If I could turn back time I would love to see the look on my face when two amazing people invited me to lunch at the 3 Michelin Star Arzak in San Sebastián. Even better, the look on their faces when my original response was a no. I must have had some type of momentary mental lapses or something of the like. Good thing I quickly came to my senses and accepted their extremely generous invitation.
Chinese Bread with AjiEar of Blue Corn
Sunflower Shot with CodSardine with Absinthe
Juan Mari Arzak celebrated his 80th birthday on July 31st. I still can’t believe that just a few months ago I was actually standing in the kitchen of his restaurant. Arzak became the co-innovator of New Basque Cuisine after taking over his family’s business. In 1897 his grandparents opened a wine shop and tavern from the same building where Arzak stands now and his parents turned the tavern into a local restaurant. He earned his first Michelin star in 1972, when I was just barely a 1 year old. I don’t think you can talk about the Basque Country or Basque Cuisine without thinking of Juan Mari Arzak. He learned how to cook from his mother who would take him to the market to select the very best products. This is the prime principal of Basque cuisine. Juan Mari then spread his love of cooking to his daughter Elena who now co-runs the kitchen at Arzak. It’s also nice to mention that 80 percent of the team at the restaurant are women.
Eating at Arzak felt like being in someone’s home. The atmosphere is relaxed and humble. It also felt like a dream come true, because it was exactly that for me. When Juan Mari showed up in the dining room I was completely star struck. Luckily my extremely generous hosts shared the feeling with me or they were just kind enough to not make me feel like a total nerd.
Monkfish in Basque WhiskeyLamb with Orzo
We had the degustation menu with the wine pairing. It was like a finely tuned symphony of traditional Basque cuisine seasoned with the heart and soul of Elena and Juan Mari Arak. I really could not think of a better way to spend an afternoon in San Sebastián. We relished in every course while enjoying great conversation and laughter.
EnigmaChocolate RuinsClose up of Ruins
Just in case I wasn’t at my highest nerd level from meeting Arzak, one of the desserts was a medley of chocolate columns and ruins, a history dork’s dream!
After our first two desserts our server asked if we wanted to go down into the kitchen to have a photo with Juan Mari!! IN THE KITCHEN!! I had tears in my eyes, I have to admit, when I met him. He looked me straight in the eyes and said to me, “Contigo me iría al final del mundo”. I would go to the end of the earth with you. Our server was taken aback and said, I have never heard him say that to anyone. It was definitely love at first sight. A moment I will never forget and will always be truly grateful for, thanks to my wonderful hosts who quickly became friends.
Indescribable chocolatesCoffee with Brandy
I do regret not taking a photo with Elena because she is a true star. Maybe I will run into her in the market or walking through the streets of Donsoti one day. Here is a photo of the menu in English. Thank you from the bottom of my food nerd heart to my lovely hosts!
Last August we had a 50th birthday celebration for one of my dearest friends in Granada. It was very special on many levels. We celebrated her 50 years on earth and also celebrated being together for the first time in so long! Darn Covid . My close friends, Javier and Charo, made the trip from Reus in Catalunya to be here for the occasion! Javier greeted me with his huge smile and hug as always and he also held two bottles of golden Vermouth in his hands! He had brought the best of the best. Vermouth from the town of Reus, where this beverage was introduced by the Italians in the 19th century. Reus is only two hours south of Barcelona and at one point it held at least 30 Vermouth distilleries. With time, the beverage began to spread further into Spain and has become an important aperitif in many cities and towns.
When we feel like enjoying a vermouth here in Granada, we have a few places that we head to immediately. Our favourite is Bar Albergue. It is a classic in the center of Granada, just perfectly located outside of the main tourist area. I went to this bar for the first time over 26 years ago as an innocent and probably clueless student. At the time, in my mind, vermouth was an ingredient in the many martinis that I served working in restaurants and bars in the US. Who knew that I would learn to enjoy vermouth as an aperitif in so many different bars and cities?
Frituta `Mixta with shrimp, anchovies, calamar, hake, and marinated dogfish
Many people go the Bar Albergue for the vermouth and their fried salt cod. Bacalao frito. As I’ve written before, my Italian Nana would use the word bacalao when she joked about giving us a “spanking”. I’m going to give you a “bacalao” she would laughingly say as we imagined a huge dried fish in her hand. In Granada, neither of these words are a laughing matter. We take our vermouth and fried cod very seriously and in Bar Albergue you can enjoy the best. Luis is always behind the bar ready to serve you. Each tapa here is different. You might be served fried hake or fried cod, fresh fried anchovies, or “callos”, a traditional tripe stew. They also serve some of the best “fritura mixtas” in Granada just in case the tapas aren’t enough for you!
Fun fact. The word vermouth comes from the German word wermut which means wormwood, the important ingredient that gives vermouth its bitterness. Salud!
Before the pandemic I had started my own little tradition of taking early morning walks in all the cities where I sleep. I love the peace and the silence at this time of day. Each city has a unique feel when it is empty, and it takes on a different personality. A few weeks ago I went for a long walk through the empty streets of Bilbao. There was hardly a soul on the street and none of the bars or cafeterias were open yet. It was so pleasant that I walked for much longer than I had planned.
Memorial near the Doña Casilda Park
As I walked that morning I was bombarded with different memories from my countless visits to this city. My thoughts included nights out with friends in the Casco Antiguo, walking to the Guggenheim for dinner with my groups, getting a cast put on my leg in the local hospital, drinking Txakoli with colleagues and sharing my love for this part of Spain with so many people.
La Puerta de los Honorables……… in honor of the socialist, Ramón Rubial
I have been blessed to travel with many people who have touched my heart in different ways. Many have repeated tours with me or have come back to visit. We communicate through email and I receive holiday cards from them by snail mail. Several have become close friends and I think of them often. Throughout the pandemic so many of these people went beyond what it means to be caring and generous and it brought me to tears on occasions. I have thought about my guests and prayed that they have were healthy and safe throughout the past two years and I get worried when I don’t hear from them.
Las Sirgueras – dedicated to the women who worked along the Nervión Estuary
In Spring 2016 I had a mini group within one of my groups. During the welcome dinner in Lisbon they came up and asked me to guess which of the six of them were blood related. From that moment on we had a permanent connection. On one of our free nights in Bilbao they invited me to dinner at one of the Michelin star restaurants, Extanobe. Unforgettable doesn’t even begin to describe that evening filled with laughter, friendship, storytelling and amazing food. There are some guests that seem to emotionally adopt you and you are connected for life.
Statue of John Adams, Gran Via de Lopez de Haro
After each tour is over I receive many emails from my guests. This email is from one of those amazing people who I shared dinner with in Bilbao.
Margaret, None of us will ever forget you. Nancy and I had been to Spain four times to Spain before that trip. Yet you took a wonderful trip and made it the trip against which we we measure not just trips to spain but all others. So to us, you are unforgettable. We all hope to see you, your husband, and beautiful daughter someday in San Antonio. Nancy says she gets hungry every time she reads one of your stories. Con abrazos,Al and Nancy Karam P.S. I still remember the first words I said to you, “I already don’t like you because you live in Granada and I don’t!”
Plaza Moyua
On my birthday last week I received a message that Al had passed away. My heart broke in two as I took myself back to the memories of his kind smile, laughter and all of the stories that he shared with me. We had a special connection.
“Margaret, here’s a little thing you may find interesting. We first arrived in the evening in Granada on our first trip to Spain summer 1994, our 25 anniversary . Since it was our anniversary, we had a room in the Hotel Alhambra…uh…what was the working class Leb. boy doing in this hotel? Since we were just relaxing we went to the grounds and started walking around for about an hour or so. There was hardly a soul there. We later learned that the place was closed and how were we able to sneak in? No sneaking, just walk into, I think, the Fatima gate. Ah… to be young and unknowing.” Al Karam
A small miracle occurred in the month of July! I actually had the opportunity to organise and accompany a group throughout Andalucia. It is hard to explain how good it felt to plan visits and excursions to the places I love. Calling my local guides (friends) to let them know I would need them for a visit was absolutely the best! I am so grateful for this opportunity after all of this time “off” the road.
View of the Mosque/Cathedral from the Roman Bridge in Cordoba, Guadalquivir River
One of my favourite parts of traveling with others is sharing the local foods. Gastronomical history is my passion. Through this history we learn about the people and their lives and customs. I love receiving emails from guests who have travelled with me that contain photos of the dishes they learned about while we traveled together. They get to relive beautiful experiences by preparing these dishes at home!
My colleague and I went to lunch in Córdoba the other day. I took her to one of my favorite places, Casa Rubio. I always have a hard time deciding on a place to eat in Cordoba because there are so many amazing bats and restaurants.
Casa Rubio………it was full later on.
Córdoba is known for salmorejo! You can read about it in the attached biog posts above. I love salmorejo and I prepare it a lot at home. But, when I’m in Córdoba I have to order MAZAMORRA, especially if I am with someone who has never tasted it before.
Mazamorra at Casa Rubio
Long before the tomato arrived to Europe, people were preparing dishes that involved the mashing or creaming of many products, like almonds and bread. The word mazamorra either comes from Arabic or the Greek “mâza” just like in the word mazapán (marzipan). Amasar in Castilian Spanish means to mash or to knead. Different types of mazamorra are also prepared in different South and Central American countries. It can be a salty dish, dessert or a drink depending on the country. The mazamorra cordobesa is completely different from these. In Córdoba, it is a cold cream served with bread or sesame breadsticks. It is simply prepared with almonds, olive oil, salt, and garlic. There are also different variations. More than likely this dish dates back to the Roman times when a dish was made using bread. It is a cousin to “ajo blanco”, “porra” and “salmorejo”. Please read about these in the attached posts above.
The preparation at Casa Rubio is perfect. It is very light in garlic (although I prefer it with more), and it is garnished with almonds, apples, and raisins. The texture is smooth as silk.
Córdoba was very quiet but it was nice to see some people traveling again. I am so grateful that I was able to be on the road for a few days! We need to stay safe and take care of each other to keep moving forward.
If there is one place I don’t like spending my time, it is at a hospital. I doubt many people do. Going to the hospital is not usually a joyful experience unless you are having a baby or receiving the “you are cancer free” news. Those are my only two truly joyful hospital experiences up to now. I have spent quite a bit of time in hospitals in the past 11 years and I am happy to say that the majority of that time was spent in Spanish hospitals, except a brief experience in Switzerland. Spain has an exceptional healthcare system. It ranks extremely high both in Europe and worldwide. I realize that there are many different opinions about universal healthcare and also people who may have had negative experiences when dealing with the system. However, this is about my experience and I only have positive comments to make about Spain and its healthcare system. I am happy to say that my daughter has had minimal reasons for care except for her birth, a pulmonary stenosis that cleared up in a few years and her random visits for a common illness or vaccinations. That pretty much sums up her experience until now and I hope it stays that way. With an exception to this past Covid filled year, we are always able to get an appointment either the same day or the next at our local health clinic. My daughter only had two different pediatricians in her 14 years here in Granada and we loved them both! This year she has now moved up to a general practitioner. How did that happen so soon?
Garbanzo, potato and spinach soup! Yum!
I am a freelancer so I pay Social Security through my monthly “autonomous” payments. However, let me state that healthcare in Spain is socialized and FREE! During the times when I was either unemployed or too ill to work, my healthcare was completely and 100 percent covered. The only exception to this was when I chose to do necessary treatments with a private doctor so I would be able to keep my promise to one of the companies that I worked for and have available dates to be working. In retrospect, I would never do this again. Our health should always be number one and most of the best medicine practice exists at the public hospitals, many of which are connected to the university medical school which is the case here in Granada.
Dinner…….zucchini puree and meatballs with fried potatoes!
Healthcare is a touchy subject for many people so I am only going to share my personal experience. Thanks to our lovely pandemic my last necessary surgery was put on a waitlist a year ago. Basically, if you were not going to die without it, all procedures and operations were waitlisted and with good reason. I had been told that I would probably have my surgery in July or August of 2021. In my mind I imagined receiving the call that I would finally have my regular job again and receive a call from the hospital on the same day. Murphy’s Law. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. My last doctors visit set off an alarm of urgency and I was called in much sooner. With just two days to prepare I notified friends, filled the refrigerator for my daughter, received my negative Covid test and took my last long walk for awhile making my way to the hospital. You are not allowed to have a companion unless completely necessary and if you do, the companion must be “admitted” and “discharged” with the patient. I was not about to subject anyone to sleeping in one of those chairs for who knows how many nights even if they are fed three meals a day and able to choose the “diet” of their choice. And in the end the care I received was above and beyond what is expected.
I was asked to arrive at 11 am the day before my surgery in order to have some necessary tests done and to speak with my group of surgeons. Apart from that I was free to enjoy the view of the mountains, eat when served, and binge on Netflix. In the public hospitals the rooms are shared. The number of patients can vary. A few years ago I spent a week in Cardiology in the old hospital and shared a room with three other women. This room was for post op and had only two beds. During my stay at the hospital this month I was blessed to share my room with 4 different women with 4 different stories. (they came and went during my stay) We shared our fears and pain and life stories. There is something about being nervous and alone that really unites people.
As I read my book and played with my bed remote on that first day watching the various hospital staff come and go, I was reminded of an important word in Spanish. Convivencia. Convivencia means living together or coexistence. However, this word has a different significance here since it is often used when speaking of the time in history when the Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together on the Iberian Peninsula. I don’t add the word “peacefully” to this statement because that would be incorrect for many reasons. For me this word also represents a very important aspect of the culture here and the healthcare system is a big part of this. Sharing a hospital room when you are very ill or about to go into or come out of an operation can be a delicate situation. I am happy to say that my experiences have been nothing but positive and enlightening. A genuine interest in helping one another and taking care of others becomes the most important concept. Not only was the hospital staff extremely attentive and kind at all moments but my roommates were also a crutch of empathy and kindness in my weakest moments.
Grilled hake and sautéed mushrooms
My surgical team was outstanding. My operation was extremely difficult and had complications, 7 hours instead of the usual 2 hours. Everybody in the room introduced themselves kindly calling me by my name and reassuring me before the anesthesiologists sent me off to la la land. In the public hospitals you don’t choose your doctors or surgeons. I had met three doctors the day before but the other two I met just before surgery. Being a university hospital and my case being quite unique, I had extra people in the operating room to learn and observe. Everyone in the post operation recovery room was equally compassionate as they kindly injected me with “ALEGRÍA” , otherwise known as morphine. That part is all a bit hazy.
The cutest little “Tortilla Francesa”
Lucky me! I had some minor complications in the days after surgery so I got to spend some extra time in my 5 star hospital room. This also meant that I finally graduated from a liquid diet to a “semi-bland” diet. These are the moments that I always remember for some reason because they remind me of where I live and why. My liquid diet consisted of decaf coffee with whole milk, juice boxes and clear broth. But, my semi bland diet was a major improvement. Many dishes that are served seem like they came out of someones Grandma´’s kitchen, like the great soups and meatballs! Actually, the meatballs were served to me the day before surgery. But, my other “bland” meals consisted of different vegetable purees, a garbanzo, potato and spinach soup, fish soup, grilled fish with parsley and olive oil, grilled chicken breast, grilled tuna with peppers and onions and a cute little omelet shaped like a cupcake. Oh, and we cannot forget the late afternoon snacks of “Galletas Maria” served with decaf and whole milk of course and breakfast with decaf and magdalenas “mini muffins”. And, every night at about 11 pm you are always offered a cup of tea or a yogurt as a good night snack.
Breakfast of decaf and magdalenas
I am now home and recovering. I still have a bumpy road to travel but I am seeing a bright light that I have not seen in many, many years. I am grateful to the healthcare system in Spain and all of the amazing people who give all of their energy everyday to the care and wellbeing of the people they encounter. Especially after this past year. They should be exhausted and over it all! But, what I encountered was only true kindness and professional healthcare workers who are dedicated to what they do. The aids who took care of me when I was passing out and seriously sick were attentive to every detail. They even arranged my flowers carefully in water and placed them where I could enjoy the view! Of course I am even happier to be home with my gorgeous daughter. Soon, I will be making new Youtube videos for you all and eventually back to travel and life as usual. It is important to remember the idea of “convivencia” and to learn to live together and take care of each other. Hopefully what we have lived in the past year has helped many people to take a deep look at how we coexist with others.
Some places just feel like home from the very first moment you arrive. I always say that I have many different homes across Spain and Portugal. They are places that I can walk into year after year and and always feel greeted with warmth and friendship. In the Basque Country, up in the hills and looking over the Cantabrian Sea there is a small boutique winery that captured my heart from the very first moment that I arrived over 8 years ago. A winding road takes you up to this magical place that is not visible until you are at its doorstep, not unlike the Guggenheim Museum upon your arrival in Bilbao.
Harvest Time and View of Bodega Berroja
In this paradise, smack in the middle of the Urdabai Biosphere, this boutique winery produces Txakoli. This is the wine unique to the Basque Country, along with its own language, culture, food and sports. It is a wine that has been produced for centuries in the Basque Country. The wine was originally made by and for the families, a yearly production to be enjoyed with the local food. It was produced in Baserris, or farmsteads. The grape, Hondarrabi Zuri, is indigenous to the Basque Country. Txakoli should be served cold, always a short pour and maintaining the correct temperature. It pairs perfectly with seafood and especially a nice cheese such as the Idiazabal cheese, made from the local sheep. It also pairs well with the heavy dishes in this area prepared with ingredients like the local pinto beans from Tolosa. Txakoli cleanses your palate and invites you to indulge more and more, while enjoying the next pintxo that calls your attention! If you really want to enjoy the perfect pairing with a cold glass of Txakoli, you should prepare Bacalao al Pil Pil to accompany. Salt cod with garlic and chili peppers. It is the ideal combination.
Vineyards Bodega Berroja
Bodega Berroja is a short drive from Bilbao, and here you will meet José Ángel, the owner of the winery. I find myself at a loss for words to describe José Ángel. Those of you who have been lucky enough to meet him already know what I mean, and those of you who will be fortunate enough to visit in the future will be endeared by his kindness and authenticity. There are few people in this world like him and he has always encouraged me to live my dreams, just as he has, since the moment that we met.
José Ángel Tasting during the Harvest
Originally, Txakoli is and should be enjoyed as a young and sparkling wine. It will accompany your fantastic pintxos as you wander through the streets of Bilbao, Vitoria or Gernika. It is unusual to be able to enjoy a glass of Txakoli outside of the Basque Country unless you are lucky to be in a Basque bar in a city like Barcelona or are lucky enough to know of a great wine importer in your local area! Nowadays, wineries like Berroja also produce Txakoli that can be enjoyed with a long, sit down meal as well. They even produce a rose if that is what you fancy!
Txakoli Tasting with Idiazabal Cheese
Yesterday, March 19th was Father’s Day in Spain. It is also the day of San José. Happy Father´’s Day and Happy 80th Birthday to my Father who recently celebrated in February!! I hope you are enjoying that glass of Txakoli right now.
Read more about the Basque Country in these posts……………….
We can say many things about 2020 and 2021. There must be a million words we can use to describe the pandemic. The word that I can relate to the most is reinvent. What do you do when your entire profession and income completely disappears from one day to the next? Many of us in the world lived through this at the beginning of the pandemic and many of us are still waiting for some normalcy to come back to our work life. It continues to be a long road. I taught yoga online during our first lock down as a way for my students and friends to have some type of tension release and to share some time together. And once we were allowed outside again, I began to make videos about travel and history to share with people who have traveled with me before and for anyone interested in learning a bit more about the Iberian Peninsula. It helps to keep me connected to my continuing studies and to my job. But, I really needed a temporary income. Anything at all. I searched and searched like so many of us did. Maybe it is ironic that the way I finally found to survive was by teaching online to students in China. Obviously, the income can’t compare to my regular career but I actually found a job and I love it! I love to teach and I enjoy my students so much. I feel like I have virtually traveled around China and I have learned so much more than I ever knew before about the country. I have always been interested in Chinese history and of course, Chinese food but that interest has been deepened in a way I had never expected.
Mapo Tofu and Sticky Ginger Beef
Spring Festival was this past month. The Chinese students have one month of vacation which means they study, A LOT! But, they also partake in all of the festivities that go along with Spring Festival including the Laba Festival, Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival which marks the end of the holiday! They clean their homes, shop for food and new clothes, share grand meals with their families and receive the lucky red envelopes! I have had so many great conversations with my students about how their particular family celebrates this important holiday. I even got to spend time in the kitchen with one family on New Years Eve and watched as the vast variety of dishes come flying out to be served!! One mother sent me beautiful photos of the food she prepared with her family. Everyday I learned something new about Spring Festival.
The spread for Chinese New Years Eve
I make a lot of Chinese food. It is one of my favourite cuisines to prepare. For years I have been trying to perfect my Mapo Tofu. But, for the Lunar New Year I had to try some new dishes. In the past month I have made homemade vegetable and pork dumplings (they design needs improve), caramelized pork belly, grilled chicken skewers (one of the dishes I saw fly out of my students kitchen), Kung Pao pork, Cantonese Steamed Sea Bass, Ginger and Garlic sticky beef and of course, more Mapo Tofu.
Kung Pao Pork
This is the Year of the Metal Ox. According to the Chinese Zodiac, this year will bring us career advancement, prosperity and wellness. That was how my 2020 was looking last January, so lets hope and pray that this rolls over into 2021 for everyone! So, cheers to all of you who have done something to reinvent yourself this past year. I know I am not alone with this word!! May 2021 bring us health and prosperity.
What I am striving for from Sichuan Restaurant in Madrid
Just when you think that nothing else could possibly happen, it does! At 12:30 pm on Saturday, January 23rd as I was taking a much needed and too short of a nap in between my online English classes, the bed began to rock back and forth. I sat up quickly and realized that it wasn’t just my bed, but the walls also seemed to be moving and then something crashed to the ground somewhere in my apartment. Big earthquake number one for this year, magnitude 4.4. I have lived through many earthquakes here in Granada and I remember each and every one of them. The biggest was in 2010, with a magnitude of 6.3, but I don’t remember feeling it as I have felt the quakes this year. I don’t know how to explain why, but this one felt different to me. I felt it in my core and it left my hands trembling. I taught my next four classes with my feet planted firmly on the ground.
A Peaceful Sierra Nevada, Granada
Earthquakes are no surprise here since Granada is the most seismic area in Spain. This is where the African and Eurasian tectonic plates meet and have formed many faults. According to experts, these two plates are constantly approximating to each other by 4 to 5 millimetres each year.
3 days pass after that first big quake and the aftershocks continued daily. Some we could feel, some not. Then, on the following Tuesday night I was happily brushing my teeth in our bathroom when I heard my family shriek! I had not felt a thing in our bathroom but when I walked into the hallway I could hear the cracking sounds and see the walls moving once again. We live in on the 7th floor of a 10 story building with 100 apartments in all. It has a big open courtyard in the center which allows for fresh air and easy communication with the neighbors. Since we still have a 10 pm curfew in Granada, all of the neighbors were home and the sound of conversation in the corridors grew and grew. In the next 12 minutes we had 5 more sizeable quakes, ranging from 3.6 to 4.6. Needless to say, these left an uneasy feeling in everyone who felt them! Well, we finally had a reason to forget about COVID for awhile. Two days later an even larger one shook the city and surrounding areas. These were felt as far as the city of Cordoba and even North Africa.
Just in Case you are caught in an Earthquake
There was no major damage in our neighborhood but the towns that are built right on the faults did suffer damage. The Cathedral, the Saint Jerome Monastery and a part of the Alhambra are also being repaired from damage. Many people left their homes and went to second homes near the coast or to stay with family or friends. There have been 1,600 earthquake registered in Granada since January 23rd. We are still trembling a bit and this past week I was woken up on 3 separate mornings with my bed swaying forward and back. However, they are getting smaller. At least for now. And at least until this very second as I write!!! Literally, this very second another earthquake of magnitude 3.5 just shook our apartment once again. It has almost become normal to hear “earthquake” shouted in our home, just in case somebody didn’t feel it. We all felt this one and so did my other friends in Granada since the messages are rolling in.
I am forever thankful to these friends who make it just a bit more relaxing with their contagious sense of humour. We have laughed together through many earthquakes this month! Let us all keep the laughter going throughout whatever this new year holds for us. Peace and calmness from Granada.
On November 3rd the city of Granada was closed to any “outsiders” due to the high amount of Covid cases in the city. For one of the largest holiday weekends of the year, All Saints Day, Granada would be sacred only to those of us who live here. I received an email from the Parador of Granada saying that they had a special just for residents of Granada. With all other guests having to cancel, this historic hotel would be empty once again. But, I will save that surprise for another post.
How could I sleep in the Parador de San Francisco and not spend a day at the Alhambra? Not just spend a day in the Alhambra, but an almost empty Alhambra. As I’ve mentioned in other posts the Alhambra used to be free on Sundays when I first moved here. My memories of studying in the gardens of the Generalife for hours on end are ones that I will cherish for my lifetime. I don’t ever remember crowds of people visiting during those years. As time has passed things have changed drastically. It is almost impossible to visit the Alhambra without it being sold out, even in the winter months. However, the other day I had it almost to myself.
Located on top of the Cerro del Sol, or Hill of the Sun, the Generalife was the summer and rural palace of the Emirs during the Nasrid Dynasty in Granada. It is possible that the origin of the word Generalife comes from the Arabic Yannat al Arif, the arquitects garden. It was built during the 13th and 14th century. Just like the entire area of the Alhambra is our oasis from the noisy city, the Generalife was their oasis during the extremely dry and hot summer months. The ever flowing water and lush gardens are calming at anytime of the year. We will also find the most photographed Patio de la Acequia and the Sultans Garden with its famous cypress tree. The legend says that it is under this cypress tree where Boabdil’s wife used to meet up with her lover from the Abencerraje tribe eventually resulting in the death of this entire family.
Two of my favourite parts of the Generalife are those that many visitors may just pass through without much thought. To arrive at the high gardens of the Generalife we take the Escalera del Agua, the water staircase which is one of my favourite places. Broken into three sections, the water from the acequia real (royal channel) flows down on both sides of the staircase. Water is brought to the Alhambra by this water channel from 6 kilometers away. The staircase is also protected by a dome of laurel trees.
Escalera de Agua , Generalife
The Paseo de las Adelfas, The Walk of the Oleanders, is a 19th century walkway that was built in the 19th century as a romantic entrance to the Generalife. The name itself is passionate and picturesque. It connects to the Path of the Cypresses which will lead you back to the palaces. The visitor should not forget to enjoy these simple pleasures of the Alhambra.
Path of the Oleanders Path of the Cypresses
When you exit the Alhambra near the Generalife and cross the street you will see a sign that says, Jardines de Alberto. Located in the home of the 19th century painter, Ramón Carazo, you will find a lovely restaurant that specialises in Nasrid cuisine. The home is a Carmen, a typical house in Granada. The word comes from the Arabic word for vine, karm. It has a garden with high walls. Traditionally the garden would have fruit trees and grape vines. In the garden of this Carmen is where the restaurant is located. Sit down and have a drink, a tapa and a great meal. You won’t be deceived. You may be served a homemade croqueta or some marinated and fried monkfish. I highly recommend the menu of the day. If you are lucky you can try the roast pork with a puree of sweet potatoes and squash. For desert you must have the Andalusian cream topped with croutons and sugar cane honey. Is there a better way to end a morning in the Alhambra?
Homemade croqueta tapa, Jardines de Alberto Fried monkfish Roast pork with an Autumn Puree Andalusian Cream
MOONINSPAIN 