After the less than exciting day in Alicante, through no fault of our own, we sailed southwards overnight to the port of Almeria.
For our excursion we travelled to the city of Granada with the internationally known Alhambra, former palace and fortress of the last Moorish king in Spain. Before writing about our wonderful excursion, we will learn a bit about Almeria itself. It is the capital of the Andalusia Province in Spain with two believed origins of its name. The first was that it came from the Arabic Al-Mariyya meaning the mirror and gave the city the name of “Mirror of the Sea” but, recently, it was believed to have derived from the Arabic Al-Mara meaning, “The Watchtower.” Almeria was founded in 955AD as the principal port to strengthen the King’s position in the Mediterranean. In 1489, the city surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella. In the 16th century there were 4 earthquakes, with the one in 1522 devastating the city. In the same century, all Muslims were driven from the city and scattered throughout Spain. Berber (Barbary) Pirates also ravaged the area at this time. Iron mines, tourism and intensive agriculture have made the Almeria region economically strong again.
Granada is approximately 170kms (105 miles) from Almeria so, travelling by bus took 2¾ hours along the coast road before turning inland. As mentioned above there is intensive agriculture, mainly citrus fruits. They are grown in greenhouses under white plastic. There are so many of these that the area is covered in white, in many parts without any other colour being visible. No grass, soil or anything. In fact, a photo from outer space shows a white mass over the whole area. This photo can be seen on the link given above. It was very difficult for us to get any useful photos ourselves.
For this excursion we had a wonderful young woman, Monika, as our ‘guide’ today. She explained that she could not be our official guide as she didn’t come from Granada and she was an office employee who was accompanying us. She would tell us of places to visit and how to find them.
When we reached the city, we left the bus and walked for about 20mins to Plaza Isabella, a central square where there is a statue of Queen Isabella meeting Christopher Columbus. We stood there with Monika while she told she told us about Granada and how to get around town. Obviously, the Alhambra was top of the list but, access to it was via a steep hill, so the two of us decided not to climb that hill and to see other lower parts of the city close-up. It didn’t quite work out like that though.
We began our city walk by down to the Cathedral which was a beautiful building. It turned out that the entrance to it was actually the exit for visitors. Entry was via a side door around the corner which explained the long queue coming from that direction. We took some photos of the beautiful carvings all over the building.
From there, we walked back to the main road but chose not to continue that way because there was a protest march in support of Andalucía becoming independent.
We wandered down a side road but didn’t see anything of great interest so walked in another direction and before we knew it there was a small hill, so we ambled up to find that we were in the Turkish Quarter known as Albaicin, the oldest neighborhood of Granada. At the top of the hill was a lovely Chapel. It seemed so out of place with all the Islamic items on sale and yet they were side-by-side, without any suggestion of problems.
There was a set of stairs going upwards, then round a corner and some more stairs and so it continued with no sign of abating. On the way up we met a lovely young Swedish couple, with 2 small children enjoying feeling the cobblestones. We asked them if they knew the way to a main road and they suggested going back the way we had come. That was a definite no-no. We tried going down one way and then another but kept ending up in little squares and courtyards.
We did pass a couple of interesting buildings, though. One was, what appeared to be, a church but there was nothing to identify it. It was set in lovely grounds but well secured. Otherwise, we could see little of what it might be and there did not appear to be any activity within the grounds.
The second building was the Maristan, built in the 14th century and demolished in the 19th. A Maristan was the historic equivalent of an Islamic hospital. The Maristan of Granada was originally a general medical facility which gradually evolved into a specialist hospital for mental illnesses. Between 1502, the end of Muslim rule, and its demolition it was a Mint, then a monastery of the Mercedarian Friars and then a winery. In the 1990s it was restored and is now a Museum and part of the Alhambra. While looking at this, a policeman came past and he directed us down to a street by which we could return to the Plaza Isabella.
Across the road and down a few more steps we came to a site of Roman ruins. Going inside at a cost of €20 (R200) each was not an option. We were able to admire a restored Arab Bath which was at the entrance. Of the original 21 baths in Granada, this is one of the best conserved and is situated in the oldest public building in the city.
Down a few more stairs, we had climbed up very many on cobbled streets, and we were at the steep hill which came up from the city centre to the Alhambra. Yes, we were there and do believe that climbing the hill would have been easier, but we would have missed so many other interesting parts of Granada.
After admiring the Alhambra and taking photos, we set off down the hill. It was narrow and used by buses, ‘trains’, cars, pedestrians and bicycles. One had to be very careful when walking down this slippery slope. After a few minutes we came to a small café which was very special. It was managed (owned?) by a young couple who showed real care for their customers. It is the first time we had seen a restaurant offering diabetic friendly foods. After a pleasant light lunch, we continued the walk to the bottom of the hill and back to Plaza Isabella.
On our way. we walked through a shopping and restaurant centre with a statue of the heroine, Mariana de Pineda, in the centre. She was one of the most emblematic figures in 19th century Spain. She fought hard against Fernando VII and his absolute rule. She was hounded by the police as she was involved in secret meetings with exiles and escaped prisoners. After Fernando VII sentenced her to death, she was publicly executed near the Plaza de Triunfo with the brutal garrotte, a Spanish iron collar used to strangle and break the neck. This turned her into a legend when she died on 26 May 1831 and this date is a public holiday in Spain.
We arrived back at Plaza Isabella earlier than the appointed time and were able to watch some horse-drawn carriages go past with other tourists on board. We walked back to the bus to return to Almeria.
On the drive we noticed snow on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our next port of call was to be Tangier in Morocco.
