España Parte Dos: EL Albayzín District, Exploring Granada, and FLAMENCO!

The next day we planned to tour Granada a bit and explore the Albayzín district. We began our morning journey on the way to breakfast by making a stop at the Plaza Isabel La Catolica, near the Gran Via Hotel. Take some time to check out the statue; it’s impressive and historically iconic. The statue depicts Queen Isabel giving Christopher Columbus her permission to make the journey with his three ships to discover the new world. Built in Rome in 1892, exactly 400 years after Columbus’s discovery, the statue intends to focus on Queen Isabel of Spain. Despite this, the obvious and true big cheese of this historical moment was Columbus himself, prompting most Spainards to refer to this statue/square as Plaza de Colon (Columbus Square).

After checking out Big Cheese Queen Isabel and Bigger Cheese Christopher Columbus, we stopped at a nearby cafe for a breakfast pastry and some espresso before meandering along to the Albayzín district. As you neared the main district area, you could see the Moorish/Muslim influences slowly sneaking their way into the architecture and city design.

Many of the Carmens have been turned into restaurants, the most famous being Carmen de las Tomasas, Carmen Mirador de Aixa, Carmen de Aben Humeya, and our favorite dinner spot, Carmen Mirador de Morayma (more on that later). All these restaurants boast fabulous night-time views of La Alhambra.

We continued our meandering, enjoying the beautiful streets and buildings. Down one little street we ran into a beautiful guitar soloist, playing in this picturesque archway of a Carmen with bright orange walls. It looked like something on a postcard.

Granada contains what I like to call a “layered” history. The Umayyad conquest of Hispania around 711 A.D. found a majority of the Iberian Peninsula under Moorish control with the establishment of Al-Andalus (Muslim-Spain). The Almoravids (a Berber dynasty of Morocco) ruled Granada from 1090 to 1166, to be replaced by the Almohad dynasty (a separate Berber Morocon movement) in 1166.

The longest lasting Muslim dynasty was established in 1228 by the Nasrids, who became the Emirate of Granada from 1238 to 1492 by aligning themselves with the Catholic Monarch, Ferdinand III of Castile. In 1492, while the rest of Spain was dominated by the Catholic Monarchy and Christopher Columbus’s expeditions were in full swing, the Islamic Emirate of Granada surrendered to Ferdinand II and Isabella I, making Granada the last Muslim area to fall. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Muslim and Jewish Spaniards were required to convert to Catholicism. Spain’s progressive establishment of their Monarchy and aggressive colonization of the Americas made Spain one of the longest lasting and most powerful empires in history.

This multi-layer history was obvious throughout Granada; everywhere you looked old walls jutted out of new ones; random archways, alleys, and painted designs appeared next to brand new buildings. They were slightly mysterious and really added to the overall feel of the city.

While exploring the district, we stopped at Cafe Casa Pasteles, a popular cafe for locals tucked in a little corner of the Albayzín district. They were selling fresh-baked “pinonos,” which immediately caught my father’s eye; he had learned about this to-die-for pastry from his host family. A pinono is a small pastry, native to Granada bakers, made of a thin layer of pastry rolled into a cylinder, fermented with a variety of syrups and topped with toasted cream. Check out a recipe here.

After the pinono, we stopped by my father’s language school. Since he retired, my father has focused a lot of his time and energy on learning the Spanish language. Each year he attends an intensive language school in a different country for 1-3 weeks. In past years he has attended two schools in Costa Rica and a school in Peru. This year he chose Castila, an international Spanish language school accredited by Instituto Cervantes, a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government that helps to promote the study and teaching of Spanish language and culture.

Castila classes include small, intimate classes of no more than six students, theory and exercise books, extracurricular activities, and language exchanges with Spanish-speakers. Check out the courses here. Castila offers a variety of accommodation options while you’re studying in Granada, with varying costs, including a shared flat with other students, a shared flat with Spanish people, a room with a local Spanish family, an individual flat, a private residence/house, a hotel, or a hostel. Check out all accommodation options here. The obvious way to immerse yourself in Spanish culture is to live with a Spanish family. My father chose to do so and was paired with a delightful and loving woman named Pilar and her wonderful son, Alvero.

While you won’t run into any Coach stores or Tiffany’s, you will find some really fun, eclectic, and unique shopping areas in the Albayzín District. They feature beautiful Muslim food, clothing, shoes, lamps, pottery and blankets. The two best places to shop are the Alcaiceria on Calle Alcaiceria and down the length of Calle Calderería Nueva.

If you get a chance, check out the many teterías that dot these shopping areas. You will be treated to a an Arabic cultural experience; sipping on aromatic herbal teas in dimly lit rooms that resemble San Francisco hookah bars. Check out the full list of these tea rooms here.

We ran into such an opportunity while trying to get in on a tour of the Granada Cathedral. The line was out the door and down the street and we weren’t sure we’d be able to get inside before dinner reservations. We reluctantly abandoned the idea and instead stuck our head in a nearby church, Iglesia del Sagrario, on the back side of the Granada Cathedral on Calle Officios and Calle Pie de la Torre. There was a service going on, so we politely listened while exploring the interior. It was very beautiful and humbling.

Donkeys were getting tired, so we stopped at a little cafe for some espresso.

Flamenco originated in Andalusia, and its presence there is still strong. If you are interested in seeing flamenco, make sure you attend a show in Andalusia; it will be more authentic and likely will have more substantive roots to the town and culture of the area you are in. It’s much more popular in Granada and Seville than in Madrid or Barcelona.

From what I understand, flamenco’s date of origin is somewhat disputed, however, most can agree that it’s somewhere around the late 1700’s. While its ties are mainly to the Romani people of Spain, its roots stem from an infusion of different cultures throughout Spain, most notably the Andalusians, Moors, Castillians, and Jewish peoples. Many Spaniards will tell you that flamenco has ties to Spain’s early gypsy population as well. Despite its multi-century lifespan, it took UNESCO awhile to catch on, as, surprisingly, it was not named as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity until 2010. This site gives a great historical rundown of flamenco.

Flamenco typically includes three main components: toque (guitar), cante (song). and baile (dance). The flamenco guitar is similar to an acoustic guitar but has less internal bracing, which gives it a brighter and more percussive sound. The singer, or cantaor, sings in three main styles; first is cante grande/cante jondo, a deep and heavy sound with lyrics that deal with death, despair, and sadness; second is cante intermedio, which is less heavy but still tends to deal with depressing subject matter; and third is cante chico, a lighter and festive sound with lyrics about love, happiness, and laughing.

The obvious focus is on the dancers. There are usually two, a man and a woman, who dance together and separately. The footwork and arm movements are intense and dramatic. The dance is not for the timid or self-doubtful; it requires proud expressions and assertive movements to make it authentic and entertaining. A female flamenco dancer typically has a marked back bend while she dances with long arm movements often lifted overhead like a ballet dancer or used to pull up the bottom of her dress to showoff the footwork. The man’s focus is on his feet; they are quick and aggressive with incredible precision. While true flamenco uses the snapping of fingers, many dancers incorporate castanets to enhance the snapping

This was, hands down, my favorite part of the entire trip. It was truly amazing to watch.

After dinner and the amazing show, we walked back to the hotel through Mirador San Nicolás and caught some beautiful shots of Granada and La Alhambra at night.

Stay tuned for España Parte Tres featuring La Alhambra!