España Segunda: Granada & Barcelona

Disclaimer: This post will have too many pictures. I just can't choose some and eliminate others.

When I began choosing destinations for this trip I knew that Barcelona was non-negotiable. Since my introduction to the city in 2005 I have been in love with it and consider it one of my favorite cities in the world. Granada was also a must on this trip because it is the home of La Alhambra, the second moorish monument I desperately wanted to see (and another stop on the 1000 Places to See Before You Die list). So from Seville we caught another train, this time going south-east to Granada.

Casa Morisca is the hotel I was most excited about, and in hindsight we both wish we'd spent less time in Seville (we could do the sites we wanted to do there in just one day) and more time in Granada. Granada won us over with its architecture, its marble-tiled sidewalks, and our unbelievable proximity to the city's main attraction. We were here for just two nights and one full day, but oh, we could have tripled it.

The hotel is in a restored house that was originally built in the late 1600s. Wilfredo gave us an impromptu history of the city (and region) upon check in and helped us plan our day to make the most of our time in Granada. Just across the street, was this:

One of Joe's former co-workers used to live in Granada and set us up with some great recommendations. In particular, he sent us to Poë, a tapas bar owned and run by a British expat and his wife. This place is awesome and we will definitely recommend it to ANYONE we hear is headed to Granada in the future. (In fact, Bar Poë has been featured on TV, in writing, and even in a short film - check out the website.) It's small and kind of weird to get to, but worth the confusion and slight anxiety of wandering down deserted alleyways at night. Even though there are only 9 items on the menu, everything is delicious and we did not lack for options at all. In fact, we enjoyed it so much on the first night that we went back again for a nightcap after dinner on our second night.

with Matt, the proprietor

Our one day in Granada was dedicated mostly to La Alhambra, a complex of historical and architectural museums and gardens that is the most-visited monument in Spain. It was a palace and a fortress and some of the structures date back as far as the 9th century. During the Catholic reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in the 15th century, Granada and the Alhambra were the last sites to be held by the Moors and held on for fifty years after everywhere else had fallen. The palace city is a labyrinth of buildings, halls, courtyards, and gardens, each with architectural details of their own. For someone who has been saturated by western styles, the intricate geometric patterns and the incorporation of Arabic writing into the design was fascinating.

 Charlie found these "doorways" perfect for posing

This was the most elaborate Charlie-sized "door"

wood carved ceiling and plaster detailed walls - completely stunning

one of many carved wood doors featuring the 8-pointed star, or octogram, pattern Joe and I loved most

The Court of the Lions

Another view of the Court of the Lions

a smaller chapel with a view onto the city (and our hotel just below)

detail of the chapel walls with my favorite tile design in the entire palace city

And after you're completely stupefied by the detail and the overwhelming precision of the art you've just seen, you spill out of the buildings into the Generalife gardens, another maze of pattern and design that is just as intricate but uses living plants in place of wood, tile, marble and plaster. 

I can't even imagine the beauty when all the trees are green and the flowers are in bloom

from the Generalife with the Alhambra behind us

(Please be aware that if you are going to visit Granada, it is important to reserve your entrance to La Alhambra ahead of time. You can do so here.)

From the Alhambra we climbed down-down-down, across, and up-up-up to El Mirador de San Nicolas, a lookout point that was recommended to us by some of the people we met the night before at Poe. 

After that we were exhausted from a lot of walking and climbing hills/stairs, plus the Sochi Olympics men's hockey semi-finals were on, so we headed back to the hotel.

Believe it or not, there's more! We still had 3 more days in Barcelona!

In Barca we rented a flat through Air BnB near Sagrada Familia. We spent the first afternoon relaxing "at home" - Joe watched the bronze medal hockey game and I read and napped. But this was the view from our balcony:

Well hello there, Nativity facade!

Our first evening wasn't short on adventures, though. We took a walk to Anauco for dinner (which I'd definitely recommend if you're near Sagrada Familia. Or you could go about the same distance in the other direction to Creps Barcelona). When we got back, our keys wouldn't fit in the lock. We tried both sets (we did not lock our keys inside!) and even begged help from our neighbor using horrid broken Spanish. No go. This was at 11 pm. Our Air BnB rep wasn't able to get to us until 12:40 and the locksmith didn't arrive until just before 2 am. At least the WiFi from the flat was accessible from the doorstep and we both have the Nook app on our phones, plus there was a bar down the street that we were able to kill time in for a while. By midnight we'd scrapped our plan to take the Barcelona bike tour on Sunday; thank goodness we had extra time in the city!

Due to the unfortunately late Saturday night, we slept in on Sunday and took it rather easy. Instead of packing in the tourist stops, we did just two things: Gaudí's Parc Güell and Bunker del Carmel lookout point (recommended by Cate and Stephan - thanks guys!).

view from the park; Sagrada Familia on the left

Monday we finally headed into central Barcelona for our bike tour. We once again met up with Fat Tire Bike Tours for the third in our 4-part "junkies" series (we'll do London last and get our free t-shirts). A Monday in February meant a small tour group. A really small tour group. Like, me, Joe, and Adam, our guide. Seriously. This default/spontaneous private tour had its advantages: we got to tailor the itinerary to our own fancies (skip Sagrada Familia, head to other modernist buildings instead) and move at a pace that fit just us. 

a hobbit door for Charlie outside the Palau Música Catalana

Plaça Reial facing the corner where my hostel was the last time I visited Barca

Catalonian independence flag hanging on the Plaça Reial

The food at Les Quinze Nits (recommended by Adam) was delicious, but the best part of the meal was Max, my adorable new friend who came and laid under my chair and let me feed him bits of salmon. You could go to Les Quinze Nits yourself and get the food and enjoy the Plaça Reial, but I can't make any promises about Max and I think my experience will still be better than anyone else's because of him.

That saying "saved the best for last" could absolutely apply to our final stop in Barcelona: Gaudí's masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia. The last time I visited Sagrada Familia was in 2005 and at that time the interior of the cathedral didn't have an altar, most of its windows, or a ceiling. Plaster mosaics were in piles on the floor waiting to go up. It was a living construction site inside.

I felt comfortable in that environment; I wanted my dad to see it because he always found the construction sites when we were on vacation and would sit and watch the work going on and I think he felt connected that way. It was a unique feeling, being there; to be inside it when it was still incomplete felt like going behind the scenes of living history.

This visit was different and affected me (and Joe) as such. The interior of the cathedral was completed in 2010. It has all the major features of any cathedral but, as a modern and modernist building it is also decidedly different. It is stunning and striking and shocking and all kinds of other descriptive words (that don't all begin with S). Joe, who is an outspoken atheist and doesn't always enjoy religious spaces, was in awe of it. He said it was his favorite of the many churches we've visited so far. For me, it has climbed the charts as possibly my favorite building I've been in so far.

the passion façade on the west side; the nativity façade on the east side 

(life and death follow the sun)

I have always known this structure as one with two façades: birth and death, nativity and passion, saturated sandcastle and stark stone skeleton. Probably the most shocking part of this visit was the realization that the façades are not done. There is a third façade, the Glory façade, that is still under construction on the south side of the cathedral and it will be the one to serve as the main entrance. Before this it had never occurred to me how unusual it is that one enters this cathedral from the side.

The drama of this space is largely due to the vibrant use of color in the large stained-glass windows all around. They are striking from every angle. 

This will be the view from entrance in the Glory façade. This is the first time I've seen the cathedral as an actual cathedral with an altar and chairs.

The interior view of the Passion façade 

the main altar and the tree-columns of the central space; 

all of the art in this cathedral was inspired by nature

We went up one of the towers on the Nativity side and could see our block - our flat was on the second block down the diagonal on the right side. :)

 These pictures do not do justice to the stunning quality of light and color that cascade from the windows inside, but they'll have to do.

This was the perfect ending to a successful trip to Spain. This visit was only 10 days but crossed off two of our checkboxes on the London and Beyond list and FIVE on the 1000 Places to See Before You Die (Madrid, Seville, La Mezquita de Córdoba, La Alhambra in Granada, and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona)! Joe and I are already planning a trip back to Barcelona (at least) in about 15 years when the cathedral is totally complete. For that trip, we'll make sure to check ahead and get tickets to an FC Barca game. ;)