James Went To Granada, España

From Rabat in Morocco, I went onto Granada.

I had decided to book a couple of days in Spain after going to Morocco, in case I hadn’t been able to have a beer in the sun. Yes, a beer in the sun is that important to me. Especially during February when booking such holidays after months of incessant cloud in the UK.

And Granada had been on my list for a while, so the plan was fly to Malaga, get a train to Granada. Simple.

Except…there was no flight from Rabat to Malaga, so I had to book a train to Casablanca and fly from there.

Oh, and then when I was in Morocco, I received an e-mail saying the trains from Malaga to Granada had been cancelled for the week.

BUS.

Why do I book painful holidays

Nothing about the Wednesday was fun. 11 hours of travelling.

Firstly the train from Rabat to Casablanca was running late, so I was going to miss my hourly connection to Casablanca Airport. Also my reserved seat was taken by a pregnant woman. What to do? I can stand. On a hot train in a thin corridor.

Luckily they held the connecting train so one bit of stress down, and another 30+ minutes stood up on a busy train. High speed rain this was not.

OK, Casablanca airport was pleasant enough – no beer, of course. And the flight was short, if accompanied by a crusty woman’s bare feet stuck up in the air, who wouldn’t sit still all flight. All 50 minutes of it, with free chicken sandwich. I’ve had worse flights.

At Malaga airport, exit was smooth – hell, the Brexit queue was actually shorter than the locals queue for the first time in my life. I even had enough time for a glass of wine in the bus station. Oh the glamour of travelling.

Then two hours on a bus to Granada – the views might have been stunning, but it was dark. Plus the bus had no air conditioning. Of course.

Oh and then there were another two local buses to catch through Granada to get to my hotel. Just in time for last orders at the bar. And with my crappy Spanish I even persuaded him to stop cleaning and pour me a glass of Rioja to take up to my room a little later.

Is it worth it?

I woke up to a view of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance.

Snow…en España!

Was the painful journey worth it? Absolutely hell yeah. Granada is peak me vibes. It isn’t easy to get to from London anyway, you have to get a train (normally) from somewhere – be it Malaga, Madrid or Sevilla. Or get a local flight from Barcelona.

You have to make that extra bit of effort to get there.

The most important thing to know about Granada is that every drink comes with a tapa. You don’t need restaurant bookings, you can just wander around the city, soak in the vibes and eat the tapas that are handed out at each place – some better than others, but all more inventive than just a bowl of nuts.

And that was my life for two days.

What To Do In Granada

The number one thing to do in Granada is go to the Alhambra.

However, the number one thing to know about Granada is that you need to book Alhambra tickets weeks in advance. Alas, I hadn’t. There was a rumour that you could buy tickets at midnight, so I stayed up two nights in a row constantly refreshing the website, every time re-filling in the fucking captcha, but never finding tickets. Guess I’ll need to go back to Granada one year. How terrible.

I also went on a guided tour of Granada, of which he explained some of the history, of which I’ve forgotten quite a lot, but I think the Alhambra means “the red one” in Arabic, named after the red walls, or red-ish anyway – maybe they were actually red in 1492.

1492 is when the city of Granada was surrendered to the Catholics, having been the last surviving Moorish state on the peninsula for a couple of centuries – and it was during that time that The Alhambra was extended into the beauty that remains today.

Also, apparently Granada never had that much influence after it was conquered, and hence nobody could be bothered to tear down the Moorish buildings.

We also went into this spooky church where there were nuns, inside for 24 hours a day, every day, doing little but reading the bible, praying and wailing.

The other thing I did was go to a flamenco show in a cave, which was pretty powerful and loud.

I never quite understood the random words they would shout out, but there was lots of emotion in the performance, even if the only other British-looking guy there was sooooo bored.

Eating in Granada

As I mentioned, there wasn’t really much need to book restaurants in Granada thanks to eating tapas all day.

The one I did book was Paprika Realejo Bistro Bar, and I didn’t really need to eat there either – I had Iberico Secreto, which was stunning, but on burnt toast which ruined it. I did figure this out and eschewed the toast half-way through.

The other place that I had a totally joyous experience at was Perromedio Taberna, where I had some absolutely stunning jamon.

Wine was gorgeous too.

Oh and let’s not forget the empanadas either.

My favourite (yes I had a few, yes I put weight on) was the spicy beef at Luisitas Empanadas Argentinas.

Also a shout to Fruit Bowl – where I could get a full on bowl of fruit to try to stay vaguely healthy with two full days of meat and cheese to eat. And beer. And wine.

Did I tell you I loved Granada?

And Drinking In Granada

The only craft beer place I went to, at least that actually had craft beer, was Capitán Amargo Craft Beer Bar.

They had some really good hazy IPA there, back at London prices – and with no tapa. But it was damn good beer.

Otherwise I had a half-decent IPA at Despacho de cervezas Sacromonte, though it was pretty standard stuff.

And then otherwise I just had beers in the sunshine – because I had spent 5 months without seeing any, it was 20’C in Granada (cooler than it had been the week before, and notably chilly in the morning) so I sat outside wherever I could find somewhere.

La Cueva de 1900 / Santa Ana was a favoured spot, on the edge of Plaza De Santa Ana, on one occasion there were people chilling, drinking and playing Spanish guitar, on another there was flamenco in the street close by – so there was always a vibe.

That really is the story of Granada, it is all about the vibes – being part of the wonderful Spanish lifestyle that I so adore, just for a couple of days. Sitting in the sunshine, tasting the gorgeous varieties of jamon, eating the cheese, wandering through the ancient city streets, finding another little bar, having another tapa, watching flamenco on the street, eating a bit more jamon, having another beer, watching the world go by.

I wish more of my life could be like this.

I really do love living in London, but gosh I feel so at home in España, especially in Granada, which is now easily one of my favourite cities in the world (though do remember I suffer from recency bias).

Next up will be my review of my next new favourite city in the world – Tokyo.