Te quiero Granada
This past weekend, I experienced the best combination of everything the city and surrounding area of Granada has to offer. From being serenaded by the symphony, to roaming around the mountain villages of the Alpujarras, I was reminded why Granada is my first and foremost favorite city. I have loved almost all of the places I have visited in Spain, but Granada will forever hold a special place for me.
Before getting into the nitty gritty of the weekend, a quick review of the happenings of the past week.
For Valentine's Day, Victoria, Skye, Renne and I had a wine and crafts Gal-entines night. Renne is a wonderful chef and graciously prepared an exquisite vegetarian curry for us. We had When Harry Met Sally on in the background as we chatted and painted wine glasses! I decided to do a floral design and am so happy with how it turned out.
Olivia was under the weather so I only ended up watching her on Thursday and she had her two older cousins with her. The four of us had a lot of fun together and since her cousins are half Irish, we had lots of talk about in English.
On Friday afternoon, Sophie and I headed to Granada for our symphony night! Sophie is a violinist and has been to (and played in) many the orchestra concert in her life. The Granada Orchestra was playing her all time favorite piece, Serenade for Strings in E Major, op. 22 by Antonín Dvorák, so we had to go.
We had booked an Airbnb in the Albaicín neighborhood of the city and WOW did we have to work to get up there. We arrived to check-in sweating and out of breath. However, we had the cutest, comfiest place and staying in such a historical part of Granada made the trek worth it.
The two of us explored a bit of the surrounding streets and local miradors before getting ready for our night out. I will never not be awe struck by the view of the Alhambra in front of the snow capped Sierra. Please note that these photos do a horrible disservice to the beauty of this vista.
Sophie and I hobbled down the cobblestone streets to an Italian restaurant on Paseo de los Tristes. We both ordered gnocchi and had a filling and tasty meal before our show.
The symphony hall is located near the Alhambra which meant climbing more narrow, winding streets to reach our destination. We made is with some time to spare before the music started and after correctly guessing our seats, (we later realized the numbers were on the back of the chairs…) we settled in to enjoy the show.
I was very impressed by the intensity and skill of the orchestra and Sophie, who is the music critic here, was also impressed. The violin soloist was directing the rest of the musicians with his breath at the same time as playing, and that was amazing to watch.
When the show wrapped up, we headed back down the hill for a sweet treat :) Even though the temperature was in the 30s, we opted for gelato and used the hike back to our place to warm ourselves back up.
After a somewhat sleepless night due to our pellet stove, we woke up late and went to grab breakfast at a crepe place. I got a savory egg, tomato and cheese crepe and Sophie got her classic: dark chocolate and strawberries. We sat at the tiniest table on an endearing street in the Albaicin and enjoyed our breakfast.
Sophie and I went to poke around some of the shops that we don’t have in Motril but after an hour or so of unsuccessful shopping, we met Skye at our favorite empanada place. The three of us walked to the river to eat our lunch and on the way ran into Liz, Lauren and Pablo (Liz’s boyfriend).
Skye was swapping places with Sophie in the Airbnb so after grabbing some stuff for our on-the-road Sunday breakfast, we went to put her stuff away. We enjoyed a drink on our patio and got ourselves prepared to be pierced! We had decided that today was the day and we were going to do it.
The piercing place was quite crowded and a bit overwhelming, but everything went smoothly for us. We’re both currently into a state of semi constant dull pain in our ears, but that shouldn’t last all that much longer.
To celebrate the new additions to our ears, we went for tapas at a place near the cathedral and had the second best patatas bravas we’ve ever had. First going to the one and only El Pimpi in Málaga of course.
I brought Skye to a mirador that my friends and I used to frequent to watch the sunset. We had a wonderful time chatting as the sky changed colors over the beautiful city of Granada.
We rounded out our Saturday night with a Moroccan dinner and a Facetime call to my parents. I can't quite explain why, but this was one of my favorite days in Spain so far.
Sunday morning Skye and I rose before the sun and hiked across the city (downhill thank goodness) to catch our bus to la Alpujarra. La Alpujarra is a collection of 48 mountain villages that are nestled just below the level of the snow in the provinces of Granada and Almería. I had been wanting to visit these towns for a while now, but they are not easily accessible without a car. Lucky for us, our trusty travel group Emycet provides a day trip option to see all the sights.
We began our excursion with a walking route through the city of Soportújar. This area is famous for its rich history of brujas (witches) and every single house and street is decked out with decorations.
Our tour guide, Jaime, explained how after the Moors were expelled from the area in the 17th century, the village was repopulated with people from all around Spain. Some of these new settlers arrived from Galicia and with them, the legends and rumors of witches began.
During our free time, Skye and I made sure to visit the house of Hansel and Gretel and also La Casa de Bruja Yaga. I think the later was my favorite witchy, whimsical aspect of this stop :)
The group hopped back on the bus and we were driven further up the mountains to the towns of Capileira, Bubión and Pampaneira. We started in Capileira and enjoyed the stunningly green, lush hillsides from a viewpoint. The towns in la Alpujarra are known for their hat-shaped chimneys since the wind is so strong there that an extra rock is needed to hold them down. Once that fun fact was pointed out to us, I couldn’t stop noticing the adorable, imperfect sombreros donning every roof.
We were led to a Michelin-rated bakery (apparently Michelin stars exist in a separate category just for bread?) where we were given a tasting of bizcocho and an almond cookie. The tiny sweet treats compelled Skye and me to split a chocolate croissant. It was delicious, but I’ve had more life altering pasteries before.
Jaime led us on a short off-road hike between the villages of Capileira and Bubión. He advertised as being suitable for "todo el mundo" (everyone), but Skye and I both determined that it should have been given a more difficult rating. However, it was so relaxing to be surrounded by nature in an environment that felt so different from bone-dry Motril.
Upon arriving in Bubión, we took a quick tour of the main square before driving to our lunch destination: Pampaneira. Skye and I chose a restaurant called Casa Julio and happily dove into the salads we ordered. We also split a delicious tortilla española and I felt completely satisfied after our meal.
We had some tiempo libre after lunch, so the two of us did a bit of shopping and each got some of the famous Alpujarra honey. Skye also got some chai tea and a necklace. Almost all of the products available to purchase in this region are local, artisanal or handmade, which I loved!
On the bus trip to the next location we started talking with our seat mate, an Italian woman named Francessa who is currently studying in Granada. Through a mix of Spanish and English, we had a lovely conversation and got to know her pretty well :) She’s even invited us over so she can cook for us! Homemade Italian food, yes please.
The group stopped at a well known chocolate factory and after a quick information session, we had a tasting. However, there were 54 of us crowded around a small table of chocolates which created quite a chaotic scene as people tried to get a taste of all the flavors. Skye and I spent most of our time looking at all the types of chocolate instead of actually getting to try them…
Our last proper stop of the day was in the village of Trevélez which is known for its cured jamón. We were given a tour of a factory and I have never been surrounded by so much meat in my entire life. It was a little eerie to have countless pig legs hanging from the ceiling all around us.
There another tasting but I did not partake in this one. Skye confirmed that it was delicious however. After this quick stop, we boarded the bus headed back to Granada.
Right as we thought this adventure was winding down, Skye spotted the family behind us on the bus holding a bird. They saw her staring and asked if she wanted to hold it and that’s how I was able to capture the following masterpiece of a photo. I’m not sure who brings their pet bird of an all day trip, but I guess these things fly (no pun intended) in Spain.
Once back in Granada we caught a Blablacar home and wrapped up our lovely day trip. I would wholeheartedly recommend la Alpujarra region to anyone wishing to see the less talked about sites of Andalucía.
I am looking forward to my upcoming trip to Florence to see Megan this Thursday! Time is really flying by this Spring, and I am glad we are getting a visit in. The weather is not predicted to be kind to us sun-wise, but I know that we will still have a great time together.
That will all be in the next update! A few more photos as the final note of this post...
La casa de bruja yaga is DreamHouse TM