Tapas and Guided Tours in Granada

From Plaza Nueva to El mirador de San Nicolas, Part Two

2009-11-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hello,

after having a tea in the tea shops in Alcaiceria we will climb the hill starting in Albaicin Bajo. All this area is where the royalty lived when Granada was the last muslim kingdom in Europe.

The shops along Alcaiceria will transport you to a african market. It is so different that northeuropean would be thinking that they are in other continent

The photo in top is just an example of how the shop in Alcaiceria look like. This street is so romantic and full of charm and you can easily spend all evening there. Once you finished your tea, climbing to El Mirador de San Nicolas is only a matter of time BUT you must arrive there in time to see the sunset with the Alhambra in the Sabica hill which is the best views in the world

From Plaza Nueva to El Mirador de San Nicolas, Part One

2009-11-04T04:08:00.000-08:00

Hello, fellow explorer

we will start our trip in plaza Nueva . Underneath it the Darro River pass. At the botton of the square we will face the beautiful church of Santa Ana (a morisco building) with the Torre de la Vela (part of the Alhambra buiding) in the hill in the background

From here, we will go to Calle Elvira which was the most important street during the muslim domination. Spread along such street there are many restaurants, pubs and tea shops. A perepndicular to Elvira is Caldereria ,which is now days, the best place to relax and have a nice tea in muslim style in any of the docens of "teterias" which are located in this lovely, ancient street

From La Cartuja to El Zacatín, Part Two

2009-11-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hello, fellow explorer
We stoppedd before in the emblematic Hospital Real. Built at the beginning of the XVI century, this impresive building is one of the most beutiful of the city with views from its balconies that will leave you astonished

Pretty, isn't it? The building is dsitrubuted in a cruciform plant in order to allow patiens to listen to mess which was celebrated in the middle of the build.

Leaving behind the impresive front door, we will walk down towards San Juan de Dios Street, (one of the oldest of the city along which we will be flabbergasted by the incredible amount of churches and monasteries (San Justo y Pastor, San Jeronimo Monastery...) but I will leave that bit for another occasion ;-) turning left in the roundabout with the biggest spanish flag in the province, leaving behind the beautiful El Triunfo Gardens, in order to carry on walking along Gran Via with the Normal building to our left. After one kilometre across buildings of neoclassic influence, we will be in Zacatín, where this first route finish.

From La Cartuja to El Zacatin Part One

2009-10-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hello,

today, I am going to describe a route from El monasterio de la Cartuja (Cartuja Monastery) to one of the most emblematic street in Granada, El Zacatín.

At the North of the city, the Cartuja neighbourhood was built in the early 70's as cheap accomodation for workers families. The area recieved such name due to a chapter of monks (los cartujos) who built a monastery in the neighbourhood

This building was started to be built in 1515 and its interior has works by Bocanegra and Sánchez Cotán. Along the road in which the monastery is based we will find many interesting buildings as the Hospital Real

Close to Hospital Real there are Puerta Elvira (which is the entrance to a great tapas bar area) and the Cathedral.

Brief history of tapas

2009-09-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

Hello,

once again, a bit of history. And this time about something so quintessential of Granada as tapas are. In Granada (or "Graná" with the stroke in the last "a" as the name of the city is pronounced by her inhabitants) the tradition of "going tapas" is almost a religion for some of us. And they are free, ahhahaha.

Anyway, the historians tell us that this tradition started during the domain of the king Alfonso X The Wise: he imposed to the population to have a little amount of food with the wine as a incentive to carry on working after it and sustain them until the main meal. Such portion used to be a slice of sausague covering the top of the container in order to avoid contamination or insect to fall inside (that is the reason for the word "tapa" which in english means stopper/tape/lid)

Much as changed since and the tapas in my city are something quite different and a lot more enjoyable as you can appreciate by the photo ;-)

The Legend of the Door the Justice

2009-09-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Granada and the Alhambra won't be the same without the legends told for centuries around such magnificent building. And one of the best known is the one regarding to the Door Of Justice.

During the muslim domination this access to the Alhambra was where all the matters involving a Judge were dealt with (alas the name ;-) . Engraved in the inner arch there is a key (it is the one in the pic above) and in the arch facing the exterior, a hand. According to the legend, if the key in the inner arch touches the hand will mean the destruction of the Alhambra.

A bit of History

2009-09-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,

in my efforts to enlight you in the beauty of Granada, some of the History of my country is due to be told.

And I will focus inthe perid of time which possible define Granada more than any in the Histry of Spain: the Muslim Domination. Such perid lasted from 711 AC until 1492 AC and, in my opinion of NON historian ;-), the best part of all the history of Granada and Spain.

In 711 Táriq ibn Ziyad crossed the strech and landed in Gibraltar with the idea of supporting a cristian nobleman to fight by his side. But once they landed, they set fire to their ships and never went back. That was the beggining of the muslim domination which reintroduced in Europe long time lost knowledge like Maths, ancient greek literature, astronomy and many more sciencies which banished after the collapse of the Roman Empire. At the beggining of that period of time, Al Andalus (the name given to the part of Spain which was muslim) was part of the Caliphate of Damascus but soon it became independent, starting the splendor of their civization.

And Granada was an important part of it. As proof of it, the most beautiful building in this part of Europe: The Alhambra palace.

In arabic, Alhambra means "Red Castle" or "Castle with red walls" and the first reference in records to it was in the IX century. But it is the king Mohamed ben Al-Hamar (Mohamed I, 1238-1273) (who was the first of the Nazari dinasty) who decided to convert such palace in his residence starting an epoch of splendor which lasted until the Catholics Kings conquest Granada

Granada, city of Dreams

2009-09-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hi,
it has been a long while since I moved to UK for ,what I thought by the time, ever. Now, I am back to my city ;-)
Along this passed years, many experiencies have changed me for ever and, I hope, for good.
After just a few weeks "back home", my soul still divided between countries but something hasn't changed with the time: Granada is, by far, one of the best cities in Europe in order to discover the meaning of the sentece, in my opinion, use in excess: this is something that worth live for.
Granada is the perfect combination of superb night life and culture. You can easily spend 24 hours on the streets non stop for one week and there would be parts/monuments/bars/discos that you haven't seen/visited.
I would like to open a "virtual portal" to the city that saw me been born to all of you who would like to learn/share the passion that we all have for the Last Romantic city in Europe.
Join me in this journey of selfdiscovering and I would try to enlight you with tales, routes and anecdotes about Granada and the special idiosyncracy of the city and their people.

Go where your soul tell you
Rafa