Magical, Mysterious, and A Must-See
Written: Jul 05 '05
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Pros: The weight of history everywhere, beautiful vistas.
Cons: Daytime heat, crowds at the Alhambra.
The Bottom Line: Spanish, Moorish, and Catholic, all at the same time. The Alhambra has to be seen on any trip to Spain of more than one week.
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| obsoperator's Full Review: Granada |
Granada is timeless, so the older posts I read here aren't out of date. But I think our having spent three nights there, in June, 2005 is a slightly different perspective than those useful reviews. We may have spent "too much" time there, but we don't like to change rooms too often, and we saw a few things you might miss in a flying visit.
We returned our rental car in Granada, after driving across Andalusia. It was about 2 1/2 hours from Ronda by what I'd call the Northern route (A-92). If you want to see the Costa Del Sol along the way, allow 5 hours, I was told. Of course, you should choose your rental by the best deal you can get. But Hertz' "In-town" location at the Granada Center Hotel is just a few blocks from the E-902, or the Ronda Sur peripheral roads (C. de Mendez Nunez exit), and a cheap cab ride from Plaza Nueva. They'll tell you to pull the car up on the sidewalk.
The TI in Plaza Nueva (really, at the far end, Plaza Santa Ana, where we saw several weddings) will give you a copy of a sheet with all the museum and attraction hours, so you don't have to copy them off the bulletin board.
We stayed at Casa de los Migueletes ( http://www.casamigueletes.com/ ), a few steps away (but a world of quiet away) from the central Plaza Nueva. It's not the cheapest, but it was worth the moderate splurge. Each lovely room is different, because it's a completely renovated town house. There's a beautiful wine cellar-like breakfast room, and a shaded "outdoor" courtyard. The renovation is recent, so each room has a modern split-ductless air conditioner. Several rooms (for slightly more cost) have excellent diagonal views of the Alhambra. So you see it at dawn and sunset with a turn of your head! Our room (#26, 199 Euros/night with two breakfasts, booked directly) had a extra-good view, at the cost of a flight of stairs. But there was a brand-new elevator to everywhere else, and we didn't chose the most luxurious room. Family owned, and highly recommended!
Having looked over the difficult-to-book Parador inside the Alhambra, I'm not so sorry we couldn't get in. Yes, it's a very romantic location, one in a million. But during the day, it's like a two-story hotel in Times Square (NYC.) At night, it's magical, except for the several nights that the Palacio Nazaries is open. There are only about three restaurants up here on the hill. If the Alhambra is really important to you, then book here at least six months in advance.
The Alhambra now has an easy-to-use ticket website, ( www.alhambratickets.com ), which works well, at the lowest service charge I've ever paid for a ticket. They allowed us to pick up our morning tickets the same evening we picked up our tickets for that evening. Bring a printed confirmation to hand through the window slot. Although the Courtyard of the Lions has the center roped off (for repairs to the Lions), it's a thrilling experience in the daytime. Pay attention to the ticket time you chose, and the visiting time restrictions. You need to allow for all of your visiting within the hours your ticket is valid. And admission to the key Palacios Nazaries is a rigid half-hour slot. (You can stay as long as you want, until the afternoon or evening closing time.)
There's not a lot of food inside the Alhambra, but there are adequate snacks, and even ice-cold beer, in a glass you can take over to a bench in the shade! There are plenty of very modern bathrooms, but only at a few specific locations. The mini-busses from Plaza Nueva are very frequent, but often crowded. And the drivers seem to have a tendency to "save" their air conditioning for the worst conditions. These use the same tickets as the other Granada busses, so buy a 10 or 20-trip ticket, which can be punched twice, for two different passengers.
The "Alhambra by moonlight" is overrated, especially at the same price as daylight. Maybe it's "for honeymooners only". The problem is that there's no organized "Lighting Design" in the Palacios Nazaries (which is the only area you get to visit). They just plug in a torchier wherever there's an outlet. It's all murky atmosphere and poor sightseeing. The courtyard moonlight is not enough, and they have elderly, glaring floodlights on anyway. Don't think I want the walls gouged out for Disney-light wiring; I'm just saying that the product is of poor quality. Note last bus down the hill is around 11PM. Taxis are quite reasonable in Granada.
I guess it's been too long since I was a student, but Granada-downtown had the most tattoos, piercings, street people, hippies, and beggars of anyplace we went. It wasn't threatening at all, just too Woodstock-y. In fact, we had no trouble with the notorious "Gypsies". It may be my gimlet-eyed "New York City" street persona! This ambience also applied to the classic evening panorama at the San Nicolas viewpoint. But it's cooler at sunset, and everyone was calmer and quieter up there. Alternative vendors sold sangria and beer cans at the viewpoint.
The most memorable meal of our whole trip was a "Carmen" recommended by our hotel. They're small courtyard restaurants that don't serve lunch in the summer, because it's too hot. We faced the Alhambra at sunset, for a bargain price, with excellent food. Carmen de Aben Humeya, C/. Cuesta de las Tomasas 12, www.abenhumeya.com . They also recommended Las Tomasas, a Carmen with a similar view on Carril San Augustin, 958 224 108, but said it was harder to get into on weekends. Aben Humeya is newer and less well known.
The second-best meal we had in Granada was a modest veggie place, Naturi Albayazin (C/Caldereria Nueva, 10 http://www.vivagranada.com/naturi/ .) Their Moorish-influenced, large menu in a small place was outstanding, made-to-order, first-class veggie fare. We watched them pick out an avocado for fresh cold soup in a blender, and our falafel was crispy but not greasy at all. We're not even vegetarians, but we had to have one meal without swine that week.
Our hotel confirmed that the convent behind it sells very popular baked goods through the privacy turntable-window in their foyer. But I couldn't make myself understood on the buzz-in intercom, so we didn't get to buy anything.
Strolling around town, we ran across the Corral Del Carbon, a 14th-century caravanserai on Calle de Mariana Pineda. (follow "Nueva Acropolis" sign from Reyes Catholicos) It looked much less "restored" than the Alhambra. You really could imagine travelers bedding down in the circular courtyard. It seems to be a cultural center today. Nearby, we found the Museo de Artes Y Costumbres Populares. This would be a disappointment if you gave up a major site to visit, but it had wonderful photographs of the un-restored Alhambra, a collection of posters and programs for the Corpus Christi Ferias in Granada, and one over-the-top Christmas crib, worthy of a Bavarian folk museum. A few blocks up the river from Plaza Nueva is the Museo Arcqueologico (nice, but only if you're here more than one day.)
The Carthusian Monastery, a better-known and important attraction, is a short city bus ride, and there are WCs and snacks in the courtyard. American charioteers can park right in the courtyard for free. (#8 Bus going away from Plaza Nueva, on Gran Via.) It's well worth the detour. Don't skip any of the side rooms!
I wanted to see the house Federico Garcia Lorca lived in, which is now surrounded by an huge and attractive (but very modern-designed) park. However, after we took a short ride on the #6 bus from Gran Via beside the Cathedral exit (towards Plaza Nueva), it had just closed for a power failure. It's hard to believe you can still see the Alhambra from his window! The return bus stops beside an excruciatingly American two-story indoor shopping mall. The idle teenagers are just as bored as at your home-town mall, and the merchandise looks the same.
Many guide books mention the "Arab Baths" of Granada. Note that there's an operating Arab Baths (book in advance, our hotel said) on the Alhambra side of the river, and an ancient Arab Baths building (visits mornings only-seemed to be free) on the Albayzin side. We only entered the ancient one. Because the airport busses don't run continuously, we took a cab on Sunday morning, to fly to Santiago de Compostela, our last stop.
I should mention that I didn't find all these attractions on my own. We used both Frommer's Spain and Rick Steve's Spain guidebooks (2005), both very good. I found Rick's more complete for the smaller cities, less complete for Madrid and Barcelona. I put a tiny part of this report on Rick's bulletin board.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
obsoperator
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Location: Bergen County, NJ, USA
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 0 members
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