Day 6: Good Friday in Granada

With a full day in Granada, we decided that we had the luxury of going to sleep last night without setting our alarm clock. All of this traveling must be catching up to us because we ended up sleeping until 11:30 am! Pretty much a full 10 hours! As it turned out, we would need all the energy we could get for this day...

The weather was gray, and a little bit sprinkly, but even so, it didn't detract from the brilliant colors we would find in the city scape of this ancient, university town. The main attraction here is the mighty Alhambra, a magnificent Moorish palace, and the last Muslim stronghold in Europe, until their retreat to the Christians in 1492. Our guide book written by local Seattle favorite Rick Steves, (or Ricardo Stevez, as we've come to call him on this trip) had warned us to buy our tickets online as early as possible as they tend to sell out fast during the Semana Santa, which it happened to be. Luckily, we scored an afternoon visit, with a 7pm admission to the main palace.

This left us the morning (I suppose it was actually early afternoon by the time we woke up and left the hotel room) to explore the cathedral and the Albayzin neighborhood, the old Moorish Quarters above town.

As we meandered around the narrow maze of pedestrian streets surrounding the cathedral, we wandered our way through the bazaars displaying all sorts of colorful textiles, baskets, jewelry and other craftwork.

We finally found our way to the main entrance of the cathedral, and were only allowed to view it from the narthex, since the main hall was closed in preparation for Good Friday. No worries, we didn't really have time to walk through it leisurely anyways, but I was quite taken by the proud, gleaming, marble columns. I happened to snap a shot of the priest in his robes, rushing across the marble, checkered floors.

Back outside, we caught a quick, impromptu show by these flamenco guitar players totally jamming, and having a grand old time. They were so good, we picked up one of their cds, which I'm sure will bring back wonderful memories of our granadian adventures.

We hiked up the hill through the whitewashed Albayzin neighborhood to St. Nicholas plaza, which had this incredible view of the Alhambra in the distance.

We were both getting a little bit wind-whipped and chilled, not to mention starved, so we stopped into a small bar on a quiet plaza that was referenced in our guide book as the place to go for boatloads of fried fish! Yum! Fried octopus could really be the next big thing...

Finally, we made the lush, 20 minute hike up a beautiful, landscaped pathway to the Alhambra. Upon admission, we saw that indeed, tickets had been sold out for the day, and I said a silent "thank you" to Ricardo Stevez... how disappointed would I have been to miss out on all this???

Words and pictures don't really do the Alhambra justice and it's easy to see why this place has captivated artists, writers and composers for centuries... it is such an experience to wander through the airy, open rooms, with the arched, stone windows intricately carved with the achingly beautiful detail of Islamic art and pattern. Every window had a view of the surrounding country side, the lush courtyards, or the gleaming Albayzin, and I was stunned by the domed ceilings, the complicated array of fountains blooming in the courtyards, the abundance and fragrance of the fruit trees and flowers, and the colors of the tiled walls and the domed ceilings. The first time I ever really examined Islamic art was at the Museum of Islamic Art in KL, when we were on our trip to Malaysia a few years ago. Instead of pictures depicting scenes from the Bible as in Christian, religious paintings, Islamic art is based on patterns, the amount of detail and interweaving intricacy is a testament to one's devotion to God. All I can say is, these Moors were very, very devoted.

We were lucky to catch a totally packed minibus back to the city center, which happened to drop us off right along the pathway for the Good Friday procession. What a contrast, to come from soaking in the details of one of the greatest pieces of Muslim architecture, to witnessing this passionately intense, centuries old Catholic tradition, of parading the crucified Christ through the streets to the cathedral. It's definitely a little bit jarring to my Presbyterian, minority, American eyes to see these figures in the parade with the cone shaped hoods, carrying symbols of the cross. I later came to learn that the colors of the hoods represent the different brotherhoods of a particular city.

There were many children in the procession as well, many of them given the job of keeping the candles lit on the blustery night.

After seeing first the Christ-figure, and then the Virgin Mary carried by on elaborate platforms laden with gold and flowers, we decided to beat the crowds, and snagged a table by a window of a local tapas bar, kitty-corner to the cathedral, where we were able to watch the rest of the processional while enjoying a delicious dinner of "modern" tapas.

What an amazing day!