Welcome back to the blog ! Or hello if you are new 🙂
So here we are ! Granada ! It’s been an eventful few years since I was denied entry to India at the start of the CV-19 pandemic – but that all seems a distant memory now.
We finally left Heathrow at 1600 on Sunday after a cancelled flight and subsequent 8 hr delay courtesy of British Airways. Sue remarked that starting drinking in the lounge at 0810 was probably not the best idea 😂 and so I held out until at least lunchtime !
But we are here at last. Wednesday (17th) will be our Silver Wedding Anniversary and so we are celebrating with a two week tour around Andalusia, taking in some of the key sites and locations. For the next few days we are in Granada staying at the wonderful Casa 1800 Hotel in the Albaicín area of the city.
The hotel is an old Granada house where the Lords of Cañaveral, Counts of Benalúa, settled. Built in the last third of the 16th century on the outline of an important Arab house, it currently has a Castilian doorway, a straight hallway and a grand staircase at the back, with a Mudejar presence in the courtyard’s footings and in the structure of the right feet that support the upper floors. The building underwent important modifications throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
For some years the house was the former headquarters of the troops of the Migueletes, a military corps formed by the rural police of the Carlist period, whose predecessor was the Santa Hermandad founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1476, and whose mission was to watch over the properties and roads of the Crown of Castile districts.
After a leisurely breakfast we had our first taste of Granada as we strolled around the area close to the hotel.
Just after mid day we headed over to the Pilar del Toro fountain to meet our guide Nacho who gave us a three minute potted history of Spain covering five centuries 😂. He then took us on a walking tour around the Albaicín and Sacramonte districts of Granada.
As we climbed through the narrow winding streets of the UNESCO listed old moorish quarter of the Albaicín we started to see some glimpses of the Alhambra.
Finally we reached the most famous viewpoint of the Alhambra, the Mirador San Nicolas.
Nothing can really do justice to the wonderful views of the Alhambra from here backed by the Sierra Nevada mountains capped with snow. I even had help from a small cloud to punctuate an otherwise empty bright blue sky 😀
During our walk to the Mirador we were accompanied by music first from a solo violinist and then a wandering group singing popular classics like Volare. It all added to the charm of this beautiful area. Why not take a listen as you read 🙂
Most tourists seem to stop at the Mirador but an additional short walk takes you to the Mezquita Mayor de Granada which offers more expansive views of the Alhambra from it’s beautifully peaceful gardens, where we drank a refreshing mint and honey tea.
We continued through the winding streets exploring the Sacramonte area famous for its cave houses, passing beautiful gardens and balconies. The fragrant smell of orange trees in the air.
We took a short break to visit one of the cave houses which had been left as it used to be.
The cave houses in Granada have been in use for hundreds of years and in the sixties there were more than 1500 cave houses registered in Sacromonte. They were the homes for the Roma and some of the caves are still occupied today. The insulating conditions of the caves guarantee 18 to 23 degrees inside so it was a pleasant break from the outside temperature of 28 degrees – at least for a few moments. This part of Spain is the birthplace of flamenco, however we have decided to wait until the end of our holiday before we experience this traditional Spanish music and dance.
And then we headed back down through the narrow streets and cobbled roads towards our hotel for some lunch and a restorative drink 😀
