Grand Granada

Granada

And here we are in the city of Granada. We have a cool two bedroom apartment. Our first night here we sat on our patio, drank wine with bread and ham and amazing tomatoes drizzled in olive oil, listened to the sound of splashing water from the large pool of gold fish in the courtyard  and gazed up to the amazing view of the Alhambra on the hill at the back of the apartment.

The train trip from Cordoba to Granada was fascinating as we travelled along the tail end of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, many of the peaks rise from the valley floor up to 3000 feet

There are many, many books about the12th century Alhambra and the Generalife, the recreational palace used by kings as a retreat and resting place built in 1314 and some have said it is the 8^th wonder of the world, and I think they have a point. The gardens are spectacular. There are orange groves, sweet smelling herbaceous borders, roses, geranium pelargonium and everywhere there are ponds, channels and fountains of still pools of water or rippling plashing water with convenient marble seats.

We marvel at the masonry and wonder if the masons that built the wall when they created the arrow slits in preparation for war could have imagined that 900 years later their workmanship would provide a refuge for pigeons where we see one sacrilegious pigeon shitting on the head of a long forgotten saint.

The Koran makes bodily cleanliness a prerequisite for spiritual cleanliness and all the mosques we visited had running water for these religious ablutions. The Alhumbra had some serious bathing areas including a steam room (tepidarium), plunge pool room, (caldarium) cold room (firigidarium) and rest room (apoditerium). The link from the furnaces which were fed with aromatic wood to heat these bathing areas was an underground channel through which hot air circulated warming the marble floors. In medieval times there were only two doors to this area for insulation purposes but unfortunately when the Christians came along they got rid of most of these bathing rooms and put in more doors which weakened the insulation properties of the original building.

So far our experience of Spain’s summer has been of a hot dry climate. Most days are in the mid 30’s and delightful with virtually no humidty. Cool mornings 22 degrees, hot sunny days and a cool change around midnight.

The tiny winding streets are all cobblestones, unsuitable for cars so walking is essential and with my new best friend Panadol Oesteo I manage a few kilometres each day.

Granada like other Spanish cities is a city of fountains. Wherever you are, you are rarely away from the sound of running water. It softens the heat and leaves a refreshing impression. No impression of Spain would be complete without a mention of the food.

The bread is delicious. Then there is the ham, many, many different types, Iberian ham made from pigs that feast of the forest acorns is a favourite, and the bread. The olives and the olive oil are delicious and the bread. Tomatoes tasting of my childhood drizzled with olive oil on delicious bread and beer and more bread. I am not losing weight on this holiday.

I’ve begun to think that we of European heritage may see our roots more strongly anchored by a skyline dominated by medieval castles and ancient places of worship. Our Australian landscape lacks those ancient monuments left by our foremothers and forefathers. Without the continual visibility of this history we seem destined to have to learn anew lessons from the past. Everywhere the landscape is steeped in a sense of the past, a pervasive awareness of the long, long history of occupation.

The concept of the quarter acre suburban block seems unknown in any of the cities we have visited. Even country towns the houses are two storeys and huddled against each other. High density, multiple families living in large multiple apartment blocks with cool interior courtyards and a life shared with neighbours in the surrounding cobble stone streets or drinking coffee at these amazing cafes.

Our days are spent up at 8am breakfast and a walk to take in whatever marvel we have selected for the day. Lunch is around two or three and then home for a siesta in the hottest part of the day, admiring the street art on our way home..

Up and shower around 7 ready to go out for dinner and some music till around midnight. Yesterday I was sitting under a sun umbrella at an outside café near a cool boulevard with the requisite fountain and I thought of how amazingly privileged I am. I’ve often seen people sitting drinking coffee mid morning when I’ve been hurtling from one urgent to the next urgent and Now here I am one of the lucky ones.