Granada, Spain
After a week exploring Madrid and central Spain, I picked up my wheels from the rental car desk at the airport and drove roughly 260 miles south to the region of Andalucía. My base for the next few days is the historic city of Granada situated at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Speaking of wheels, here is my ride — a shiny white Fiat 500. I’ve driven this model before here in Europe and yes, it’s tiny, but also easy to maneuver and park on narrow roads. It also has a screen I can use for navigation.
Using Google Maps, I downloaded the areas I needed before leaving home. Now I have guidance, even offline. I just plug my iPhone into the car’s USB port, let CarPlay fire up and boom, navigation.
I selected an Airbnb in the Albaicín neighborhood of Granada on top of a hill just north of the sprawling Alhambra fortress. The area, notable for its historic monuments, has largely retained its medieval street plan dating back to the Nasrid period (13th to 15th centuries).
The house is in a traditional “Carmen” style annex which is essentially an urban farm unit surrounded by walls right in the middle of the city. There’s even a small orchard just outside my balcony.
I’d arrived in Granada in the evening, unpacked and quickly fell asleep after my long drive. The next morning, I stepped out into the narrow alley and began exploring my new neighborhood.
There are small markets located every few streets and I stocked up on a few essentials including the local beer.
In addition to numerous markets, there seem to be churches and monasteries every few streets too. I was tipped off that the nuns at the nearby Convento sell sweets they bake themselves if you knock on the correct door. Perhaps next time when I’m not carrying cervezas…
Further down the hill I entered the main section of old Granada. Surprisingly, there weren’t many tourists here in late November, even though I think the weather is perfect: not too warm or too cold.
Granada bodegas are renowned for always serving tapas with drinks. I claimed a stand-up lunch table at Bodegas Castañeda and quickly had a beer and food in front of me supplied by the friendly wait staff. This was a place to slow down and just soak up the atmosphere.
You’ll notice legs of ham hanging inside nearly every traditional Spanish restaurant or bar. Beyond the ambiance, this is an important step in properly drying the ham. And yes, there was a black bull presiding over the scene, essentially the national icon of Spain.
Back on the street, I heard yelling from an Irish bar and ducked inside to investigate. I unwittingly joined the World Cup watch party of what must have been every Argentina fan in town decked in iconic white and light blue. The air was thick with tension — a historic upset was brewing.
Messi couldn’t pull off a miracle and Saudi Arabia hung a shocking 2–1 loss on the heavily-favored Argentina team. I think I’ll find a watch party tomorrow evening when Spain goes into action. Should be wild.
I have my reserved, timed ticket to visit the Alhambra tomorrow afternoon. I glanced at it over on the next hill as I climbed back to my neighborhood. Stay tuned…
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