Spanish language and customs

I love Granada. I always have, and I’d live there if it had a sea view and if I couldn’t live in Malaga, which I also love. Both cities are actually improving, too. The walk down from the Alhambra into the city centre has always been unbeatable – the sound of the water running down alongside you, the fragrant lush greenery, the benches where you can just sit for a while and breathe it all in, enjoying the shade and the breeze. But the walking down has actually improved since there has been a little Alhambra bus to take you UP. It takes a route through the back streets that larger vehicles couldn’t tackle, and delivers you, not breathless, at the top by the ticket office. Of course on the May bank holiday weekend there were no tickets left to go in and see the Alhambra, but that didn’t matter much. The queues looked pretty hot. I have a tip, for anybody who hasn’t yet seen inside the Alhambra and would like to have it to themselves for a while. Get a ticket for one evening when you can see the floodlit version, and position yourself at the front of the queue for your time slot. When the doors open, don’t stop to admire the first bit you come to, or the second. Go straight through as far as you are allowed (the ‘Patio de los Leones’ unless things have changed). Everyone else will stay looking at everything in the right order, and you have the Lions to yourself for some time before you start working your way backwards….

Another Granada tip. If you want to see inside the Catedral, you can go to the front and pay for a ticket. If a little cathedral goes a long way with you though, go round to the square (Pasiegas) at the back and see if the door is open for mass-goers. You can see a fair proportion of it that way – probably more than enough, if you are also going to go into the Royal Chapel down the side. Apart from the  Alhambra, this has to be the most tourist-populated spot, and it is right next to the Alcaicería – the old silk bazaar now full of souvenir shops. Which is fine if you want a cheap pink flamenco dress for your niece, but to my mind, the shops near the other corner of the Plaza de las Pasiegas and between there and the Plaza Bib-Rambla are much more interesting. Like the “mercerías” where you can buy buttons and trimmings to make your own flamenco dress, or the one on the corner where you can buy a sword or a kitchen knife, or just watch the man (I swear he’s been there for 30 years) sharpening knives with a whetstone. A dry one, which I understand isn’t the usual thing, but I wouldn’t know about that. There are fruit and veg stalls as well, and a wonderful place, which I know for a fact has been there for more than 30 years, which sells fabrics by the kilo. I once bought 250 grams of fake fur rug there, for a few pesetas.

Filed under: Spanish customs, Spanish language by Liz Parry