GRANADA en Marzo

Beginning with its glorious, omnipresent sunshine and enormous Sierra Nevada snowcapped backdrop, Granada doesn't disappoint. From its friendly, fun-loving residents and university students to the charming stone alleys and unexpected nooks with plazas and markets, this city is among the most charming I've seen. It isn't until you begin to explore on foot, however that you start to experience its magic and unique flavor.

This is a city whose tapas bars mostly still provide their tasty morsels gratis with drinks as is the original tapas custom. An air of generousity pervades this city at the markets, the friendly cafes and small bars, and in the off-the-beaten-path shops.

Quick Tips:

Staying someplace interesting and unique is the key to really loving and understanding Granada. There are ample pensiones in delightful sections of the city as well as old charming hotels of varying price. A splurge might find you staying at the gorgeous Parador Hotel next to the Alhambra amidst gardens and fountains.

Hotel location is KEY because, like many cities, Granada is not the picture of charm and character from the outskirts of town. Lots of gas stations, convenience stores, and cheap-looking pre-fab housing landscape the city periphery. So don't get seduced by the price of the Spanish Best Western Motorlodge or its equivalent; the interior city has plenty of small hotels at unbelievable prices. Plus, you can do most anything on foot from the city center, which will make your personal experience of Granada exponentially better.

Best Way To Get Around:

Since we were driving our way through Southern Spain on this trip, we arrived in Granada by car (a tiny cute Citron). After getting the lay of the land by on wheels for a bit, we found parking near the University, and enjoyed Granada on foot for the remainder of our stay.

Many sites are in walking distance, and there are buses to all desirable areas including the Alhambra. We took many taxis as they were cheap and easy and immediate. There are taxi stands in most plazas - look for signs.

The Hotel Reina Cristina can be spotted up and down its narrow little street near the Cathedral by its old-fashioned sign advertising its presence. The three-story pensione, or small hotel, sits in an attractive older building on the corner of two small streets in an active and charming area of the city. Mopeds and taxis make up the bulk of the auto traffic; there's more foot traffic than anything else.

Reina Cristina is not a fancy place, but it is professional, charming, comfortable, and an olive's throw from everything (including some olive trees in a small nearby plaza).

Our room faced an inner courtyard, but it was much quieter than the street view with its whirring mopeds echoing off the canyons of the old streets. Ours, like most of the rooms, was average size by European standards (small by American standards), but nicely equipped with modern bathroom and basic room items: direct-dial phone, TV with English station options, a few pieces of furniture--all you may need while staying in Granada.

Breakfast is included, as is typical in most Spanish hotels. It is served in a decorative back room behind the vaulted lobby and rickety elevator.

A bar/cafe at street level in the front serves as the afternoon hangout for local shop owners while they're closed during siesta. The cafe serves delicious sandwiches, and the coffee is fantastic.

The Reina Cristina is a colorful, fun, affordable place to stay. Its immediate neighborhood, proximity to sights, hearty Spanish breakfast, and wonderful cafe guaranteed a return visit from us.

Granada’s massive cathedral is located in a wonderful older area of the city center. It’s difficult to comprehend the enormity of this building until you step inside, however, as the surrounding buildings in this quarter are built quite close to the church and don’t allow an overall view as you might find with a cathedral in a major plaza like with Notre Dame in Paris or St. Pete’s in Rome. But the surprise of the tremendous interior space is a wonderful experience.

Many consider this amazing structure to be the best example of Spanish Renaissance architecture still extant. It was built in a transition period from Gothic to Renaissance, and aspects of both periods are evident through the space. The main chapel, or Capilla Mayor, is simply beautiful, and the side chapels are all worth a peek.

Enormous carved piers, beautiful paintings and sculpture, and impressive illuminated manuscripts are some of the highlights. If you’re there midday, look for heavenly beams of sunlight coming through stained glass casting beautiful splashes of light on the marble floor.

The Capilla Real, is the royal chapel, as in the catholic royals: the infamous Ferdinand and Isabella. Paintings by Renaissance masters hang on the wall. There are fine examples from Italy by artists such as Botticelli, as well as some works by Northern Renaissance masters such as Van der Weyden. In a crypt below the chapel is the tomb of Isabella and Ferdinand, which should not be missed.

I found the visit to the royal chapel and crypt particularly haunting. Isabella and Ferdinand may be best know for their sponsorship of Columbus' voyage to the New World, but I associate them more with the initiation of an ugly phase of Spain's history: the Inquisition. In 1492 Columbus may have "sailed the ocean blue," but it was also the year that this pair officially expelled both Muslims and Jews from Spain after over 700 years of a relatively harmonious co-existence between the three majors religions thriving in Spain until Ferdinand and Isabella's reign.

One cannot separate Granada from the Alhambra or vice versa. The enormous Alhambra palace complex and neighboring Generalife has been part of the landscape of Granada for thirteen centuries and counting, dwarfed only by the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the horizon beyond the great Islamic Palace.

Once home to the Muslim Nasrid Dynasty, this sumptuous palace is an ecclectic complex of buildings organized around a variety of courtyards and fountains. Formitable defensive walls, high gates, and a military citadel on premises serve as interesting counterpoints to the impressive luxury and ornate nature of the palace buildings.

Spectacular gardens are spread all over the massive complex. Amazing varieties of flowers and shrubs of all kinds are artfully landscaped and often formally manicured. The layout is incredibly impressive, and all gardens are enhanced with running water of some kind: typical fountains, carved rivulets in the ground, or rushing down the stairways in elevated channels. The sound of the rushing cistern springs coupled with resulting the coolness in the air is sensational.

The interior spaces are ornate and demonstrate the virtuosity of the designers and craftspeople who worked on its construction through the ages. Mosaics in intricate geometric patterns decorate many walls and niches. Vegetal and calligraphic patterns are carved into many wooden doors and plastered walls. And a rich tradition of metalwork is evidenced by the surviving hardware of door hinges and such.

Wear sneakers and take your time. The grounds are extensive and to cover it all in a full day is ambitious. But to rush through going only to the historical and often touristy sections is to miss the true pleasures of the Alhambra. Taking time to explore allows the peace of sitting in the gardens listening to the birds and rushing water, stopping for leisurely afternoon sangria at the Parador patio bar, and finding undiscovered nooks of which there are many.

Granada Diez is a P A R T A Y !!

Granada may contain national treasures, arguably the finest example of Islamic architecture still extant in Spain, and countless cultural treasures, but it's also a university town and GRANADA LIKE TO PARTY!!

My brother Brian studied in Granada for a semester, so he was our experienced nightlife tourguide. So when big sis' and bro-in-law wanted to see what a genuine, notoriously crazy, doesn't-open-'til-midnight-type Spanish discotecas, he knew to bring us to Granada 10 (diez=10).

Located off the Plaza Nueva, Granada 10 is a theater converted most successfully into a swinging nightclub. They sometimes host promotional events and fashion shows, too--it's that sort of swanky, happenin', though trendy place.

Arrive sometime after 1am or so, and after a ridiculous fashion check (dresscode is upscale: definitely do not wear jeans or shorts), you get in a line enter the club. And after the payment of a cover charge, admission to this discoteca/den of delirium is finally allowed.

What a place! The multi-story nightclub is a converted grand old theater with its chandeliers and original mouldings still extant next to all the modern, wild disco lights and glittery detailing. Dozens of gold lamee couches with accompanying coffee tables are strategically placed around the club providing little areas for drinking and congregating.

Hundreds of young Spanish people decked in sexy outfits of all sorts knock back cocktails such as Fanta Limon con vodka or energy drinks mixed with liquors. Despite the high fashion and beautiful people, it's a surprising easy-going, fun, and friendly crowd. Remember this is Granada, not Madrid or Barcelona.

Music pumps till dawn building to a crescendo around 3am or 4am and coming down softly after then. Euro-pop and American pop is laced with dancable hip hop and some Spanish tunes. The dancefloor stays packed and pockets of dancing spring up around the various couch areas.

It's wild and fun, and if you like this sort of experience, I highly recommend Granada 10!!!