Granada

A flight of just over an hour will get you from Barcelona in the north to Granada in the south, and you have really flown to a different world. This is the Spain I had been expecting to see, with a strong Moorish influence in the architecture and a more powerful Catholic presence in the streets.

A Pearl Set in Emeralds
That’s a phrase Wikipedia mentions in describing the Alhambra, originally a 14th-century Moorish fortress and now a UNESCO world heritage site. Certainly there are some gorgeous buildings and some lovely gardens in this massive complex, which was sufficiently abandoned by the 19th century that Washington Irving could squat there with some gypsies. In fact, the modern curators have used him as the fictional tour guide in the little wii remotes you can rent to explain the place. Unfortunately, he doesn’t come with a reverence filter, with the result that you get to hear more poetry than facts. Luckily, you aren’t required to listen, so you can set it aside or take it in small doses. An amazing feature of the place is the intricate carving on the walls, ceilings, doorways and windows. As Irving puts it: "everywhere the same and yet each piece different." There are also silent pools for reflecting the architecture, and noisy fountains for cheering you up, all of them with goldfish swimming in their depths. One of my favourite uses of water is in the stone balustrades to one of the staircases, which have channels cut into their surfaces so that the water runs down under your hands.

Serrano Ham
Legend has it that the ubiquitous, deliciously cured Serrano ham was originally a test devised by Catholics to make sure they weren’t inadvertently feasting with people from religions where pork is forbidden. If it is true, from these ignominious beginnings has arisen the tradition of having plates of cured shaved ham available for every meal. Tostado with jambon for breakast, a plate of jambon for second breakfast, jambon on the tapas for both first and second lunch—it is hard to avoid it in Spain. I can’t, of course, speak from first-hand knowledge of its presence at dinner.