TRAVEL ALPHABET

The A to Z of My Favourite Travel Destinations — Granada

Is Granada worth visiting?

In a word, YES!

“ It is one of the most important and oldest historic cities in Andalusia. Even if you can only make it for a day trip, you can squeeze in all of the main highlights in a single day of exploring — just prepare to walk a lot!” — thevivalavita.com

Here’s my first visit to Granada — an afternoon at the Alhambra in December 2011.

Yes, we visited Granada — actually just the Alhambra — for an afternoon on our first visit — a day trip from Córdoba where we were staying. The previous day we had rented a car and drove down to Gibraltar. Here’s that story.

Christmas in Granada

In December 2019, my daughter and I decided to spend a week in Granada after driving around Andalusia for a couple of weeks. We dropped off our rental car at the station and caught a taxi.

The taxi took us right to the bottom of our little lane, Calle Gloria, along pedestrian (and taxi) only areas. Hundreds of people parted to let us pass. We felt like royalty. I wanted to give the royal wave but avoided eye contact instead.

Once inside Casa Gloria, we chose our bedrooms — we have a room each — and unloaded our gear. I had a glorious shower and sat out in our courtyard to enjoy the view of the Alhambra (and a bottle of red wine.) We still hadn’t eaten a proper meal so I sent Stacey out to forage for food. In other words, find a supermarket. The streets were all lit up for Christmas and the Christmas markets were calling me, but I was too tired to go out.

Stacey was gone for hours. (well, maybe not hours, but a very long time) I did everything I had to do, watched Jane Eyre in Spanish then climbed into bed. Stacey brought a fresh baguette, ham, tomato and pate for dinner as well as more wine. We ate, drank and played cards. Feeling sleepy, I headed to bed.

Our first day in Granada (Christmas Eve)

We were up hours before dawn. Which was easy given that sunrise was 8:26 am. Dressing for the cold, we were prepared to shed our clothes layer by layer as the forecast was 20C. We jumped in a taxi and headed up to the Alhambra.

Our Nasrid Palaces reservation was for the ungodly hour of 8.30 am. Dawn was breaking as we grabbed our audio guides and waited to gain entry. And oh, were we pleased we were first! We were able to appreciate the beauty of the palace without it being crowded. Stacey was able to take photos without dozens of tourists spoiling her shot.

The palace wasn’t as big as I remembered it, but much more beautiful. I attribute this to the lack of crowds. My last visit here was the 2.30 pm slot and it was packed! The audio guide explained every room and then went on to the rest of the Alhambra: Carlos V Palace (which was never used as a palace), the Alcazaba, and lastly the Generalife and the Palace of Happiness where the kings went to cool off and escape royal duties. My kind of place.

In the Carlos V Palace, we found an Exhibition of the Berbers, which reinforced and added to our Moroccan knowledge. By this stage, we were both starving and started looking for somewhere to eat a proper meal. There were snack shops selling coffee and icecreams, but the only café we could find was right at the top of the hill. I won’t go into detail, but it was the worst eating experience of our whole trip, and the most expensive. And we didn’t even get a view! Stacey complained and the manager gave us our beers for free. We still weren’t happy. And still hungry! But we weren’t going to order anything else at these exorbitant prices.

The Generalife gardens made us forget our hunger, but we had to keep moving, as our Hammam appointment was at 4 pm. After having walked more than 10km, I really needed a good soak and a foot massage.

The Hammam Al-Andalus

We caught the bus down and walked to the Hammam Al-Andalus. This was Stacey’s Christmas treat for me, but after the hammams in Morocco, the massage was done with “fairy fingers” even though we both had male masseurs, and was ten times more expensive than in Morocco. The Arab baths themselves were beautiful, with several pools at various temperatures which we took full advantage of. I even dipped in the cold water pool to finish up.

Realising that it’s Christmas Day tomorrow and quite possibly no supermarkets or restaurants will be open, we headed down to Carrefours Express to stock up on food and drink — not just champagne but orange juice, milk and beer as well! We both hobbled back like fully-laden mules with our booty thinking how cheap it would be to live in Spain. The cost? Just over €40. (about $64)

Stacey prepared some delicious fresh ham, pâté and tomato baguettes for dinner washed down with a bottle of recently purchased red.

Christmas Day

I cooked breakfast — really scrambled eggs and coffee. They looked disgusting but were actually delicious. We had champagne cocktails after breakfast with our €2 bubbly, before we started on the €8 “good stuff”. Stacey prepared a huge platter for Christmas lunch and we lolled around in our courtyard playing cards. We didn’t leave our courtyard! It really was a day of rest!

Boxing Day

We met up with one of Stacey’s friends named Tamara, a local granadina, for lunch. We shared 3 delicious dishes and a bottle of wine, for which Tamara refused payment. The croquettes were especially yummy. We decided to do a night walking tour of Albayzin and Sacromonte. It was the toughest walk yet I’d done yet— all up and down hills and uneven cobblestoned stairs. Our guide was very interesting and I didn’t complain too much. I was extremely thirsty so was ecstatic when we came upon a fountain with fresh water!

Part of the walking tour included a flamenco show. Even though I was thoroughly exhausted, I made the effort to walk to the show. I was rewarded with a front-row seat, a very cute guitarist, a woman with a lovely voice and two talented dancers, who put one hundred percent effort into their performance. At one stage, the female dancer’s brooch came flying toward me. She tied her shawl and continued the dance. I picked the pretty brooch up and gave it to her as she came off the stage. I checked my phone — I walked over 10km again today! No wonder I was exhausted.

Our last day in Granada

On our last day, we ate all of the leftover food we had purchased on the first day. After lunch, we walked down to the Archaeological Museum and the Spanish Inquisition and Flamenco Museum. All were interesting but the Spanish Inquisition was really a Torture Museum. It made me feel ill, but not so sick that I couldn’t stop at La Fontana on the corner for a drink and free tapas.

Our last planned activity was the night tour of the Nasrid Palaces. I can highly recommend doing a night tour even if you have already done the day tour. We hung back for a bit so Stacey could take photos without a crowd. I managed to get a little ahead, so thought I’d sit down in my favourite room, the room of the two sisters (huge marble slabs) and admire the intricacies of the walls and ceiling. There was a totally different atmosphere at night. The night lighting captured the three-dimensional exquisite plasterwork with greater clarity than in the daytime.

We caught the bus down to Casa Gloria, sad that we would be leaving Granada in the morning. We were booked on the 7.10 am train to Córdoba.

What a wonderful experience it had been spending Christmas here!

Read about Sam Millichap’s favourite N destination here.

And Anne Bonfert’s favourite D destination.