Oh, but it doesn’t end there…from Barcelona I headed south to Granada, an old Moorish city and home to The Alhambra (a fortress built by the Moors, home to the Nassrid Palaces, and backed by the Sierra Navada Mountains). Before we can talk about any of that however, Granada’s true claim to fame among college students is that they have FREE tapas (delicious appetizer-style food for the Spanish ignorant among you…like small open faced sandwiches or meatballs or fried octopus or fried veggies). That’s right – Free! Order a drink (even a soft drink) and you get free food with you meal; you just can’t beat that!
Second only to the free tapas is The Alhambra. It is beautifully landscaped and sports a great view of the rest of the city, including the Alabycin (the old gypsy quarter with hundreds of small white houses dotting a mountainside). The most spectacular part of the Alhambra was certainly the Nassrid Palace. The entire interior was covered in either individually painted and fitted together mosaic pieces or intricately carved stone or plaster. Every single wall, every ceiling, every floor was covered in something beautiful, time-consuming and together it produced a staggering effect. The sheer magnitude of work that went into it is astounding. The palace took 200 yeas to finish, which means that the king who commissioned it never even saw it in a fraction of its final glory. They say that The Alhambra represents the way the Moorish Kings wanted to be seen by the world; the outside is sheer stone: solid and strong, unwavering and no-nonsense, but the inside is intimate and beautiful and breathtaking and inviting. They say that it is a lesson to each of us to show our enemies (and the rest of the world) strength, bravery, and calm and to show those you love your true beauty, vulnerability, tenderness, and inner spirit. I thought that was a really amazing metaphor and it so perfectly describes The Alhambra.
Granada (and southern Spain) was so different from Pamplona (and northern Spain) mostly because of the strong Arabic influence in the south. There were tons of vendors with rugs, teas, Aladdin-pants, hookah pipes, and genie lamps. The pastries were a lot different as well – more flaky and Baklava-ish. I also frequented several “Teterias” (or little tea houses) with intricately designed glass cups, silver teapots, and rugs covering every wall. I loved them! I even tried (and really enjoyed) a new drink…I found it by accident actually because I order “tea with milk,” which in Pamplona (and the States) will get you regular tea with a bit of milk in it. In Granada however, I received tea actually steeped in milk! No water to be seen, and it was actually very good! I hopped around Granada’s many cathedrals, popped in and out of teterias, tried a variety of Arabian Pastries, bought a nifty red bag with an elephant on it, and even went rock climbing while I was in Granada and I would recommend that town to anyone! The culture is so vastly different from northern Spain that if you are visiting Spain, you have to hit at least one city in each half to get a full picture of this awesome country!
I also took a fast day trip to Cordoba, where I saw the largest Mosque in Spain. The Mezquita was originally built a Mosque on the rubble of an old cathedral and since then has switched back and forth between the two several times…so now it is an interesting combination of Catholic/Islamic, Gothic/Arabic influences. In Cordoba, I also visited the Alcazabar de Los Reyes, a famous palace all the Christian Kings stayed at in Spain and the spot that Columbus first asked permission to explore the Americas (beautiful gardens). I even tasted Salmorejo, a thick cold tomato soup particular to that area and green olives, which Andalusia is famous for.
It was a really interesting trip and I got to see a lot in a relatively short period of time…Irish castles, Moorish palaces, cathedrals galore, gorgeous gardens, orange trees, olive fields, Port cities, parades, celebrations, a dozen different kinds of pastries and drinks (I now can make real Irish coffees), and some really great people! It was a wonderful spring break, and although it is nice to be back in Pamplona and resting…I am already off again this Saturday to San Sebastian (a famous beach town just a few short hours by bus) to wiggle my toes in the sand, wade up to my knees, and wander the streets of yet another unknown town.
