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Made in Spain
Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a traveller inspired by European elegance or a foodie seeking the perfect paella, Made in Spain is your insider’s guide to all things chic, cultural and quintessentially Spanish.
Join hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior García for a glamorous mix of travel, food, fashion and the rich cultural narratives that make Spain a global icon of style and sophistication.
Nalini is a former Canadian TV presenter, who has previously covered red carpet and live events, and major news stories. She channels the same wit and curiosity to the Made in Spain podcast, offering sharp, unscripted takes on everything from Spanish traditions to expat surprises.
Laura, a seasoned leadership coach and global traveler, shares her deep, first-hand knowledge of Spain—not just as her birthplace, but as a country she continues to rediscover. With a British father and Spanish mother, she considers herself a global citizen with deep roots in Spain. Her insights connect Spain’s rich past with its modern evolution, offering a unique and personal perspective on life, culture, and luxury in Spain today.
Every episode of Made in Spain explores the country’s hidden gems and exclusive experiences, but it’s more than just a guide—it’s a conversation.
The show’s Slice of Life segment gives listeners an unfiltered peek into Nalini and Laura’s daily experiences – the joys, frustrations, and unexpected moments that make life in Spain, and beyond, full of surprises. Sometimes, it’s about the reality of settling into a new country – at other times, it’s about their travels, funny mishaps, or behind-the-scenes stories from researching the podcast. No matter the topic, listeners feel like they are right there with them, stepping into their world.
Made in Spain
A Granada Getaway
Join us for a spellbinding journey through Granada, where we accidentally scheduled our visit during Holy Week, discovering layers of Spain few travelers ever experience. What began as a simple desire to see the Alhambra transformed into an immersion into Spain's most significant religious celebration and an exploration of its rich Moorish heritage.
Our adventure takes us through Easter processions where 1,200kg gold structures are carried through silent streets for hours, a tradition dating back centuries. We navigate the cultural complexity of Holy Week traditions, including the capirotes (pointed hoods) whose ancient religious significance predates the founding of America by hundreds of years.
The crown jewel of our trip is the magnificent Alhambra, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was once an entire functioning city. Within its red walls lie stories of 23 rulers who murdered each other for control, intricate Arabic poetry carved into walls, and architectural marvels like ceilings featuring over 8,000 individual wooden pieces. We share how American writer Washington Irving (of "Sleepy Hollow" fame) helped save this historical treasure from ruin through his writings.
Granada delights the senses beyond architecture – we discover its unique tapas culture where every drink comes with substantial free food, making it one of Spain's best value culinary destinations. Our accommodations in a converted convent complete with nun tombs in the courtyard adds a touch of the supernatural to our cultural immersion.
From Sierra Nevada's surprising ski opportunities to traditional Easter treats like torrijas (Spanish-style French toast) and the Arabic-influenced tea and shisha culture, Granada emerges as a microcosm of Spain's multifaceted identity. As Hemingway said, "If we had to visit one city alone in Spain, that would have to be Granada." After our whirlwind visit, we wholeheartedly agree.
Subscribe to Made in Spain and join us as we unlock the cultural treasures of this extraordinary country, one destination at a time.
all right, welcome to made in spain. Uh, the music that you're listening to would, I would say it's very typical of the part of Spain that we recently visited, which is Granada.
Speaker 2:My name is Laura Senia-Garcia and I am your co-host, along with.
Speaker 1:Nalini Sharma, and we're super excited for this episode and I think it's because we got to experience it firsthand. We went a few days ago and we picked a fantastic week to actually visit the city of Granada.
Speaker 2:So we're going to be talking a little bit more about Granada and specifically the timing of when we went, but before we get into that, let's just mention where we're shooting our episode today. So we are in Javia, in a beautiful restaurant called Bohemians, and they've been so kind to let us shoot here on location and we have the beach behind us. So if you're not watching this on YouTube or you haven't seen it on socials, you should definitely check it out. It's absolutely gorgeous. We have the Mongol mountain and the beach right behind us, if you hear a little noise or if it's a little windy then you know where it's coming from.
Speaker 2:We are shooting in a different location today. We wanted to be inspired by our surroundings and we have a nice glass of cava here, so no cheers and welcome to there we go. Episode six of season two of Made in Spain A Taste of Granada.
Speaker 1:Nice way to begin. That, by the way, is our breakfast drink Kind of embarrassing. It's in line with the other podcast. Okay, so we left on Sunday and it was about a three and a half hour drive from Alicante. That's the area that we're in. Yeah, super easy drive. I mean I'm saying that your husband did all the driving, but I mean there was no traffic. Really, the roads are really good, just as a recommendation.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, fantastic and it's a well. We're from where we're from down the coast. It's literally a straight shot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very easy to get to and also, um, a really beautiful drive and parts of it as you get closer to granada. I said it almost as the same time that jeff did, where I said we could be in canada right now because there's so many pine trees. It's very, very green.
Speaker 2:It's really beautiful is that what reminded you of canada?
Speaker 1:Just the vegetation you could say yeah, getting into the city at least, because I mean, granada is just with the Sierra Nevada, so we did see snow on the top the first day we drove in. Yes, it's quite special.
Speaker 2:So driving into Granada, you've got Sierra Nevada, which is actually a very famous spot for skiing and snowboarding. So that's your first recommendation right there For those of you who do like the winter sports. Most people do not think about winter sports when they think about Spain. But there are a lot of places here that you can go, beautiful ski locations, and actually Sierra Nevada is even nice when it's not the winter because they've got some beautiful cabins up there and the nature in that area is really nice.
Speaker 1:It's really pretty. I mean, you would not think that you're in Spain based on the vegetation.
Speaker 2:You feel?
Speaker 1:like you're in a sort of an alpine country.
Speaker 2:Yes, which is interesting because it's the south right, it's the south, yes, okay, so we left on Sunday and this was part of Laura's birthday present to me, so thank you for that birthday, um, and I think when we booked it we did not realize that it was the Semana Santa so, in typical Nalini and Laura fashion, I thought oh you know, we've all both wanted to go see the Alhambra. It's something that has been on my list for a really long time you know, it's like, oh, you know, let's do this.
Speaker 2:And then I started looking into booking hotels and you know, I was getting a little bit of help from my husband, jeff, and he's like, wow, the hotel's like really full. And I'm like, what do you mean? I mean, you know, I wouldn't think so. We were still a quite a few weeks away so, and then we all of a sudden realized, oh wow, like we're booking on you Palm Sunday, which is the beginning of Easter, which here in Spain is called Semana Santa, Right.
Speaker 2:So you know, there we are. We booked the rooms and all of a sudden we realized it's one of the most important dates for the south of Spain, particularly.
Speaker 1:It's the Holy Week. It's the Holy Week leading up to Easter.
Speaker 2:Semana Santa. If you are in other parts of the country, you're still going to see bits and pieces, but the same, as we said, fallas is in Valencia. Yes, you know, the Semana Santa, the Holy Week, the place to really kind of experience, it is the south, now Granada is known for it. However, sevilla, malaga are, you know, kind of another level. You could say People get super involved. Usually last a week it's Sunday to Sunday, but it so. We arrived on April 13th, first day, palm Sunday, and when we were thinking of going to Granada, we thought to ourselves okay, you know, since we just found out we're going on Easter, well, let's go and enjoy some of the processions, right, because they are very, very special.
Speaker 1:Very special and we were lucky enough that very close to our hotel the procession started. Actually, the procession passed in front of our hotel, which we did not realize.
Speaker 2:So instead of waiting, you know, calmly in front of our hotel for the procession to come along, we decided to go to the first procession that starts at 4 pm. It's the first one that kicks off easter in granada and it's called la borriquilla, which means the little donkey, and it's the one where, you know, supposedly jesus, you know, is coming into, uh, jerusalem, and he is on the little donkey, and this statue that they carry out of the church is over 1,200 kilos.
Speaker 1:It's a statue, but it's really it's like a scene, like a nativity scene. Literally, but covered in gold on the outside, but very big, very heavy and very tall.
Speaker 2:It's gorgeous, I mean, even if, again, independent of your religion, I do think it's very much a worthwhile experience, even if you're not, you know, christian or Catholic, because it's the feeling that people have around the Holy Week. I heard some people that I thought was really cool. They were teenagers, they weren't even like, you know, older generations that you could say normally get more involved in these things, and a few of were saying, oh, you know, I'm so excited. I haven't felt this way since last year, because it's this energy and the vibe of everybody getting together for this very purposeful moment and I would also say from my take on it.
Speaker 1:I mean, I believe palm sunday is when, uh, you know, people welcome jesus in, so that, yes, it tends to be it's not a party celebration, even though afterwards everything is full and people are very festive well, we are in spain yeah, however, during the actual procession um, it's not somber, it's more, I would say respectful.
Speaker 2:So I think the further south you go, like Malaga, it would be much more. You know, it's not supposed to be a kind of like celebration per se. No, I think where we were in Granada, you still get some of that respect and the silence. So for those of you who have not experienced the Holy Week here in Spain, if you can visualize, people are basically thinking with intention about things they may be asking for. As they see the processions go by. There's supposed to be total silence. Now, again, that is very hard in this country the amount of people, because everybody's been waiting around we waited around for like a couple of hours and the amount of people that were going like shushing each other, and then the person that was doing the shushing is talking like a minute later and then also I was.
Speaker 1:I was trying to figure out why people were looking at their phones, because it was for, I mean, a crowd mostly of Spanish people. It was relatively quiet.
Speaker 2:I only saw a few people that were not Spanish where we were, because we went right to the beginning of the procession, which is outside the church, but people were on their phones and they were looking at the live stream from inside the church.
Speaker 1:That's what they, so I thought people that you're looking at a football match like come on, but no they were watching the live stream from the church to see when the procession would actually start. So we had, from one direction you had bands come down and play songs, music, and then the bands led the procession out.
Speaker 2:And that procession lasts an average of five to six hours. Yes, and within those five to six hours, imagine the people who are underneath this scene. There may be 40 or 45 people, but they're carrying 1,200 kilos of weight. So it's an amazing thing that people prepare for all year and you know it's a great honor. Now there's a few more things that are happening during the procession, like, for example, the one that we saw specifically has all these children, and the children are very, very specific to that particular procession of la borriquilla. Okay, it's not normal to have them involved in a lot of the others, because it's hard going. You know, six hours it's.
Speaker 1:I mean, and then you think I sort of pictured it. Um, when you told me that you know it's six, a six hour procession and we need to get there, etc. I thought it's just because they move really slow. I kind of pictured it where, you know, I thought maybe they were pulling across or I, cause those are images that I've seen before. But this is very different. The reason it takes six hours because the people, they're men who are underneath the I don't know what you would call it. It's really this big structure, it's a very big structure. They're lifting it and they're only moving so many meters at a time and they have a little scene that they enact with the child who sort of knocks on the door. They put it down, the child recite something do you know what?
Speaker 2:the little boy said. The little boy was welcoming, supposedly like Jesus, into Jerusalem. Okay, that's what the actual. I mean it was a lot longer than that, but that's what he's saying. The kids welcome you. That's why that procession has all the children.
Speaker 1:Because that's what it symbolizes. There are babies too, by the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are babies dressed up like you know, little like Hebrew kids. Shepherds yes that's what it was. So, anyway, that was a little bit about that Easter procession, but those processions go on all week, all week.
Speaker 2:Every day, yeah, every day. And, by the way, if you are going to Granada or you're going anywhere for Holy Week, I would suggest be ready to park your car and leave it wherever it is. The streets are cut off and there are points where you can't even walk through the procession, like we tried to get to a restaurant and we couldn't so no, cut down the other street so that's what we did on the first day. I do think we wanted to address one thing actually two things.
Speaker 1:Okay. There were um many women dressed in black, very beautiful, their hair pulled back, tied up in a bun, and they had this sort of not a veil, but almost like a well a veil in the back.
Speaker 1:But then, yeah, really, and of all ages, all ages. So I would like to know what they? We got a picture with them, yes, so it was really nice. We asked them for a photo. And also people might find it a bit jarring, but some of the participants in the procession they have these traditional outfits that in north america might look like something else, something completely different so let's address both of those things.
Speaker 2:So the ladies dressed in black, uh, that really are dressed like, let's say, um, old school widows is what I would say, because here in Spain before particularly you know people who are Catholic, etc. They would dress like that for several years after their husband passes away, sometimes their whole life.
Speaker 2:Or the whole rest of their life, you know, depending on different things. The curious thing about the procession is that there's a lot of little girls dressed like that too, right, With the mantilla and everything, so it is symbolical. They're called manolas, okay, I think it is just from that part of Spain, okay, and it just symbolizes, you know. It's like they are the widows of, you know Christ, because it's like the passion of Christ, et cetera.
Speaker 2:I just got the chills when you said that, yeah, so it's a very, it's a pride, like you know, for them, even the little girls you know, to be kind of walking behind in the procession. And you could see, everybody was like really really, you know, beautifully made up, really nice.
Speaker 2:So that's on the manolas. Okay, now let's address the nazarenos, because this is a interesting one. So I've I read some articles preparing for the episode today where they actually this was on euronews, where one of the gentlemen, the cofradias, which is what they're called, like these brotherhoods or whatever you want to call them that you know, actually put the procession on for their church. That it's very hurtful, that you know. They hear comments year in year out of like oh you know why are those people just like the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK? I just want to clarify something.
Speaker 2:The capirotes, the hats, those kind of very, you know again, people relate them because they kind of think of the KKK imagery or et cetera. Those have been around here in Spain, specifically tied to not a very great time, which was the Inquisition. So initially the church had this great idea, which was you know, we're going to put these things on people's head and if you wore a red one, it meant that you were going to get executed, or if you wore this or if you wore that, it meant different things.
Speaker 2:But they were initially kind of made to ridicule the person that was wearing it you know when they would walk on the street with it, but also in some way to cover who that person was. Now that developed through the years into eventually it it was. Instead of being a sign of something that you would be ashamed of, it went to being something that you would wear as a sign of penitence is that how you say it and so you're very pious yeah, yes and it's basically like you are repenting for something in humility.
Speaker 2:You're wearing this thing that you know is kind of a sign of penitence, and you're wearing it in a way to kind of not draw attention to yourself, right, even though it's kind of hard not to draw attention to yourself when you have a massive cone on your head.
Speaker 1:Let's kind of put it that way. Well, and also the color that they wear.
Speaker 2:there is blue, it means something it's blue. There's different colors. Blue is one of them. It depends on which cofradilla they belong to, but it has absolutely zero to do with anything to do with the KKK. Actually, I read that several historians mentioned that they believe that the KKK just thought that the traditional Easter updo from here, from Spain, looked intimidating Right, and that it also helped to keep the clans' anonymity and that's why they started wearing it.
Speaker 1:They adopted it.
Speaker 2:But it is so hurtful for people.
Speaker 1:Of course it is, because it's based on their tradition and hundreds of years and it has literally nothing to do with what that organization represents.
Speaker 2:And a totally different intention. I mean it's very religious.
Speaker 1:I mean you are following uh christ as he makes his way into jerusalem. That is, you're right what you're saying. They're just very pious, they're penitent, they're somber, um, but the whole, and I mean the whole experience of it, was really beautiful. Yes, I mean you do not have to be Christian to appreciate it? No, absolutely it's a really fantastic time to go to Granada, even though it is very busy, but also it's not as hot which is good.
Speaker 2:It is good, and I wrote a couple of things down that I wanted to share with the audience, that I thought were interesting in doing this research. The Capirota is older than the establishment of the country of the US.
Speaker 1:Okay, because it's from like the 1500s.
Speaker 2:And the only other thing I wanted to mention is that, again, it was just picked up because it was intimidating, that's all. So you know, that's where it comes from. Okay, so we've talked about Easter. Yes, in chronological order, right? So we've talked about Easter. Yes, in chronological order, right. So we talk about something very, very, very special.
Speaker 1:So the reason we booked to go to Granada was originally to see the Alhambra. We again did not know it was Semana Santa, we did not know it was Palm Sunday. They just that happened to be, a coincidence.
Speaker 2:And um, just that happened to be a coincidence and um, we also left the tickets to the absolute last minute possible. Don't do it, people, yeah, do not do it?
Speaker 1:learn from our experience? We thought we would just be able to, you know, go online and like, click, book two tickets, because the whole world is waiting for us, which, by the way, yeah, it's, it's not happening we're learning that as we're doing this podcast to plan a little bit better. Um, so we ended up paying probably four times the price per ticket almost five to six times. Yeah what but we had no choice.
Speaker 1:The purpose was to see it so we had to buy these tickets for a tour which, by the way, was great. It was a small tour and I think that's what Granada is known for. Outside of, maybe, skiing is number one the Alhambra yes, what a special place.
Speaker 2:So let's start off Nalini. What does the Alhambra?
Speaker 1:actually mean okay. So in Arabic I believe it means red wall and that is because of the sand. You sort of sand colored on the outside, but inside it's actually different colors. I mean you have a lot of white and a little bit of blue. Let's just do a little tiny bit of history. And again, Laura and I, we are not historians.
Speaker 2:But we do enjoy history, we do enjoy it and we do enjoy doing the research.
Speaker 1:So this is just a little bit research. So in 711, the North African Berbers, they converted to Islam. They crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to invade Spain and most of Spain. By the mid 700s they were ruled by Moors and at that time Spain was known as 700s.
Speaker 2:Mid 700s yeah.
Speaker 1:So Spain was known as Al-Andalus. Al-andalus yes, so Spain was ruled by the Moors for 800 years.
Speaker 2:Now it has been longer in time that it has been an Islamic country than it has been a Spanish country, which is crazy when you think about it, because you know, I always kind of laugh when people don't realize, like you know all the names, of all the towns.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Most of the names of the towns, the way that people look. You know there's so much influence here from the Arabic countries. There's a tremendous amount of influence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it's a very interesting history, not always, you know, not always friendly, not always a friendly history either, but over the centuries, through the Reconquista by the Christians, so the Christians started to move south and reclaim the land. The last two strongholds, sevilla and Granada. Sevilla fell in the 1200s and Granada was the last stronghold of Moorish rule, the Alhambra.
Speaker 2:Very significant.
Speaker 1:So not just.
Speaker 2:Granada, but what's inside?
Speaker 1:the walls Right. So in 1492, that's when Ferdinand and Isabella it went back to them. So the Alhambra officially that date I think is the 1st or 2nd of January in 1492, which also is when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Speaker 2:Wow, this is a significant year I was going to say, like that year, just something is ringing there, right? That's why.
Speaker 1:So the Alhambra started off as a.
Speaker 2:Sorry, Nalini, before you go there, though, what was the last drop? Why did they end up?
Speaker 1:The guide that we had. She's a fantastic guide and very knowledgeable. She said that the sultan would pay taxes to Ferdinand and Isabella and then, at one point, just decided he's not going to pay taxes anymore. And they said well, guess what?
Speaker 2:bye, um, we're taking it from you so the absolute last hold of the moorish kingdom left.
Speaker 1:Basically, you know, came down because of taxes yeah, and it was up from everything that I've read. It was a peaceful sort of transfer. It was not a bloodbath. However, the alhambra has suffered from bloody wars post 1492, um. So the they set up this city on ancient ruins and thought that it would be a perfect place for not just a fortress but a military lookout, a citadel, because of the height. So the Alcazaba was the first part that they built, which is the military quarters, and we saw that that was towards the end of our tour, because we had to leave early so imagine this we were in this tour for over two hours and I think we may have seen 25% of the Alhambra.
Speaker 1:You can spend the whole day there.
Speaker 2:you can spend the whole day there, yeah and actually that's something that I would probably recommend. If you are someone that likes architecture, likes history, and you're making the time to go there, it may be worth really, you know, planning for a solid six hours or to go back two days because it is so much to see, I think you can buy tickets where you can see the nastrid palaces at night.
Speaker 1:Oh, that would be beautiful so you can see the rest of the alhambra in the day and then come back the next evening and see the palaces at night, because they're really quite spectacular. I mean, we were cutting it, we left at about seven-ish and that they were closing at eight.
Speaker 1:So we saw as much as we could on our tour and the military side that we saw, the Alcazaba, so that looks out over the city. You can see everything. You can see the whole of Granada. You can see the Sierra Nevada. We didn't see snow because it was a bit cloudy, but what we noticed is that the soldiers homes yes, only the base was left. And why was that?
Speaker 2:so what we realized from what the tour guide shared with us, and I had no idea about this, but napoleon and his troops, when spain and france were at war, decided to attack the alhambra, which, if you you think about it, it's horrible, right, something that's been built for over a thousand years almost, and you know they destroyed a very large part of it. Thank goodness they didn't destroy the Nasrid Palace's side, etc. Because I mean that would have just been a historical disaster, that would have just been a historical disaster and I mean it is still.
Speaker 1:It will never be finished in terms of restoration. It is an ongoing upkeep, for, I mean, this is a huge place. So they started building it. In what century? The 12th century it started, and from the Al-Qasaba to the Nasrid palaces started, and from the al-qasaba to the nasrid palaces and every uh sultan, who had, you know, a family sons, they would add on to the palace.
Speaker 2:Concubines, eunuchs, yeah. Air conditioning with fountains in their own bedroom, yes so the uh alhambra, what we learned?
Speaker 1:the first thing that we learned, which we didn't understand, is that it was a city unto itself, not a palace, but an actual city, functioning city. So you had a medina, you had cemeteries, you had vendors, you had the military base, you had the court and you also had an appeal court, and they showed us how the appeals would work. So you would first go to the court and if you didn't like your outcome and you wanted to appeal it, you would move on to the next side where you would sit in this room and then the sultan would see you to hear your grievance. And also Muslims and Christians resided within, but there were certain areas that the Christians had to stay and the Muslims stayed.
Speaker 2:They did coexist within the walls and at times better and at times worse, depending on what was going on. Historically, you know it was either a more pleasant coexistence or less, but it is very interesting. Just, you know, culturally it's like you throw so many different things in there and you know you get the Alhambra Like they didn't, let's say, when there was one takeover versus another they didn't destroy and start again For the most part apart from, like you know, this whole thing with napoleon, etc.
Speaker 1:They kept building. So there's a lot of layers to it and we learned from our guide that, uh, over 200 years there were 23 rulers. Yes, so 200 years, 23 rulers. Because they fought each other, they would murder each other to take control.
Speaker 2:They would murder each other's kids, even though they were family. Just so that they could take control of the Alhambra.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a very storied history, I would say. And let's see what else do we need to cover? So the four I would say four major places to see is the Nasrid palaces, the Charles V Palace so that was under the Christians you have the Alcazaba and then you have the Generali, uh, Generalife that's a hard one, that is very and you know the thing is, I when I first read that word, and to spell it out in English it's very difficult oh yeah, general, I can't even imagine how you would say I tried practicing it before and listening to a few things, but in my mind, my English mind, it is very difficult.
Speaker 1:It's actually a very difficult word for me, but that gardens they built that to represent paradise on earth and those gardens have existed for the last 600 years.
Speaker 2:So I think one thing that just I would have never realized before. The guide shared it. There are a lot of obviously Arabic words written on the walls.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the sentences that appears hundreds of times is you know, allah will be victor or Allah will be victorious, and it's written everywhere. But also there are more sentences all over the Nazareth Palace. But also there are more sentences all over the nazareth palace. And she said this is like looking at a book that's being built into a building, because there are so many poems and things written on the walls.
Speaker 1:And when I say written, you know carved, carved she tried to explain how they did the actual mold, so that they would use tree bark, yes, and carve the mold and then put water and plaster and then that would come out, and then that's what they would use to. That's why you see all the repetitive patterns. I read something really yeah, the mosaics that, um, they say the walls of the nastrid palaces speak oh wow, yeah yeah, and they do actually it just gives me a little bit of like chicken skin or whatever, because
Speaker 2:it's like you know it's. It was to me the nasrid palace by far. I mean the emotion looking around, you know. Especially, there was one particular place where we were looking up at the ceiling and they said the ceiling was made up of over 8,000 individual pieces of wood that had been constructed to do this eight point star, which was representing of the heaven of Allah, and so on. It was so beautiful. I really can't wait to go back.
Speaker 1:No, we were discussing this in the car here. I said would you go back in a heartbeat Because we could do it in a little bit more of a relaxed way? Take our time, really take it all in. And okay, I have a question for you. What does the legend of Sleepy Hollow? Do you know this story?
Speaker 2:I think I do the Headless Horseman, yes, the Headless Horseman, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what does that story have to do with the Alhambra?
Speaker 2:Well, I know the Legend of Sleepy Hollow a little bit, but I have no clue what it would have to do with the Alhambra, because Sleepy Hollow was like in a little town in the US, somewhere right.
Speaker 1:Right, so it was written by Washington Irving.
Speaker 1:No way, I didn't realize Sleepy Hollow was written by him. Yeah, it's one of his short stories. So Legend of Sleepy Hollow, yeah, it's one of his short stories, so Legend of Sleepy Hollow. And he also wrote Tales of the Alhambra. Because he came in the early 1800s, fell in love with this romantic vision of Granada and, taking the trip to Granada, he spent time in the Alhambra, but by the early 1800s it was basically a derelict place where they told us it was full of homeless people, homeless people graffiti.
Speaker 1:Um, just you know it, it started to become a like, basically squatters yeah I mean it had. It was still in a way a, I think, a functioning little village in which people would set up their?
Speaker 2:as they call it here.
Speaker 1:You know so and that's, and he was horrified, yeah, so in the early 1800s he used his voice through literature to raise awareness and it became such a point of interest for other people in europe because they were writers as well, and other romantics to be inspired by this that the by the mid-1800s, the government here had to do something about it and started to restore it into what it is now.
Speaker 1:So by I think, the mid-80s, 1984, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I mean, I think that's quite late in the game, but still, at least it has that designation.
Speaker 2:I can't believe it took someone from the US to come over and understand the beauty of Granada. He was actually named, in the end, the son of the Alhambra.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we saw it on the way out. There's a statue.
Speaker 2:So I did want to read one thing, nalini, that I read this sentence from Ernest Hemingway. Okay, that I thought was interesting, you know, in relation to Granada and the Alhambra, and he said if we had to visit one city alone in Spain, that would have to be Granada. Oh nice. So when I read that and you know, you think of the connection as well with, you know, washington and what he did, for it's just amazing that sometimes people from outside a place and outside a country will actually appreciate the beauty and the place more than the people who actually live there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it honestly became sort of a worldwide embarrassment for the government here that you have this monument, you have this ancient city that needed to be restored, and thank goodness, because I I mean, I don't know how much money it brings into the city of granada, but it has to be astronomical because it's full. You can't buy a ticket unless you book four months out yeah, a tremendous amount.
Speaker 2:I think it's like several million visitors a year at least, and the one thing I will say, though, is you know the best way to try and enjoy something like this as well as, when you go, be respectful, listen to the guides, you know, don't touch things, because I mean, they're doing such an incredible job at preservation, and we did see, you know, some people that you know they they are not being very intentional or aware, or you know with what they're doing, so I think it's it's to tell you very specifically don't touch the walls, do not lean on the walls.
Speaker 2:And then you see people leaning on the walls. Awesome, yeah, so hopefully you enjoyed a little bit of background on the Alhambra and on Easter.
Speaker 1:There are a lot of.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, we're definitely going back. There's so much and we're not even going to get into today the Albaitín, the Sacromonte, which are the different areas we really don't have time to cover all of it on the episode today, but we will certainly be going back to Granada and actually uncovering a few more secrets there. So on to our Slice of Life, slice Alive.
Speaker 1:Okay so we are talking about in this episode, our little trip to Granada and also our little stops that we made. We have some tea on the table here. What does it say it is? Oh, this is for insomnia and nerves.
Speaker 1:This is a very calming tea and we're just gonna open it um, we found really interesting the first day that we were there and we went from the hotel straight into, I mean basically around the corner, to a very popular spot smells good right, yeah, that does smell nice. Um, where they have restaurants and, you know, for lunch and of course we head out at the peak hour of lunch after the procession. Uh, they had a lot of tea places which we didn't realize, loose tea and a lot of interesting kind of like uh, why this tea?
Speaker 2:or what this tea you know like?
Speaker 1:oh, find romance or you know, fall asleep a little bit mystical, like very mystical.
Speaker 2:It had a bit of a kind of a magic shop vibe as well as a tea vibe.
Speaker 1:But I mean, it wasn't just one shop, there were many tea shops, and I believe that's the arabic influence yes, oh, 100.
Speaker 2:yeah, there's many tea, many shisha shops For those who like to smoke the shisha. They were all over the city. And also it was very interesting, like Turkish Lebanese, all kinds of different food. I have to say that, food-wise, I think quality related to price, granada is fantastic.
Speaker 2:We did try a few different places, everything from Spanish tapas to Italian to you know, I wish we would have had a little bit more time to be able to go, visit some of the tea shops etc. Like the ones that you actually sit at and have the sweet but fantastic place for food for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, so our first afternoon we ate in I would say it's just a little a little restaurant that was in a square, but I'm, we were in an area that was very Spanish, so we tried to avoid the tourist traps, the very touristy areas, and I mean they were all Spanish families eating there. That was really delicious. What I think you should explain, Laura, in Granada is very particular when you order a drink, they bring you a tapa.
Speaker 2:So this is very specific to Granada and sorry to you know. Bust your bubble if you're going anywhere else, because it ain't happening anywhere else other than Granada and some places in the south. Here, if you order a beer or if you order a drink somewhere in the Valencian community or the Costa Blanca, you will get some olives, maybe some almonds if you're lucky, but nothing else. In Granada, when you order a beer or you order a drink, it always comes with a tapa, and these tapas can be significant in terms of the food they're big, yes, so we had some that it was like a stew, like a small plate.
Speaker 2:You know it's a little, but they put bread on top of it they did, and then another time we had like prawns, and so you're paying like two euros. You get like one kind of drink and then you get food along with it. So, by the way, if you do this a few times, you don't have to go and get lunch at a restaurant because you are fed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't the yeah, and the portions of the restaurants are very big.
Speaker 2:Yes, they are so I think we shared everything we, we did and we were making comparisons. I mean, we went to like a super nice italian restaurant, right, and it was called started with a p. Oh, it's gonna come back to me. I'm going to say the wrong name. Go for it, try, not Palermo. Parole, parole, thank you.
Speaker 1:Is that the name of it? Yes, okay.
Speaker 2:Shout out to Parole for me Best Italian food I've ever had in my whole life.
Speaker 1:And it was in Granada.
Speaker 2:And I have been to Italy a number of times, but that a number of times. But that parole was so good, delicious, actually. So that's.
Speaker 1:P-A-R-O-L-E. Yes, Must you have to make a reservation? Do not turn up like we normally do and ask for a table for four at the peak hour of lunch because they didn't have one, but we did get a reservation later. Heavily recommend having the mushroom carpaccio.
Speaker 2:So for our slice of life, let's try what we have on here. Life, let's try what we have on here. So we have torrijas and mona de pascua. Torrijas you can have. Oops, okay, so careful, melanie, because it's wet. Yes, so torrijas are Very, very commonly eaten in Easter. Okay, this is from all over Spain. And then we have the Mona de Pascua. Okay, so describe what that tastes like to you and what do you think it has in it, because I haven't talked to you about this.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I don't mean this in a bad way, I mean in a good way because I don't like French toast, but it tastes like a really soggy French toast, which I prefer, mm-hmm, cuz it's sweet and it has a lot of cinnamon in it yes, so this is a like the Rija, and it's really good.
Speaker 2:It is good right so good so the Rija is a bread, mmm, dipped in milk with and there's a few different ingredients that can vary, but definitely cinnamon, some orange or lemon, a little bit of citrus in there, and then you have, of course, sugar, which you can taste. It is good right. I highly recommend, highly recommend, and then you actually dip it in egg and you fry it.
Speaker 1:So it is like a, like bread.
Speaker 2:I think that you can say that's spanish version of french toast, only better, it's good so if you want to look up recipes, torrija t-o-r-r-i-j-a it is so good and it's something that is very commonly eaten at easter, because people when they're trying to do Lent and not eat meat Right, this is a great substitute. It's very cheap, obviously, because it really is. It's just a slice of bread with some milk and, you know, some sugar, cinnamon, etc. So that's torrija.
Speaker 1:Okay, and this one in the middle is cute. This is very Easter-like.
Speaker 2:We're going to have to break this with our hands. So this is a mona de pascua.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So it's called an Easter mona. This is more from the Valentin community and since we had a bit of an Easter theme going and I'm going to give you a little piece of this chocolate. Actually, the word mona comes from muna in Arabic, which means to provide for your mouth. So there's, a lot of Arabic influence in this little sweet as well.
Speaker 1:I would say this bun is just a sweet bun. It would be nice with a coffee.
Speaker 2:It usually is dip in something you know, like dip in hot chocolate or dip in something Very nice. Traditionally it used to come with a boiled egg in the middle. It still does in many places. It's like a hard-boiled egg, decorated hard-boiled egg, and it would be given as a present to like, let's say, your um, what do you call it? God, godson or goddaughter? Yeah, uh, and you would give it to them as a present. But as the years kind of went on, they started taking the boiled eggs away and putting, like chocolate eggs in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's nice. It's very fluffy. It has sugar on the top. Yes, and it's sweet. It reminds me almost like a brioche.
Speaker 2:Yes, so this is like Easter sweet. Yeah, there is probably hundreds more, but I thought you would enjoy the torrija those. It's very nice. Yeah, and it's so. It is like French toast. It is very easy to make and they are so tasty.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about our favorite place that we went to in Granada and, by the way, sorry, I almost forgot.
Speaker 2:I got these from our cafe, valentina's Coffee, in La Nucía.
Speaker 1:Okay, shout out to Laura's Cafe. Do you want to hear? The funniest part about this Is that Laura and I will do something. We'll go for a walk, we'll go to a class, we'll work out, and then we'll try it for coffee after. And she'll say where do you want to go? Sometimes, wherever we want to go is full, and then I have to remind her that she has a cafe, and I have to remind her that she has a cafe and I'll say I don't want to take up space.
Speaker 1:Usually it's very busy and I feel guilty about it and I'll say but don't you have a cafe?
Speaker 2:We'll just go to your cafe, yeah, so, anyway, valentina's in La Nucía.
Speaker 1:Yes, who made this, by the way? The girls. Oh, that's really nice, it's delicious. Okay, now on to our favorite little spot in Granada, which we did not plan again. We, just after we, did the albicene and we were really kind of um, how do you say, like hankering for a little treat for ourselves, bar castaneda.
Speaker 2:I was really you will have heard, probably hopefully as our audience the cocktail episode where we talked a little bit about vermouth and I was very keen to show Nalini a vermutería or somewhere or a bodega, you know, where they kind of serve vermouth as a pre-lunch drink. So we went to Bodega Castaneda in Granada, which is a really cool little place, Very busy, no, not good if you're getting sensory overloaded.
Speaker 1:Listen, busy is an understatement. It is rampacked, wall-to-wall people it is. And we went on a Monday I mean it was Easter week, holy Week, but still it was a Monday at, I would say, 2 o'clock, just at 2 o'clock, rampacked Wall-to-wall people. But they don't take reservations. There's no such thing as a reservation there. You get in, you got to push your way to the front, which we did quite easily and you order. And then she asked me you were in a beer mood this weekend.
Speaker 1:Laura Not me, I don't drink beer. She mood this week, this weekend, laura, not me, I don't drink beer. She was yeah, she wanted a beer. I had a vermouth, which I never have, but I could not hold myself back. It was so good, it was really good. And then they bring out our tapa. I don't eat beef or pork, but the portions they gave are quite large, and then they have bread on top. So that alone, if you had just a vermouth and that little snack, that was like a little plenty.
Speaker 2:It's plenty I if you had just a vermouth and that little snack, that was like a little lunch Plenty, it's plenty, I mean if you had to go on to another place.
Speaker 1:The vermouth was €2.40.
Speaker 2:It's ridiculous. It is, it's, yeah, ridiculous. So definitely recommend that experience of going to the bodegas, going to the taverns, you know, getting that kind of the tapas, you know getting that kind of the tapas.
Speaker 1:And then the other thing that we wanted to discuss in our slice of life was our very interesting experience at the hotel we stayed at, which is the maria the autograph collection in granada, which is in a palace that was a great location, though it is, if you um, if you can afford it and you can stay there there are a lot of oh, and we also have to talk about the hostel quickly, but, um, it's an ideal location because it's on the main road and you can walk.
Speaker 2:Everything from there is, I would say, a 10-15 minute walk, so we'll give you two options one if you want a little bit higher budget, one if you want a much lower budget but still a super cool place, like I would really really consider the the lower budget place, actually after going for breakfast there, uh. So let's start with the Marriott, though, because it was pretty interesting. It was an old convent.
Speaker 1:It's a converted convent into a hotel.
Speaker 2:It was not that long ago that it was converted. As we found out by a reason that we will share in a moment, there's a lot of interesting imagery in the hotel, particularly in the cocktail bar. There's like a you know inverted cross. There's like a lot of weird things going on there. But the interesting thing is that, you know, I would say not for the faint-hearted, I mean, if you are someone that gets easily kind of creeped out, which maybe I am- you know, maybe not the best place to kind of try and get a solid sleep.
Speaker 2:Maybe, nalini, you can share why?
Speaker 1:Oh well, she thinks it's haunted. And then Laura said at 2am she heard voices and I I may have watched too many terror movies at this point. Thankfully, I slept through all of that, but it is a place where you do have a bit of a vibe, and in the center courtyard, which is quite pretty it's very beautiful, very beautiful.
Speaker 2:Let me just say this the hotel is very beautiful, the location is great. I just found it a bit odd.
Speaker 1:In the courtyard they have. I mean it's a cemetery, it's a cemetery.
Speaker 2:So you're basically sitting around the courtyard and all of a sudden, we start looking at the floor, but they're in the ground and you see these stones on the ground and it says sword, blah, blah, blah, which means, like you know, the senior nun such and such, or senior nun such and such. And I looked to nalini and went you think those are the just they're like commemoration, or or do you actually? Because, again, we're sitting a meter away you know quote-unquote tombs. So the waiter comes over and I'm like, are the nuns buried there? She said yes, and she said yes, they are. I'm like, okay, well, why isn't it roped?
Speaker 1:off or something.
Speaker 2:Because you know there's people walking over which I felt was very kind of like okay, this is freaking me out over, which I felt was very kind of like okay, this is freaking me out.
Speaker 1:And they had some of the inscriptions on the. They were from like the 50s, yes, so somewhere.
Speaker 2:I mean 1600s all the way to the 50s. Like 1950s, exactly so. 1950s was like the last kind of non-toy that was buried there. Yeah, so you know again, I'm just like, okay, this is fine, I don't have any kind of.
Speaker 1:I mean, we walked, yeah, we walked around it.
Speaker 2:We were careful. We didn't want to step on it. But my comment to Nalini is that I don't think the hotel makes a big deal out of this because they don't want people to know or they don't want people to realize that this is a cemetery, like we're literally sleeping around a cemetery inside I mean the rooms, because it is a converted convent the rooms are the the rooms where the nuns slept? I mean, you can tell because of the height of the ceiling and everything I mean, it's a I listen during halloween oh yeah, it might be a very different.
Speaker 2:Perfect place, yeah, perfect place.
Speaker 1:If you want to go experience hallow Granada, stay at this place and, yeah, she's convinced she heard sounds at 2 am. I slept through it so I'm okay with it.
Speaker 2:Nalini slept through it, but, yes, definitely not like the best two nights of sleep I've had ever in my life, although I would go back, you know because that's just me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the hotel's cool. It is a cool vibe.
Speaker 2:But just it is a cool vibe, but just yeah something. I don't think I have ever stayed in a hotel that had a cemetery in the middle of the courtyard which, by the way, is the terrace of the bar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is the terrace of the bar, and then, yeah, the the picture with the upside down. Oh yeah airton said he's like no, no, it's not anything bad, it's saint peter.
Speaker 2:So so Melanie's son was giving us history lessons, which is great which is great.
Speaker 1:That's why I sent him to the Bible school.
Speaker 2:Like teach us Okay. So that was a little bit of our slice of life, our eco travel.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, it's called eco. What's it called? It's eco hostel Granada.
Speaker 2:Okay, eco hostel Granada. Okay, eco Hostel Granada. So if you're looking for something on a bit of a kind of, let's say, lower budget but still a really great experience, we just happened to stroll into this hostel that looked like a really nice cafeteria from the outside.
Speaker 1:We always saw on the outside. We were very hungry and we saw the outside Avocado toast, let's go there. We walked in and then you said I think this is a hostel. We're in the cafeteria of a hostel, but you can eat there, it doesn't matter. But I mean very, very clean. Like when you say hostel, that's really a loose. I would say Co-working space. Very cool.
Speaker 2:Breakfast with like avocado, toast, coffee and orange juice for five euros. This is really, really good and we both had the breakfast there. It was delicious. Uh, lots of activities to do with other people, you know, like yoga, go visit the sierra nevada and everything from the hostel.
Speaker 1:So definitely a very, I think, recommended place and it's honestly like four minutes from where our hotel was on the main street. You just, you know, hang up left, basically, and you're there, awesome, yeah. So yeah, that was granada. It was a whirlwind tour, laura but yes, it was, and we only came back a couple days ago. It was fantastic. I would recommend to anyone to do it.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely going back. So thank you very much for joining us in this slice of life. We have our sentence of the day to do. Okay, I'm ready. I don't know if you're ready for this.
Speaker 1:I'm never ready.
Speaker 2:Just tell me this is bad. Okay, so we're probably going to have to beep this just to kind of make sure that you know. I'm just going gonna put it out there, okay. So, uh, the sentence is oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:Okay, I don't know what that means. Okay, the yes that part, I know that part of bernarda, whoever bernarda is.
Speaker 2:Oh, what does that mean, nalini?
Speaker 1:Wow, that's hard. That was a bad thing to say.
Speaker 2:Do you want me to try and break it down for you? Yeah, okay. So for some reason In Spain, you say that when things are very disorganized, they're all over the place that's like us getting here this morning.
Speaker 1:It's like I could have applied that getting here this morning so how do you end up with that?
Speaker 2:you know, like something being disorganized, quoting a lady's, a particular woman. So the reason I brought that sentence up is a lot of people say it originated in Granada.
Speaker 1:Oh funny.
Speaker 2:And apparently Bernarda was a santera or you know someone that did, like you know, black magic and all kinds of stuff and she was related to one of the Arabic kings, but she was also kind of dabbing in the kind of both Christianity and there was a lot of mixbing in the kind of both christianity. And so there was a lot of mix going on there and there are some very funny stories that I'm not going to get into about this lady and why you know they use that for, like you know, when things are super disorganized.
Speaker 1:but I just thought you know that definitely applied to both of our situations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was that. The sentence apparently originates from Granada and one of the multiple legends around that sentence, but that's what a lot of Spanish people will say when things are like you know, like totally disorganized. Ok, I'll listen out for it. Yes, thank you. Thank you very much, everybody for joining us for this very special episode about a taste of Granada, and we will be coming back in season three, probably going north in season three, since we've done quite a bit south and the southeast coast, and please remember to subscribe, follow, so you don't miss an episode. We would love to hear from you. You let us know what cities you want us to cover as well, so we can consider them for season three. Yeah, thanks, laura.
Speaker 1:Thank you okay the made in spain podcast is an Everything's Rosie production with executive producers and hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior, with special thanks to production assistant Ayrton Nath.