March 21 – April 2, 2022
Why did we choose to visit Granada and Córdoba, you might ask?
Well, when the pandemic first hit many, many moons ago, Toronto’s ‘Hot Docs’ documentary
festival was quick to offer online options, and since we were rattling around
the house and had just cancelled four planned international trips in the course
of a week, we decided to watch a series on the historical landmarks of Spain and
Italy. We spent about 6 nights feeling like we were back at university (except
Al was actually in the lecture) with a lecturer telling bad puns, and showing
his dodgy holiday photos as he took us through Spanish history and what made a
number of Spanish buildings so significant. (This was early on in the pandemic,
at a time when we were clearly keen to ‘better’ ourselves. Short lived!)
The decision to come to Spain had the added benefit of seeing
these landmarks for ourselves as well as chasing the (elusive) sunshine. So, after
the sensory overload of Valencia we head southwest into the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada mountains, to explore the rich Islamic history of the Andalusian region with
our first stop of Granada.
The drive from Valencia to Granada was quite spectacular as
we made our way through the rocky mountainous terrain, with tiny villages perched
on the side of mountains and clinging tenaciously to the tops of peaks. The
final valley we drove through was the town of Purullena, where we could see hundreds
of cave homes dug into the sides of the mountains. The entryways varied from
simple holes in the mountain to elaborate home frontages. We’d learn more about
the role caves have played in the region’s history in Granada.
Granada and The Alhambra
The main reason for a tourist to visit Granada is the
Moorish complex that is the Alhambra. Granada sits in the shadow of the Alhambra
complex both literally and metaphorically. Everywhere you are in the city, you
can glance up to see its imposing outline. Initially built as a fort by an Emir
(Muhammad I, since you asked) who was running from the approaching Catholics, ‘Alhambra’
literally means ‘the red’ in Arabic, likely due to the colour of the rammed
earth outer walls.
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| I love this because Al is actually not even pointing at the Alhambra. It's the much bigger thing on the left with the crane in front of it. |
Muhammad I built a military fort on the site to defend his
people in 1237, and it must have been pretty effective, because Granada was the
last city in the Iberian peninsula to be ‘reconquered’ by the Catholics – to
the tune of a further two hundred years! before eventually being
defeated in 1492 by the infamous pair of Ferdinand and Isabella.
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| These are the ruins of that original fort |
The fort continued to grow through the Nasrid Dynasty, with
multiple extensions by successive Emirs, and this continued during Catholic
rule and really continues right up to the present day. Today the grounds cover
more than 35 acres: an incredible complex of buildings, gardens and one of the most
well-preserved Islamic palace complexes in the world. It took us five hours to
tour the whole thing! The exterior is cool, but it's the interior with its mosaics, intricate carvings and use of water that are truly out of this world.
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| The throne room with its intricate carvings |
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| This one says 'There is no god but Al'. The last bit was a little hard to read, not sure. |
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| A view from the Generalife, sort of the 'home away from home' for the nobles of the time |
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| Al was listening to the audioguide. Certainly NOT trying to tune out Michelle. |
The cities of Granada and Cordoba are a reminder of the varied
religious history of the Iberian Peninsula. At this point we needed a crash
course in Spanish history to make sense of all the too and fro*: People in
Cadiz since time began; Romans arrive and settle for several hundred years; Visogoths
pillage various regions, take control and build churches; the Moors arrive from
Northern Africa (Morocco) in 700CE and implement sophisticated social changes; Islamic
rule for about 800 years; in 1492 the Catholics finally completed the 600-year
long ‘reconquering’ of the Iberian peninsula (and of course the infamous
inquisition lead to the expulsion of everyone who wasn’t Catholic).
*Many, many important events excluded for readability and because
we are not actually experts on this.
As a result of all this back and forth of rulers, the old
town of Granada is also a mix of influences, with North African restaurants and
tea houses sandwiched between medieval ‘carmenes’ with secluded gardens behind
high walls, a monastery, Jewish synagogues and on the far side of the valley,
more of the cave dwellings we saw on the drive in. The old town is a tourist’s romantic
dream of narrow, steep, cobblestone streets.
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| We may have fallen for that romantic tourist dream one night at an adorable wine bar on the side of the Daro river. |
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| A view of the wine bar with the Alhambra looming in the background. |
Sacromonte Cuevas – not to be confused with huevos (or
jueves)
Around the time the Catholics arrived in Granada, the Roma settled
in the outskirts of the old town in Sacromonte and built cuevas (caves) into
the mountainside, where they still live today. We visited a quirky little outdoor museum of
these tiny homes, whitewashed with lime and with some history of how the people
lived. They mixed with the Muslim people who had been banished by the Catholics,
and from this came a very specific type of flamenco dance. Different parts of
Spain lay claim to flamenco dancing, but in Granada the specific style of dance
called the Zambra is credited to the people of Sacromonte.
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| Not just in a museum - these cave houses are still in use today. In fact we saw fibre optic cable being run down the street in front of these. |
Day Trip to Málaga
Our time living in the UK has meant that the mere mention of
the city of Málaga or the Costa del Sol was enough to send shivers of ‘tourist
nastiness’ down our spine. Images of European tourists (well, truthfully, Brits
on holiday) and stag / hen weekends quickly came to mind. While we do admit to
coming to Spain for weekends like this (netball club tournaments), this was a
long way from what we’re wanting to experience on this trip to Spain.
But we had read that in the last few years Málaga has been working
hard to develop its cultural side. They’d promoted a cool new area of street art
and opened two new galleries, one dedicated to their favourite son Picasso and
another being a satellite of one of our favourite galleries: the Pompidou of
Paris. And of course, the usual European smattering of roman ruins and medieval
basilicas. As it was just a day trip from Málaga we decided to give it a go.
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| Alas this is the closest we would get |
Unfortunately… the Pompidou was closed for unknown reasons.
While my Spanish was probably good enough to ask the attendant why it was closed,
it’s definitely not good enough to understand the reply. So sadly we will never
know. The Picasso museum on the other hand was excellent. It really did a great
job of taking us through every stage of his 80+ year career.
After the museum we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant on
the edge of the beach. Actually, let’s be honest: the beach is gravel at best,
dirt at worst. It made Toronto’s beaches look positively paradisiacal. Anyhoo –
the fish was great. And yet again we ordered way too much.
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| A shot of the dirt, I mean beach |
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| Another Alcazar in Malaga |
Terracotta towns
With ten days in Granada we had hoped to do some walking in
the Sierra Nevada mountains but the weather was still struggling out of its Spring
blues. Once the sun started shining again we decided on a wander between some
of the famous ‘white villages’.
The drive was quite spectacular once again, and the folds of
the mountain range and the rounded ridges of the mountains were reminiscent of
the Bungle Bungles in Western Australia. Every inch of the steep mountains was terraced
for growing olive and fruit trees and well as vegetables. But as we drove out
of Granada and across the mountains, the full effects of the recent sandstorm
from the Sahara desert were on show. From road signs that were barely visible
to an entire landscape dulled by a coating of dust, it was reminiscent of driving
in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where the fine red dirt rich in iron
ore seems to coat everything in sight (if you have even more time with nothing better
to do you can relive our 1997 trip across Oz here).
But the worst was the poor whitewashed villages which depend
so heavily on tourists like us. The sides of the buildings facing the Sahara were
entirely caked in red mud, looking like a wall of terracotta, while on other
sides you could see where the sand had mixed with the light rain and red mud
had literally dripped down the stone walls. The first decent rain is going to
be nasty here. Even the snowy peak of the Sierras had not escaped, and you could
see a dusting of red sand on the white slopes.
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| No, you can't read it and yes, you should be able to! That's some dust... |
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| Normally these are so bright you gotta wear shades, a la Timbuk3 |
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| Not meant to be this colour! |
Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba
Following Granada, we drove two hours northwest to the final
Andalusian city on our itinerary: Córdoba. (It’s taken me a few weeks to figure
out how to put these accents on the letters. I can’t promise I’ll keep doing it.
But they’re helpful in putting the emphásis on the right sylláble.)
Córdoba has the feel of a very livable city, with around
300,000 people and the edge of the city giving way to fields actually visible from
hills in the local parks. It also has that same mix of architecture and food influence
from so many different cultures. It also had the added benefit of being a bit
warmer than where we’d been up to this point, so we had four sun-soaked days in
this low-key city that is well set up for long lunches and dinners on rooftop
or riverside patios.
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| What is that shining orb in the sky? The SUN?? |
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| Rooftop bliss. That fish dish on the right was cooked with a blowtorch in front of us. I screwed up the video. |
At its peak Córdoba was the second-largest city in Europe,
and a world leading centre of education and learning. By far its most famous
remaining landmark is the truly spectacular Mezquita-Catedral, or Mosque-Cathedral.
This is another classic case of one guy builds church – another guy defeats
first guy, builds another church on top of first church – third guy defeats
second guy, builds yet another church, etc. Except in this case, the second guy
(Abd ar-Rahman I) built one of the largest and architecturally significant mosques
in the world, and the third guy (Charles V, kinda) built a massive cathedral
right in the middle of the mosque. Surprisingly, the cathedral is pretty well
integrated into the existing Moorish architecture. We were expecting it to be a
lot more jarring than it is – it’s actually quite gracefully done. I know our approval
would mean a lot to them.
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| That giant monstrosity emerging from the centre of the mosque is in fact the Catholic cathedral. |
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| Here's a view from the inside of that same dome. You can see the edge of the original mosque, with its distinctive red and white brickwork, on the right |
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| The original mosque was (is) massive, with something like 1300 columns originally. There's about 800 remaining, with the 'renovations' that have occurred over the years. |
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| Some of the Christian additions are spectacular |
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| Here's a good juxtaposition of old and 'new' |
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| The god of Ultimate Frisbee |
As an aside, we also come across our old friends Ferdinand
and Isabella in Córdoba: it was here in 1492 that they met Columbus and
sponsored him on his search for a route to Cathay (China). 1492 was certainly a
busy year.
Rallye Sierra Morena and – oh yeah, our anniversary
It was our anniversary on April 1st and as a
gift, Michelle took me to the car races.
Nah, actually it just so happened that
the second event in Spain’s Rally calendar, the Sierra Morena, was being staged
in Córdoba while we were here. We wandered over to see the ‘urban stage’, which
is comprised of little hot hatches doing handbrake turns on an impossibly tight
course in a parking lot. We’d considered going out to the hills surrounding
Córdoba to watch some of the mountain stages but… it was all a little too hard.
And besides, we had a Michelin-starred restaurant to experience. Restaurant
Choco (in Andalucian chocos are ‘squidballs’ but also cozy spaces) offered a
15-course-plus-wine-pairings gastronomic adventure that we couldn’t very well
pass up… trigger food coma.
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| They had us eating right out of their hands |
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| They may have been a little bit proud of that Michelin star.... |
(More) Food and wine
Tasting local wine has been more challenging in Granada as wine
by the glass is usually only offered as either ‘tinto or blanco’ and if your
lucky by ‘sec (dry) or fuerte (strong)’. The bonus is that every glass comes
with free tapas which shifts from awesome to ‘salt overload’ the longer you
stay in the city.
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| Back in the land of standing tapas bars! (No that is not a cardboard cutout of Al) |
Espetos - Grilled sardines and baby squid on the beach in Málaga,
traditionally grilled on the beach as they arrive fresh off the fishing boats.
Technically these are only supposed to be eaten in months that don’t contain an
‘r’. So not until May. And only at beach shacks that set up just for the
summer. Alas, we’re not here in the height of summer so we had to put up with a
restaurant in the beach with likely sardines from some inferior area like Catalonia
😊
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| Step into my mouth if you want to live, or maybe not |
From here we head to Madrid, a city we’ve wanted to visit
for many years. We’re even more excited as in Madrid we’ll meet up with Dene
and Kerry (Michelle’s brother and sister-in-law) who will be our travel buddies
for the next two and a half weeks.
Réal Madrid: Of Madrileños and Marfleeteños
And for those of you who haven't read the previous posts, what have you been doing?? Start here.
Final thought - You can learn a lot about a country by its crossing signals.
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