Wow Granada, what a mix of cultures

We thought we would be smart and get a rental car for the day from Valencia to skip the 9-hour bus ride to Granada and instead have a leisurely 5-6 hour drive. But getting side tracked by the towns in Southern Spain and getting caught in traffic made our little road trip about 12 hours long!  It was a long and exhausting day but we did see a lot more than we would have seen on the bus. We drove through Alicante, stopped in Murcia, checked out the beach in Almeria and got stick in traffic in Montril.

We called our red Fiat rental car Finando

Spainish bulls 

Some sites in Murcia

Square in Murcia

Beach in Almeria

By the time we got to Granada that night we were exhausted, delirious and so hungry we were about to eat our own limbs. So we headed out to ‘kebab lane’ a street packed full of kebab stores, a reflection of the Arabic influence on the city. We decided to return the rental car to the airport around 2am before we went to bed to save us getting up early in the morning. BIG mistake. Granada’s small airport was completely deserted at 2am, not a soul in sight, or a bus, or a taxi. After contemplating going to the highway and walking/hitch hiking our way back to town, we ended up going into a nearby restaurant and using sign language to ask the lady, who didn’t speak much English, to call us a cab. Turns out no cabs come out as far as the airport so we ended having to take a VERY expensive, afterhours one. Lesson learnt!

Packs still full, stomachs empty

Thank god that was our only disaster during our visit and we spent the rest of our time exploring the beautiful city. There is a mixture of people living in Granada; gypsies from Africa, people from Turkey and the Middle East and of course hippies from all over the word who think Granada is a great place to live.  Granada also has a massive Tapas culture, being one of the few cities where every time you order a drink at a bar, you get a free Tapa with it! You can imagine how excited we were to get free food!

View out over Albaicin and Granada

Alhambra at sunset

View back on to the Sacromonte mountains

We stayed in the Albaicin, which is slightly higher than the city centre. This meant we had to walk uphill every time we came home but it was well worth it for the beautiful views and atmosphere. We joined in on our hostels free evening tour, where we got to visit a cave community further up the mountain called Sacromonte. This area is mainly populated by gypsies, lots of whom migrated from Senegal. We were even invited into one of the caves, where the gypsies were making drums out of animal skins, listening to reggae and smoking pot. They were very welcoming and our guide translated for us how they ‘ live like kings’ with electricity, running water and satellite TV in their caves, without paying for anything! It was a great experience.

the Senegalese flag in the cave we visited

Walking through the streets

Cathedral 

New square

Down one of the twisty streets in the Albaicin. 

We also checked out Granada’s main attraction, the Alhambra. Situated on a hill, the Alhambra is an ancient fortress built in 889 and later converted into a royal palace in 1333. The Islamic Palaces were beautiful, decorated with ornate painted tiles and Arabic inscriptions. We spent our time walking around the Gardens and Palaces and enjoying the views.

 

Palacio Carlos V

Cool tiles.

Shinny tiles.

archway in the palace

Inside the palace Comares

Looking back out to where we were staying.

I really didn’t want to leave Granada without visiting the famous Sierra Nevada Mountains that surround the town. Even with the soaring temperatures around Granada the tops of some of the mountains still have snow on them. So we got up early on our last morning to take a bus up to a small village on the edge of the Sierra Nevada, Monachill. From there we got a little bit lost trying to find the track that the lady at the hostel had told us about. After walking steeply uphill along a road for about 1.5 hours we decided to turn around and walk back, eventually finding the track right at the start of the road. We had walked right passed it! Oh well, it was a good workout.

about 1 hour up the road

this is where we turned around.

Looking back and thinking that maybe we should be closer that way.

Once we were back on track we found ourselves surrounded in huge mountains, sheer cliff faces, caves and rivers. We watched some mountain climbers scaling the cliff face with what looked like very minimal ropes and equipment, scary!

one crevice that we could walk down. 

squeezing through huge boulders right next to the mountain rivers.

We ended our walk at a little family owned restaurant along the track with an ice cold, Alhambra beer and free tapas! Definitely one of my favourite cities so far!

- Leah