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| Alhambra from the River Darro |
We have been looking forward to exploring inland Spain, so
this week we hired a car to take a trip to Granada. Before we left, we headed round the coast to Mazarron to
look at the Bolnuevo Erosions, a collection of wierdly shaped, towering
sandstone rocks formed by weather erosion over millions of years. It reminded
us of some of rock erosions we have seen in Cappadocia in Turkey.
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| Bolneuvo erosions |
Our trip to Grenada took us
through some spectacular and fascinating mountain scenery. One of the most
unusual sights were the cave houses in the Sierra de Baza. It used to be common
for people to live in the local caves as they were much cooler than the
traditional houses, but we were surprised to see that people still live in them
today. You would suddenly come across a traditional, white rendered frontage with
door and windows set into the rocky hillside, with a chimney or two poking out
of the rocks further up. Needless to say, the developers have spotted this as
an opportunity and you can now rent or buy the cave houses as holiday homes.
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| Cave house near Baza |
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| View of Granada from the Alhambra |
We woke up to the sound of pouring
rain on the first morning, so it was on with the waterproofs before heading off to
Granada’s key attraction, the Alhambra. Set high on a hill above the town, the
Alhambra housed the palaces of the Nasrid Sultans, rulers of the last
Spanish Muslim kingdom.
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| Patio of the Lions |
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| Partal Palace |
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Generalife
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| Intricate carved wood ceiling |
Luckily the rain cleared and the sun came out as we
wandered around the beautiful gardens and admired the intricate workmanship
that went into building each of the palaces. The
Moorish architecture is stunning and is complemented by their use of water, which cleverly reflects the sweeping arches and creates a calming atmosphere. We found the views from the Alahambra
equally breathtaking, with the magnificent snow-capped peaks of Sierra Nevada
mountains in the distance and the hillsides rich with autumn colour.
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| Snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains |
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| Autumn colours below the Alhambra |
Walking back down from the Alhambra,
just around the corner from our hotel, we heard the sounds of a guitar being
played. We followed the music and found two guitarerros - guitar makers - right
across the street from each other. Apparently Granada has over 40 guitarerros and many classical
musicians buy their guitars here. One of the shops we had found, Casa Ferrer,
is the oldest in the city and has been making guitars since 1875.
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| Casa Ferrer |
After the Alhambra, the second
highlight of our trip had to be the food. We dined out on tapas - most bars
offered free tapas with each drink, often bringing us a meal-sized plate of
delicious squid, salt cod, paella or
pork and then we would choose another dish or two if we had room. We also
discovered that the pasteleria over the road from the hotel made excellent coffee
and very tasty cakes – our favourite was the Granadian speciality of Pionino, a thin,
sweet pastry coiled into a cylindrical shape and soaked in honey-based syrup
then topped with toasted cream.
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| Pionino pastry |
We walked off all
the calories exploring the narrow streets of the Albecin, the original Moorish
sector of Granada which sits on the hillside beside the river. The area is a
mix of Moorish and Christian buildings, where souks sit next to churches and
the tiny squares still feature the traditional mosaic paving made using the
smooth white pebbles from the River Darro and slate from the Sierra Nevada.
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| Traditional mosaic paving |
At sunset each
day we made for the Church of San Nicolas at the top of the Albecin, where you have
a panoramic view over the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Alhambra. On our
second night, as the sun went down two guitarists began playing flamenco music. When darkness fell the
walls of the Alhambra glowed under the floodlights and the place had a truly magical
feel.
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| Sunset serenade |
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| Alhambra at night |
