I love Granada! Amo a Granada!

On our way to Granada from Seville, we passed by acres and acres of olive trees and sunflowers (both grown for their oil) along the way. I’ve never seen so many olive trees in my life! Spain is the largest producer of olive oil so it was quite usual for us to have olive oil and vinegar in every meal. EVOO  (Rachel Ray's moniker for Extra Virgin Olive Oil) has so many health benefits that hubby was convinced he should consume more of it—daily. 

We stopped by one of the olive orchards in Carmona to do some olive oil tasting. Olive oil is the only oil that can be consumed as it is, freshly pressed, without chemical refinement. The EVOO we tasted was pretty interesting. It smelled of freshly cut grass and tomatoes. And after warming the stemless, dark blue goblet in our hands, we swished it in our mouths.  We didn’t quite expect it to have a spicy taste right down the throat. It was nice!  We also tried it with some yogurt which was a pretty good combination. 

After we got some olive oil-based goodies, we walked around Carmona just to look at some lovely houses and have some churros :)

Then, we were off to Granada to visit yet another UNESCO World Heritage site. It was probably the best of the palaces we have seen, the Alhambra palace. We had gathered that it was quite difficult to secure tickets to this place. They encouraged online purchase of tickets and have limited number of guests at a given time. Our tickets had a time slot and we could only enter within a certain window from that. We also had to show our tickets about three times—each time our tickets were scanned to signal that we had already entered an area of the palace. It was great crowd control!

This walled city became the royal residence of the first monarch of the Nasrid dynasty in the 13^th-14^th century. It had the sultan’s palace and included residences of senior officials. We also saw the palace’s harem and separate wings for the wives and the concubines. Outside the fortress, the dwellings of the workers can be found. The palace grounds also had fantastic views of the city beyond and the Sierra Nevadas (snow-capped mountain range in Andalucia).

The palace itself was really beautiful, with delicate works of plaster and gilded moldings. The arches were intricately carved and the ceilings were a sight to behold. It was such a great example of Moorish architecture! Another interesting thing we learned was that the water from the fountains came from the mountains and ran only from gravity! And to eliminate eye sores, there were no trashcans or such in sight. Instead, there were ceramic basins in alcoves and hallways for the garbage.

After the Catholic Monarchs had taken the city of Granada, there were several restorations. Rooms have been added to the Alhambra and the Palacio de Carlos V (Charles V palace) was also built. Nevertheless, the Alhambra still had the character of a Muslim palace. 

The Generalife (pronounced henera-li-fe and not at all like the insurance firm) is a garden area attached to the Alhambra and was a place of rest and recreation for the Muslim kings. The beautifully manicured gardens indeed evoked feelings of relaxation as we walked through. An auditorium had been built in the midst of the gardens where they now hold dance shows and concerts. I can just imagine how awesome it would be to be able to attend such an event, surrounded by all the trees and flowers. Oh, and not surprisingly, the Generalife was also declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It took us about 3 hours to go through the Alhambra and the Generalife. It would have been nicer to stay longer but as mentioned, the entries and duration of visit were timed.

We continued our exploration of Granada during dinner. We walked around the Puerto Real and Plaza Nueva. There were a lot of tapas restaurants and many stores—crafts, souvenirs and designer. We also got some pionono, a popular jelly roll pasty in Spain (and in the Philippines)!  Definitely touristy, but we loved that this place was vibrant.   As in other cities we have visited, the architecture of the buildings, both residential and commercial, were so beautiful it brought about fantasies of living here. Yes, I do think I could live here...Granada was definitely one of our favorite cities. Hubby and I absolutely loved it!