Salvator Church a block from our house and within five minutes of travel through the narrow but charming lanes of the Albaicin, we were THERE -- we and about 200 or so others. All the guidebooks mention this was the spot President Bill Clinton had to show Hilary and Chelsea when they were in Granada. It is a memorable view of the Alhambra directly across the canyon from the broad visitors’ terrace with benches provided for Granada’s visitors. The overview of the Alhambra from this terrace highlights its immensity and the rather forbidding nature of its red exterior.

There was a young guitarist playing softly some typical Spanish airs like "La Paloma." You could toss some coins in the hat before him if you wanted to. Also there were some caravanning vendors to the rear of the church as shown in the photo. They had an array of souvenirs that we had no difficulty avoiding. On the whole this was a low key tourist spot.

While my husband was taking photos, I got a bench seat next to a couple from England over for a weekend break. The wife proceeded to tell me how at 7am that morning at their hotel near the Plaza Nueva the public address system woke them out of a sound sleep. A female voice extolling the attractions of the Alhambra and detailing admission prices and contact information proceeded to unroll non-stop, breaking only for moments before issuing forth the same messages again. They were aghast at this early intrusion of this "commercial" and its subsequent repetition ad nauseum. It was still blaring as they fled the hotel to get breakfast. I was so glad we had rented in the Albaicin that I never asked her what hotel they were staying at (darn it), but be forewarned this could happen to you!

Rick Steves and other budget guides often list hotels in the Plaza Nueva for this area is a mid-point between downtown Granada and the Alhambra and is filled with hotels and restaurants. Granada aggressively pursues tourism as a major contributor to its economic resources; the Alhambra is a major attraction for a city that is not a major industrial hub. And I am not the only visitor who finds the Albaicin alluring, filled with Andalusian charm, Moorish architecture and colorful flowers in bloom everywhere one strolls.

Our son the explorer sought out the "other" mirador suggested by Rick Steves in his "Spain and Portugal." He agreed with Steves that this Mirador on Plaza de Carvajales had an even better view of the Alhambra than the St, Nicholas viewpoint and it was far less tourist-filled. Since he visited this mirador at sunset it probably was better than the view we saw at St. Nicholas.

There’s a Aljibe snack stand between the Alcazaba and the Nazarid Palace that serves excellent coffee for 1.10 euro a cup and has ready- made ham sandwiches for 2.90 euro. This is where we had lunch after we’d toured the Alcazaba and were waiting for our appointment time at the Nazarid.Palace. It is located on a wide plaza that overlooks the mountains and the city below-quite a view! Check it out on the photo. There are many benches around the area in shade under trees and it’s just a convenient spot to have a quick lunch to fortify your self before seeing the splendor of the Alhambra. For 12 euros for the three of us, we had a budget lunch and had more time to explore the Alhambra, though not enough to see the Generalife palace.

While you’re in the Catedral and Capilla Real area, do visit the Bib-Rambla, a plaza that was the site of Moorish silk making and selling during the pre-Reconquista era. This area is still known by its Moorish name, the Alcaceria. We stopped at an outdoor table at the CAFE BIB RAMBLA, # 3 on the Plaza Bib-Rambla where my husband had the "Gigante" ice cream cone shown in the photo while I merely had tiramisu. Such hardship foregoing ice cream, but tiramisu is even better I think. With a mineral water for him, the bill was 7.20 euro, and the service was efficient, We really enjoyed the beauty of this historic plaza with its numerous flower stalls and surrounding statues and fountains as a pleasant pause after our visit to the adjacent Capilla Real .

If you’re in the Allbaicin do drop by the CASA PASTELES, Plaza Larga 1 (tel 958 27 89 97). Indulge! We did - we bought six different pastries, 3 that we enjoyed in the bright, clean café, and another 3 that served as breakfast before an early morning departure the next day. Their custard filled pastries melt in your mouth and cost .80 or .85 euro a piece. Their coffee was also very good. This establishment is popular with locals and visitors alike and is open from 8-22 daily. This gleaming, clean shop is recommended by Rick Steves.

Also in the Plaza Larga is a restaurant called LA PORRONA where we had a paella lunch (OK) and my husband had the best Spanish olives he’s ever tasted. At our el fresco table, we enjoyed the comings and goings of many patrons of the Casa Pasteles on the north end of the Plaza that we visited immediately after our lunch for coffee and dessert. My partners enjoyed a pitcher of sangria that they said was refreshingly light. The tab ran under 50 euro for three. The restaurant inside is filled with flamenco memorabilia. Pictures and menu for this restaurant can be seen on this website under restaurantes.

I LOVED being in the Albaicin. We were located just off the main drag, Cuesta de la Chapiz. You are not isolated from modern conveniences if you stay in this old Moorish quarter; there’s a large Spar supermarket, dozens of restaurants, and every 15 minutes or so air-conditioned minibus service to the Alhambra and downtown. We just paid about US$.90 per person for each ride, but we used the bus at least 20 times, so passes would have saved us.

This is definitely not a low rent quarter. Many homes here are huge, have pools, and extensive, well- tended gardens; the quarter is old, but many homes have been modernized and this area is highly desirable to live in. Since Granada depends heavily on tourism, its local equivalent of an American chamber of commerce is well organized and aggressively publicizes the charms of its two World Heritage sites in particular. I was astonished to find so many houses and apartments for rent for as little as three days on the Vive Granada site we used.

When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find we were one block from the bus stop, two from Restaurant El Ladrillo and the Tourist Office directly across from it, three blocks from a bank ATM, and about six from the Spar supermarket, which had full meat and produce sections and even a local bakery’s fresh pastry and bread counter. On arrival, we stocked up on orange juice, pastries, yoghurt, beer, water, wine, potato chips and lemon soda for 15.73 euros. Only busses, taxis, and cars of residents are allowed in the Albaicin. Between 1 and 4, most establishments other than restaurants and the Spar closed in traditional Spanish pattern.

On our forays to downtown, we felt we were entering another world much more familiar in time and tempo than the Albaicin. After hectic Barcelona the Albaicin’s restful atmosphere, and particularly our spacious outdoor patios, made me feel relaxed- no sense of claustrophobia here!

In the neighborhood we were one block from El Salvator Church, a well-known landmark. After our stay, I learned (on this website) that the courtyard in back of the Salvator church that was in back of our bus stop was the courtyard of the Great Mosque of Granada that had been razed for the church. Darn! We missed it.

I highly recommend staying in the Albaicin when you visit Granada, particularly if it's right after a large crowded city on your itinerary. Pacing yourself on a trip is quite important for you need stamina to travel well. GETTING AWAY FROM THE RAT RACE REFRESHES YOUR SPIRIT.

On Sunday around noon when we attempted to visit the Catedral we saw a huge throng of people in the square before it, and, deciding we couldn’t enter, turned a corner and literally ran into a procession, slow-moving, crawling to a drummed, solemn cadence, with human bearers carrying a huge bier with an elaborate, large crucifix adorned with vibrant, fresh flowers that was wending its way around the corner towards the front of the cathedral. It was just good fortune that we encountered this reminder of the endurance of religious fervor in the ‘new’ Granada.

My husband took a few photos and then switched to movie mode, so we could capture the procession as it began to turn the corner back to the front of the catedral where we had just been. Very hushed, the large crowd followed the progress of Madonna and then crucifix both dazzling in the sunlight. The sight of the procession suspended our awareness of time, but I would estimate the sight was before us for approximately 10 minutes. Then, just as suddenly as we had encountered it, it was gone, having turned the corner fully and become obscured by the wall of a building adjacent to where we stood.

This ritual impressed us very profoundly in its essentially Spanish expression of religious fervor. We will never know what occasioned this procession. It was the first Sunday in October, a week before October 12, Columbus Day, which is a public holiday in Spain. When Columbus returned from his first voyage to the New World he was received by his sponsors Ferdinand and Isabella in Granada at the Alhambra, so perhaps this was an early celebration of that historic event.

Afterwards, we proceeded up the street next to the catedral and discovered an internet establishment that also had private telephone booths. It was doing a brisk business for a sleepy Sunday afternoon; incidentally I noticed a sign that indicated English and Arabic were spoken there. This subtler juxtaposition between the old and new Spain marked downtown Granada from the more sharply contrasting Albaicin.

Why was I so enthusiastic about our Albaicin house? Primarily it was the contrast with renting in Barcelona’s densely populated Barri Gotic with its prevailing nocturnal sleep depriving noise. The space outside our Granada house, the lack of crowds in the Albaicin -- it was restful. Yet we were near everything we wanted to see and all the essentials we needed to purchase.

After four without-major-hitches trips to Europe, on this trip to Spain and Portugal, we were reminded more than once that the basics -- enough sleep, no anxiety about pickpockets, good transport, no illness, and no major language gaps -- profoundly affect the quality of travel experiences. My four years of high school and college Spanish and previous study of Spanish study and culture made me feel so much more comfortable in Granada and Madrid than in Barcelona and Lisbon. Granada is a quintessential repository of the Moorish heritage that so impacted Spanish architecture and art. A visit here to this relatively small city compensates the traveler with a closer vision of the religious fervor that still underlies much of the Spanish spirit. Modern internet café (also available in the Albaicin) and sophisticated tourism co-exist with strong religious commitment and participation year round in religious festivals.