Love At First Sight

Although we only spent a little more than twenty four hours in Granada, the city was the most profound and fulfilling place we’ve traveled to so far. The day we spent there felt timeless and like it’d been excised from reality. Granada is so full of history, culture, spirituality and depth and its stories can be found around every corner and in every café, so time was irrelevant and it was only the place that mattered.

We arrived in the late afternoon just as the sky was cracking open into an afternoon thunderstorm. As we had no place to stay, we asked a couple of British guys if they had a cheap hostel and when they told us it was only 10 euro we jumped in the cab with them and rode up, up, up the narrow winding streets to the very top of one of Granada’s hills, right next to the Alhambra. The streets were cobbled and slippery and the green trees were drooping down, heavy from the rainfall. Everything glowed in the evening light as we unloaded our baggage from the cab and checked into the hostel. We shared a tiny matrimonial bed in a tiny room that you could barely turn around in but it was perfect for the two of us.

The first evening we wandered down the hill, through a beautiful park, and found the main square of the city with little Tapas bars everywhere and people roaming the streets. We took a bus to the hill of Sacromonte to find a Moroccan restaurant that we’d looked up in Elyse’s travel book. It was to be our first dining out experience and we were starved. The Moroccan restaurant turned out to be quite a bust, considering the fact that we heard the microwave ding in the back right before our bland and hard dinner came out to the table. We swore to each other that we’d never eat out again and that we’d stick to our own creative culinary feats. We wandered back down into the glowing city and found a little Botega (wine cellar) to have a phenomenal glass of red wine, and of course the free Tapas that accompanied it.

Granada is one of the only cities in Spain that still practices the tradition of Tapas, and the food that they offer is excellent. We learned that Tapas originated back in the day when bartenders used to put little plates on top of the drinks of their customers to keep the flies out. Soon they started putting little snacks on the plates – chips, peanuts, etc. – but the tradition evolved into an expansive culture of cooked Tapas that now includes all kinds of home cooked dishes.

The next day we explored Granada from corner to corner. First we walked the city center’s streets, both the historic and the more modern shopping district. Then we decided to climb the hills of Sacromonte so that we could see the caves which we’d heard so much about. In the hills of Granada people still live and run their businesses in caves. Some are modern and have electricity and plumbing, but others are much more rugged and have barely anything at all. We climbed all the way up and walked along the winding, narrow road that led us around the mountain. The view below was breathtaking – all of Granada and the Sierra Nevada mountain range beyond. We stopped for a break at a little bar that turned out to be a cave and had a baby Alhambra beer and some free tapas and green grapes from the vines that grew right above our heads. We met an old man as we were sitting and having our beer, who had traveled all over the world. He was from Venice but had lived everywhere – from South America to Pakistan and Afghanistan to Bosnia and Croatia, Germany and then back to the Mediterranean. He said he had two sons in Germany and a few in Spain. He was a true nomad and spoke several languages, including English. But what struck me was the fact that he’d settled down at the end of his world route to grow old and die in Granada. Nothing could be more powerful than a man that had seen the world, and chosen to die in Granada. Elyse and I decided we wanted to grow old in Granada one day as well.

After our little break we kept walking up, exploring the modern caves and the views below. We decided to go down and go to the side across the valley where the caves were more rugged and natural. We descended and then climbed again, this time getting dirty and at some points having to climb on all fours. We found a few vacant caves and finally sat down on top of a little house, with what seemed like all of Spain spilling out beneath us. It was spectacular. We had the last bit of our baguette and brie, rested our forever roaming legs a bit and then headed back down the mountain and to the center of the city.

After taking a sleepless yet productive siesta at our hostel we went back down into town for our first evening of true Spanish tapas. We started at a little vegetarian restaurant called La Tortuga and ordered a beer each. We got two fabulous tapas plates of hummus and mozzarella spinach and after devouring it ordered another couple of beers, which came with additional tapas. This time we ordered spicy sausage cooked in wine and rice with salsa. In total we paid 8 or 9 Euros for a meal and a couple of drinks. We went to a wine bar after La Tortuga and ordered glasses of wine and with our drinks as our tapas got little turkey sandwiches and French fries. We wondered how come all of Granada’s residents didn’t weigh 200 pounds with such delicious food that comes so very free with a drink. And we both agreed that this was by far the most wonderful place we’d found in Spain. After our glasses of wine we headed back up the big hill, through the magical park to our hostel for our last night together.

The next morning we each got on separate busses heading to our respective destinations – Elyse to Motril on the coast, and I to Alora, buried in the Guadalhorce Valley between several mountain ranges in the Malaga province.

I knew I was in love with Granada from the moment the first raindrop hit my head. Perhaps love at first sight does exist when it comes to perfect places.

Conquering the tiny village of Alora is next…