Granada, ciudad encantadora...

6 Nov 2011

This morning, we started the day out right with some chocolate con churros. Two of the people we met at our hostel had never tried it before. We decided that we need to fix that right away!

After breakfast, we wandered around the city for a while before our appointment at the Arabic Baths. As we were walking along the river, an American couple recognized the name of my college from the sweatshirt I was wearing. He said that he had gone to a rival liberal arts school so he was familiar with my college. Then, he asked us what we were doing in Granada. When we told him we were here with Fulbright, he told us that he had also been a Fulbrighter back in the day! What a small world, huh?

We continued walking along the river toward Sacromonte. In Sacromonte, there are houses that are built into the mountain so they are essentially caves. I don't want to give the wrong impression. These caves are completely modern. They have electricity, water, and internet--anything a regular house would have. These just happen to be built into the mountain. Below is the picture of the outside of a cave house.

At 12, we had our appointment at the Arabic Baths. This was really fun and relaxing--even though it didn't exactly start out that way. Unfortunately, one of the bath attendants told me that I couldn't wear my bathing suit to the bath. I don't have a bikini or a regular one piece. Apparently, my swim suit looked too much like a dress and had too much material (ironic in an ARABIC bath). So I had to buy a new suit from them.

I was pretty mad about it for a while, but I got over it quickly because the baths were AMAZING! At the baths, you start out in the room temperature water and then alternate between the cold and hot baths. The idea is that the cold water constricts your blood vessels, and when you move to the hot water, it allows them to expand. This is supposed to improve circulation. In between soaks, you can drink some delicious tea.

I have to admit I was pretty shocked when I got into the cold bath. I was expecting it to be sort of like an outdoor American pool--where it's a little chilly but not unbearable. Nope. This water was ice cold. The first time I could only dip my legs in up to my knees before I found it unbearable and ran to the hot water. After the initial shock wore off, the next time I entered the cold bath, I was able to sit down in the water up to my shoulders for a minute or two. That doesn't sound like a lot, but when the water's that cold you are counting down the seconds. And the longer I spent in the cold bath, the better the warm bath felt. By the end, I felt like I was in heaven and I didn't want to leave to get on a bus for 5 hours.

But we had to leave anyway. All in all, I think that Granada is likely one of my favorite cities in the world. It's really beautiful, but also has a lot of character and personality. I'm planning on visiting again in the spring--so I can see the city when it isn't cold and rainy and so I can see all the flowers in bloom at the Alhambra.