Granada 2.0

WOW. I just got back from Granada tonight, it was a spur of the moment decision. Lucy, who is studying there, came to visit me to see Feria in Sevilla with a couple friends and I'd been thinking about going back to Granada with her for a day, but hadn't planned anything. I decided to just go, why not? I bought my bus tickets in the morning and found a hostel when I got there. I'm so glad I went! The first time I went with Granada was with my program, we toured La Alhambra for 3 hours and I was super hung over, and it was raining out so I didn't have a great time and didn't get to see enough of the city. This time I feel like I've walked through the whole thing.

We got in around 8:30 and Lucy and I went for tapas. One of the awesome things about Granada is that most bars give you free tapas with every drink, so that's how we did dinner. I could get used to that rule. I don't remember which king decreed it, but the reason for the free tapas is that worker productivity was declining after 2 PM when workers left for a break and spent all their money on alcohol, so, whichever king it was, decreed that food must be served with each drink to increase worker productivity. That's how tapas were created.

Lucy had work to do for class in the morning (she had missed class for Feria...cultural reasons) so I got back to the hostel and met a group of people who were going out, so I ended up going out with them. It was pretty fun, definitely an interesting mix of people. First they took us to a bar and then to what felt like a kind of salsa/reggae club. I was pretty tired but I ended up getting salsa lessons from a German man who was a surprising talented dancer. The club was quite a varied mix of people, I hadn't realized Granada was such a hippie town.

In the morning I started out with a 2 hour walking tour that took us through Albaicin (sp?) (the Arab quarter) to Sacremonte (the gypsy quarter) where flamenco was born in the caves that people still live in. Our tour guide took us into a Carmen, a typical Arab style house adopted by the Christians after the Reconquista. The gardens were completely serene and beautiful. I met a girl from Buenos Aires and we ate lunch together, speaking Spanish and English. It took a bit to get used to her accent, but it worked out pretty quickly.

After that I met up with Lucy, who is doing a project on street art in Granada, so we took a tour offered by the hostel on the street art and caves. It was a great decision. I must have walked at least 5 or 6 miles today. Granada is hilly too! Shock to the system. Our tour guide took us farther into Albaicin, and out again to Sacremonte where we met Mali, the most interesting man ever. He came to his door just wearing a skirt and a necklace with the crest of his Indian family. He's Mexican, but lived in India for years finding his spiritual calling and working on an idealistic city called Auroville. His voice sounded like Mufasa. He brought all of us in and greeted each of us fluently in our respective languages (Italian, English, Spanish, German) and took us on a tour of the cave that he lives in which is rigged with electricity and has a garden with a Porche 911 sitting in it. He told us about himself and how much he'd traveled and where he'd lived and would occasionally go off on a tangent about religious unity and mutual respect. He had a meditation room (which is actually 40 meters underground) where he had us all stand in silence for a minute while he played an instrument that resonated for a great length of time. He called everyone "sweetie" and "brother" and invited us back anytime we like. It was a very unique experience.

We moved on to more street art, done by a painter named El Nino de las Pinturas (if I remember correctly), who is very well respected around the city; his works are everywhere. We walked into the old Jewish quarter to see one of his works, where 10% of people are still Jewish, which is high for Spain.

In the garden of the Carmen:

View of La Alhambra

Smelling the lilacs in Mali's garden

Mali quoting Alexander the Great

Street art by El Nino

The Jewish Quarter

View of Albaicin from the Jewish Quarter

I'm so glad I went to Granada again. I saw so much of the city today and got into the hostel culture, making random travel friends; it's very strange, but it's definitely fun at the same time. I could see myself going back to Granada for a longer period of time.