Summer in Granada

Granada: known for it sun, sand and sangre (blood). Granada was the last part of the old Al-Andalus kingdom to fall during the reconquest of Spain by those very Catholic monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand in the 15th century. It has a very Moorish soul and is extremely fascinating. The sad part of the reconquest for the south of Spain at least, is that previously, Islamic, Christian and Jews had lived very happily side by side for quite a long time in this part of Spain. Art and Culture flourished due to the sharing of different ideas and life seems to have been fairly good for all people here and harmony seems to have been the way of life, despite their differences of culture and religion. Enter fervid religious people, a King and Queen intent on making their mark and the inquisition and reconquest were born. Whilst all information indicates Queen Isabella was devout in her religious beliefs, I can't help but think that politics and possibly pride, played a part in convincing her to give edicts that started this whole chapter of history. 

The reconquest was a bloody series of battles over many years, and Andalucía would have suffered during this time. After the reconquest, it didn't end either. The Jews and Islamic people were expelled and those who remained were forced to convert to Christianity on pain of death. However, they were treated very suspiciously and I think used as scapegoats for any difficulties that occurred. Yet, today, they are generally a happy and welcoming people, with mixed and proud heritage but without any noticeable arrogance.

The sun here is very strong and as it is now summer, the temperatures are generally in the high 30s or low to middle 40 degrees. Humidity is noticeable but not overly high. Further inland around Cordoba and Seville, it is often 45 degrees during the day but a very dry heat, with the air said to have no oxygen. I can confirm that Granada is very hot. Today, for example, it got to 39.4 degrees. However, the Arab influence here is quite strong so water and shade are highly valued. There are lots of green spaces, shady trees and water features. They also have shade covers in some of the main shopping areas so you can walk in the shade whilst checking out the stores. If you are very clever, you can generally walk around most of the town in the shade. It's still hot, but you won't get sunburnt.

Despite the heat, it is possible to have a wonderful time here and today, I went horse riding as an excursion organised by my school.  I used to ride quite a lot when I was younger and was eager to get back on a horse and see if I remembered everything. Luckily for me, old skills were not forgotten and I felt very comfortable on horseback and I'm even more pleased to say I have no sore parts to show for the day. I had forgotten how pleasurable it was to be on horseback though so I may just have to find time to go again.

After our ride, we returned to the equestrian centre for lunch. They have a bar in a converted tobacco shed (they used to grow tobacco here) which was very rustic and nice. It seems all the neighbours come for lunch on the weekends as there were a lot of people. We got to watch our lunch of paella (a famous Spanish rice dish) be prepared whilst we sat around chatting and having a few cold drinks with the locals (and all the farm cats and dogs as well).

We had a wonderful time talking to two local people (bit of an intercambio occurred over lunch). Ana and her partner Diego were really friendly and gave us lots of information about places to see and things we could do. They put up with our limited Spanish and were amazing to talk to. Diego is a teacher, mainly to do with the environment and national park management type things and Ana is a Psychologist. We had a great time chatting about our respective jobs. Hope the others didn't get too bored with the conversation. One of our group, a young chap from China, was befriended by the owner's young son (I guess around 3 or 4 years old) and was happily showing the little boy how to make paper airplanes out of the napkins.

One of the students (on horseback) & Gloria from
the equestrian centre

 

Another student (on horseback) & Pepe, our guide,
riding instructor, chef and waiter

 

My faithful steed, after our very hot but wonderful ride    

 

Bar where we had lunch. They used to hang
the tobacco from the rafters to dry

 

Our gang (minus one) with Diego (hat) & Ana (red shirt)