Palace to Cave – Welcome to Granada
Granada is not just a working city or just a tourist trap, it is a city with an international presence but relaxed vibe void of having to follow the latest fashion; it is a city where I could live. It is also home to the Alhambra. This massive fortress-palace has been fought over and written about for centuries. The Moorish complex is surrounded by imposing walls, forested walkways, and a river that provides intricate and imaginative waterways to gardens and pools. I will hope my pictures can do it more justice, but I know that over the centuries many poets and writers have produced much finer works proselytizing the beauty of this place. Plan to spend a full day wandering around this complex which includes the Alcazaba (Citadel), Generalife, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s Palace, and the Nasrid Palace. Generalife was the “bucolic” garden of the Sultans during their reign. It is is a peaceful place filled with gardens and pools intricately supplied by miniature aqeducts. Charles V’s Palace now houses several museums including a superb modern art exhibition. The Alhambra is not a place you can visit as you please; tickets sell out everyday so plan to arrive early. In addition to an early wake-up, you are given a specific time to visit the Nassrid Palace, so as to keep the crowds limited. The intricate art work, high archways, and stalactite like ceilings create an impressive show of Moorish power. Unfortunately, it is the off season, which means restoration work is in full swing, including the removal of the Court of Lions fountain for extensive work.
After a full day of walking around the complex, I took the time to visit a very unique area in Grenada, Sacromonte. This hillside opposite the Alahambra, has many homes in it. Yes, in it. The better known areas have been refined to look like real homes inside, and are still home to a large Gypsy community influential in the creation of Flamenco. The clay-like earth of the mount makes it ideal to carve out and maintain stability. As I walked up the side of the hill I found doors, ruined brick facades, and front yards ranging from tidy and welcoming to expulsed heaps of interior décor littered around a makeshift fenced yard. As I passed and made short conversation with people, I ran into a group of youngsters quietly practicing Flamenco on their guitars, apprehensively quiet but still recognizable. Farther up the hillside, I ran into a Senegalese man chopping wood. We talked for a while and he invited me in to his home for dinner. After refusing several times, I finally conceded. He and his neighbor had made a modest meal of pasta and a cheese sauce with bits of chorizo. It wasn’t fancy or extravagant, closer to a watered down version of kraft macaroni and cheese, but it was warm and welcoming with the mountain air starting to cool off outside. I had some chocolate in my daypack (as on most days) which was gladly accepted as dessert.
The cave was humble, but well maintained. White stucco was heavily applied to the asymmetrical walls and floor while various levels were covered with cushions and blankets provided comfortable seating. He explained to me how he added the fireplace made from of brick and mortar last year , and is working on making a porch awning currently. As happens after a relaxing meal, the conversation would die off at times, the crackling of an old handheld radio on the table outside would interrupt before quieting back down as the next weekly top 40 song started to play, sometimes prompting more conversation, sometimes providing an excuse to not make awkward conversation for the sake of it.
As I sat there in this whimsical home chatting by the light of a fire, I realized how similar people are no matter where or what their homes look like. Although this cave home was not as extravagant as others, this man has taken pride in it and is upgrading and is telling me all about it – a conversation that is not uncommon among men on the weekend in suburbia across America, about the porch they built or the problem they had while installing the new light fixture in the kitchen. Is it coincidence that I sit here in a cave overlooking one of the world’s most fought after fortresses speaking another language to a man from Senegal about something I could’ve easily talked to a neighbor about in America? I think not. The opening of doors, sharing of food, and warmth of genuine people and conversation are acts capable of single handedly stopping many problems or at least the ignorance found in today’s world.
