Alhambra was the reason why we decided to visit Granada, but in the end we found a lot more surprises in this ancient historical city. Both Granada and Alhambra were very unique, because they were like a mixture of Middle East and Western cultures, where you can find Islamic and Christian architectures co-exist. Also, you can tell how rich this city used to be, as most of the ground in the city was tiled by stones in beautiful patterns.
===== From Wikipedia =====
Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil and the Beiro. The city is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical.
The area was settled since ancient times by Iberians, Romans, and Visigoths. The current settlement became a major city of Al-Andalus in the 11th century during the Zirid Taifa of Granada. In the 13th century it became the capital of the Emirate of Granada under Nasrid rule, the last Muslim-ruled state in the Iberian Peninsula. Granada was conquered in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs and progressively transformed into a Christian city over the course of the 16th century.
Again, we had a spacious multi-bedroom apartment, complete with kitchen, washer, everything. The room was a bit dark inside, but it was very comfortable, and only short distance walk to the main streets, where all the shops and restaurants were located, and walking distance to Alhambra too!
Since we only had a few days at Granada, we immediately booked ourselves a Flamenco show online that night. When we walked on the streets, there were still Christmas decorations and illuminations and tourists everywhere.
https://www.flamencogranada.org/en/
The show we chose were held in traditional “Cave” near Alhambra. Tradtionally, Flamenco was danced by gipsies. I’ve found a video on utube very similar to the one we saw. It was interesting, but not so much music, more like step dance, but not very well-organized, more casual… And it was held quite late at night, so I was already sleepy… sort of falling asleep in the continuous show…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cco2Fv8z5Kk
There was a shuttle bus taking us from pickup spot (in front of a hotel) to the gipsy cave to watch the show. The cave on uphill a little away from the town, so on the return way, we could see the lightup of Alhambra from afar, it was so beautiful. Also, on the way back, we had the chance to walk around the mysterious old Muslim district at night. Again, it was quiet at night and felt special. At last, we returned to the main streets. Almost midnight, there were people walking around & all kinds of illumination on display.
After so many days of eating Spanish foods, we decided to go for a Turkish restaurant for lunch, in this Islamic city! It was a good call! I hadn’t eaten good Turkish foods for many years, since I last visited Istanbul, and this restaurant was indeed satisfying. I was so full!
After lunch, we continued to wander around some beautiful historical buildings, such as Granada Cathedral. I constantly snapped photos of the “ground”, because I had never seen the ground being tiled by stones so beautifully. The patterns were different everywhere too!
We continued to wander the streets till night, where we continued to enjoy never-ending Christmas and yummy foods. As you can see, Alhambra was everywhere (even in the decoration!) We also found a beer called Alhambra, and we ate at a restaurant opened since 1917!!
Next day, we had to wake up before Dawn to visit Alhambra, because we had a reservation for AM only! As Alhambra had too much to see, please click Alhambra to see my special post for it!
At midnight, we took a overnight long distance bus from Granada back to Madrid. When we arrived Madrid at early morning, we immediately took our long flight back home! We had seen so much in this trip! Also, it was a really great Family Trip!
