From Sevilla to Granada

The next day I saw two of Seville´s most impressive sights: the Plaza de España with its enormous semi-circular palace, and the Reales Alcázares, a truly massive complex of buildings and gardens spanning several large city blocks. I didn´t have much time to see all of the latter before my bus to Granada, especially since I spent a big chunk of it trying to find the entrance.

Once inside, my jaw dropped to the floor with amazement and stayed there for the entire 30 minutes I was on the premises. The palace courtyards were full of exotic tropical vegetation, which complemented perfectly the arched airy architecture of the surrounding buildings. The palaces inside, one Muslim, one Christian Gothic, were beautiful and formed a seamless whole with the surrounding areas through a network of doorways, gates and passageways. The gardens, some small and cute, others so vast I could not see their end, were designed and sculpted to perfection, while, at the same time, maintaining a wild tropical feel. Pools of water, fountains trickling over marble mosaic, narrow elevated walkways amid palm forests -- it all seemed almost magical. As soona as I walked out I wanted to go back in and enjoy the experience a second time, but decided it was time to move on to Granada, of which I had heard an equal number of praises.

I was not disappointed. As the bus approached Granada, the snowy Sierra Nevada peaks came into view, and I relished the thought of spending the next several days walking in their shadow. I checked into a fantastic backpacker hostel with a friendly social atmosphere, helpful staff, clean rooms, and free internet access. I then promptly left to walk around as much of the town as possible before it got dark. I wandered through the narrow streets upward to the walled city of Alhambra, the last holdout of Muslims in Spain. Córdoba and Sevilla, the previous two capitals of Muslim Spain fell to the Christian Reconquista centuries before, but Granada, high in the mountains, held out until 1492.

For two hours I wandered the gardens and palaces within the old city walls, enjoying views of the city below and the Sierra Nevada in the distance. I was also able to watch the famous sunset over the Alhambra, which is deservedly well-known, because it was one of the brightest and most colorful I have ever seen. I then descended down into the city and got to see the illuminated fortress from below.

I returned to the hostel only to leave once again, this time to join an organized tapas tour. Unlike in most of Spain, tapas in Granada come free with your drink, and the drink is usually quite cheap (around $1.80), so that after you´ve had 3-4 you are quite full (as well as inebriated). The group was quite small, friendly and mostly English-speaking, even though English was not most people´s first language. Most people appeared to be in Granada for much longer than I, and I could see why they might have made the smarter decision.