Granada

Now that all of our visitors are gone, Jason and I have been without a mode of transportation for several days. Although we don't mind the walk into town and back, neither of us has any desire to take the trek up to the villa loaded down with groceries! So, yesterday we took the bus up to Granada to pick up a rental car. Granada is about a 45 minute drive straight north from Salobrena. Its most memorable origins date back to the 8th century when it was a central part of this region's Moorish kingdom. These strong Arabic influences that are so deeply rooted in the area made it a really interesting place to visit.

Our first stop was the home of the city's Old Moorish Quarter and its bazaar. The Arabic influence in the shops and architecture of this area were particularly strong.


Next, we wound our way through the narrow streets and passages of the Old Moorish Quarter (known now as the Albayzin).


These pretty little streets reminded us in some ways of our time in Venice. After quite a climb, we were finally rewarded with some amazing views of the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex of the ancient Moorish rulers of Granada which served as the residence to the area's Muslim rulers.


Once we were able to pull ourselves away from the view, we headed off to pick up the rental car. On our way, we stopped to see Granada's City Cathedral:


And to cool off with a drink and some tapas. Tapas are small plates of food meant for sharing. We continue to be amazed that every time we stop in somewhere for a drink, we are served a small, free (and delicious!) snack. If you go for drinks in the evening, you can basically eat your entire dinner for free...I like it! This particular restaurant served what was basically an "un-diced" ceviche but we've had all kinds of tapas since we've been here: cured meats and cheese with bread, fried potatoes with spicy sauce, stewed chicken and potatoes, fried anchovies, the list goes on and on.


After picking up the car, we got incredibly lost in Granada (likely because we were trying to use a walking map as our sole means of navigation), but finally made it to the small restaurant where we had made dinner reservations for a flamenco show. It was absolutely amazing and definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far!


The singing, dancing, and guitar playing were all phenomenal. We had heard over and over again about the "passion" in flamenco, but it was hard to appreciate until we'd actually seen it in person. Flamenco is generally acknowledged to have grown out of a unique interplay of native Arabic, Andalusian, and Gypsy cultures that existed in Andalusia (the region of Spain we are staying in). What was interesting about the Flamenco music were the similarities we could hear between what was sung during the show and the typical "call-to-prayer" type of songs you hear from Muslim cultures. That portion of the Arabic influence on flamenco was quite obvious, as was the apparent Gypsy influence on the traditional flamenco attire. Very neat to see!