Tapas and Moorish Architecture...Life Doesn't Get Much Better

Location: Granada, Spain














Granada is a city located in Southern Spain, roughly 5 hours by bus from Madrid. It's one of the major sites to see in the South, so I decided spur of the moment to catch a bus after work for a weekend trip. I was also hoping for a respite from the cold Madrid weather, but that didn't pan out.

The directions to the hostel had an explicit warning that it was hard to find. Well, here I am getting off a bus around midnight (at least an hour after check-in had closed) trying to figure my way around. Apparently this part of town is considered a maze. Here it is on google maps.
It's actually even harder than it looks because most of these streets aren't marked and/or are incredibly narrow, making it impossible to see ahead.

Amazingly enough I found it without getting lost (thank you to the shuttle driver who dropped me off nearby). My elation was quickly deflated because no one answered the door when I rang the bell. Or the next time. Or the next. This went on for 20 minutes until someone answered...meanwhile I'm weighing my odds of catching a cab back into town and finding another place. Not fun.

Thankfully the night improved significantly when I walked into my room and found my roommates to be two Australian girls. Go figure - a room with 10 beds and only me with two Aussie girls - what are the odds?

I awoke early Saturday morning to take a walk around and get a feel for the city. This is typical of the narrow and windy streets around my hostel.
This is the first square I came to. As judged by the abundance of crowds, clearly I was wandering around at the Spanish rush hour. But then again they do like to party until 7am, so maybe I shouldn't have been too surprised.
And just a few minutes away was this river which transverses Granada from west to east. Convenient when one gets lost in that part of town...
And another one which shows off the the narrow one-way road, river, and old buildings.
Some local graffiti not far from my hostel. I was impressed to see something this good on a random wall tucked away in an alley.

Alhambra
By far the largest attraction in Granada is the Alhambra, which is a palace built in the 1300s during Moorish rule. The name itself translates to "red fortress", which refers to the red clay on the outer walls.

(Pepesaura, 2005)

For roughly 100 years it housed the Muslim rulers before falling into the hands of the Christian Spanish when the city was conquered as part of the Reconquest in 1492. This event is especially seminal because it marks the end of a more than 500 year dynasty where the Moors ruled the majority of modern day Spain. And the Battle of Granada was the last great battle of Spain's reconquest.

This was taken shortly after entering the grounds. It sort of looks like the start of a hedge-maze (something out of The Shining maybe?), but is the opening walkway. Still pretty cool though.
This is the exterior view of The Palace of Charles V, built in 1527 and intended to be a permanent living residence for the king.
It's main highlight is the impressive inner courtyard, which looks like this.
This picture was taken overlooking some of the outer ramparts and inner ruins.
There were also great panoramic shots of the city on the other side of the same tower, showing a beautiful day. You can't tell by the pictures, but it was also the coldest morning of the year. I myself was wearing at least 4 layers.
Because the Moors controlled Spain for so long, one can find their architectural influence in several buildings scattered throughout the country. I had already seen some of the Moorish style, but the Alhambra is unparalleled in scale or detail.

Likely the best gem of the entire ground is the Fuente de los Leones (Fountain of the Lions). It's considered to be the most impressive piece there, and I admit it does have a commanding presence. Unfortunately it was under renovation when I visited, but I was able to find some great pics of it online.

One side note - it was also inside a nearby reception room where Christopher Columbus received his support to sail to the New World.

This is probably my favorite picture of the entire grounds.

(Jamesdale10, 2008)

An inside shot of the palace which shows off the incredible attention to detail which is so characteristic of the Moorish architecture.
Another pic of one of the ceilings.

(Wires, 2007)

Right outside one of the palaces called The Partal. This also illustrates the sometimes frustrating aspect of having strangers take your picture. Every now and then you get one who can't even get it level (NOTE TO PHOTOGRAPHER: Thank you for taking my picture, even if I do bitch about it).
The same courtyard on a sunny & clear day, with a more talented photographer.

(Jamesdale10, 2008)

One of the side gardens along the outer wall which overlooks Granada.
Another ceiling which shows off their attention to detail. It still blow me away to this day.
The Alhambra also has lots of fountains and flowing water, as shown below in one of the courtyards inside the Palacio de Generalife.
The grounds also include a large park with wildflowers, roses, orange trees, and imported English elm. It takes easily an hour to walk through, and my favorite part was the large outdoor theater.

Tapas
The other famous highlight in Granada is its tapas culture. Actually, the tapas culture is alive in many parts of Spain, but Granada is well-known to have the best dishes and largest portions. Historically, the tradition came about when servers would include a small plate of food on top of drink glasses to keep flies out of the patron's drink. But of course restaurants started to specialize in certain dishes to distinguish themselves, and it took off from there.

So how's it work nowadays? Traditionally (and still in Granada), one orders a drink in a restaurant and receives a small plate of complimentary food. And since the drinks aren't particularly expensive (roughly 1.50€ for a glass of wine or beer), it's a really cheap way to eat if one enjoys several rounds of drinks. The only downside is the customer doesn't get to pick what they're served. Each place typically has a half-dozen different dishes which they rotate between customers. And usually the server makes an effort to never repeat a dish if they've already had it.

This form of dining quickly became my favorite Spanish culinary experience. It's really cool to go between several tapas bars and have a drink with free food at each. Kind of like restaurant hopping and ordering a single appetizer at each restaurant, except it's free.

Back to my story. I asked the guy running the hostel for tapas recommendations. Actually, I specifically asked where the local Spanish go to get away from the local college crowd. He thought for awhile and gave me the name of a place which he thought matched my description. The only catch was that it was a little hard to find. The Aussies and I fortunately stumbled upon it with little problem, but it was indeed not well advertised. It was at the end of a dark alley with only a very small and unlit sign outside.

When we walked in, we were literally the only people there except for the bartender. We had arrived around 8:30pm, which may sound late but is quite early for dinner by Spanish standards. The girls were new to Spain and thus found this quite odd, but having lived in Madrid awhile, I talked them into staying for at least a drink. It quickly picked up; a half hour later there were no seats, and after another half hour there was almost nowhere to stand.

One of my favorite aspects of this bar were the restrooms. They were nothing special on the inside, but I got a chuckle from the door signs...
We actually wound up staying at this place the whole night because the drinks were cheap, the atmosphere was fun, and the tapas were amazing. This picture is of our first plate, and is comprised of toasted bread with a Spanish-style omelet called tortilla (no relation to the Mexican food) with a spicy mustard sauce.
The dishes became more and more elaborate with Spanish ham and even seafood, but I was having so much fun I didn't remember to get any pictures of them.

The following day, I ate at a restaurant called La Bella & La Bestia (Beauty and the Beast). The beer (and hence the free tapas dish) cost a whopping 2€. Gotta love Granada!
Fortunately the traditional tapas culture is also alive in Madrid. But in other parts of the country, tapas are not free and one is expected to pay for them. However, one can pick what they want, making it analogous to ordering an appetizer. Barcelona is a good example of this for instance. Madrid is roughly half and half, meaning half tapas bars give food for free and the other half don't. But once one learns which are free, it's a really cool experience!

Additional photos from the trip can be found here.