Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

Sultan. Kebab. Halal. Hookah. The signs for restaurants and bars as we arrived into Granada were notably Arabic. The Moors were kicked out hundreds of years ago, but the remnants of their culture are alive and well, helped along with a resurgence of Islam.

We were there to see the country’s piece de resistance of its Moorish past: the Alhambra.

More than 1,000 years old and the most spectacular Moorish palace, it’s one of Spain’s biggest tourist attractions. This fact also made it difficult for Matt and me not to walk in with skepticism. Usually, if something is billed as a “must-see,” we view that as code for “expect it to be destroyed by tourism and commercialization.”

In a pleasant surprise, the Alhambra was quite striking. We scoped out massive courtyards where screens along the upper railings were placed so the women couldn’t be seen by any man other than their husbands. We saw the throne room where the sultan would have smoked his hookah and welcomed visitors. Intricate wall carvings and geometric designs, common in Muslim architecture, were everywhere with Allah’s name written hundreds of times. Beautiful archways and colorful tiles formed the entire interior.

After touring the palace and its grounds filled with gardens, a fortress, a hammam and the ruins of the village it protected, we headed out into the Albayzin, which was the old Moorish quarter. In its twisting, uphill streets, we got the tiniest taste of what Morocco must be like with hookah bars and pipes for purchase, tea and spice shops, men playing sitars, and street peddlers spilling their wares out onto the streets. We also got to scope out the famed view of the Alhambra, which is apparently a favorite of President Clinton’s.

If Granada had simply been a touristy town with an Islamic influence, we would have been thrilled. What we didn’t realize, and what our guidebook failed to mention, was that Granada is also a party town on Saturdays. Once we headed out of the Alhambra madness we hit another kind of madness, but this one looked a tad more like Vegas.

People packed the streets weaving this way and that into chic shops and chain stores. Brides and wedding parties were on practically every street coming and going to their festivities. Bars were overflowing with twenty-somethings who quickly spilled out into the streets in a drunken stupor. At just 8 pm we had already witnessed a bachelor pulling his pants down in the middle of the street. Classy.

On top of the chaos, we struggled to find good food. Both our recommended lunch and dinner spots were closed because, well, that’s what you can do when you own your own business. Our back-up spots proved to be so painfully bad that we ended up with fast food shawarma for lunch and mediocre-at-best sushi for dinner. Not exactly a picture of gastronomic satisfaction or intestinal peace.

In the end, our one day in Granada was enough. We’re thankful to have experienced it, but also thankful that we only invested one day so we can spend times in places that we genuinely love.  

On a positive note, it confirmed that we can’t wait to plan trips to Morocco, Turkey and others to dive even deeper into its beautiful architecture, art and food. Somehow our travels, no matter how good or bad, never scratch the travel itch. Instead, they always serve as inspiration for new places to explore.