Blake and Deborah in Europe: Granada

We spent a good bit of time exploring Granada on foot. We can't say it's our favorite town, but it does have more to offer than just the Alhambra, including the Moorish Quarter, a cathedral, and some nice plazas. The Albayzin, or Moorish Quarter, covers the hill across the valley from the Alhambra. It's a tangle of narrow, mostly car-free streets, and a pleasure to get lost in. Near the top of the hill at San Nicolas Square the tourists and hippies hang out to watch the setting sun light up the Alhambra on the opposite hill. In and around the Albayzin are a number of commercial lanes devoted to vendors and restaurants with a North African influence. We had a nice lunch at one such place filled with exotic tapestries and Moroccan lanterns, where you sat on a pillow-covered bench at a table that was too low for my knees to fit under. The resulting side-saddle meal was nevertheless a good one.

Granada's cathedral was built mostly in the Renaissance style. It's brighter inside than most with its white interior – supposedly painted with lime for health reasons in plague times. Adjacent is the Royal Chapel where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are entombed. The marble funerary monuments were sculpted with faces based on death masks, and are therefore considered accurate. I totally have King Ferdinand's nose. It must be a vestige of that one Barcelona ancestor of mine some 5 or 6 generations ago.

Outside the cathedral the local gypsies try to hand out sprigs to the tourists, then insist on reading palms for tips. We just say no. The other annoyance in Granada is avoiding the numerous dog turds peppering the sidewalks. They must train their animals to go nowhere else. Deborah calls this “poo town.” Time to head back south to the warmth of the coast.