In my time in Granada, I have had a little time to see the region and its variety is truly amazing!
Malaga is a coast town with a beautiful city centre, but one cannot stop oneself from comparing it to Granada. Indeed many rivalries exist between the different cities here and every person defends his or her hometown. Although I try to behold some kind of objectivity, my bias would always go towards Granada. It looks more like a postcard: all the streets are cleaned, fewer broken doors or dirty alleys, everything is cute and made cute. However, in Malaga a wind of authenticity blows. You can feel that people are actually living here and that it is not made for eager visitors. The city is of course far bigger, which changes the conditions, but I enjoyed very much the shopping area in the centre and the big pedestrian streets. But I will have to truly criticise the beach and the coastline, which is ugly. Harsh words, but the truth is ugly sometimes and it is a real shame what the fast development of tourism in Andalucia has done to Malaga.
I have to stop for a while from my accounts and tell you where I am sitting right now. I am typing on my netbook in a teteria in Calle Calderería (Granada), where oh so many tea shops are. Outside it is raining in a really depressing way, the tea shop is empty, the owner is playing on his phone, waiting for anything to happen. I sip from my 'Egyptian Tea', a mix of green tea and mint, while the fountain noises and the arabic tunes mix into a harmonious melody. The decorum is slightly overdone with pillars, cushions, low lamps and cachimbas (sheeshas) standing around, and it has not managed to hide the showing beams, typical in Andalucian houses. I'm sitting in a constructed Arabic reality, nevertheless I start dreaming about the country that awaits me in less than five months- Jordan. I have started preparing my stay there and although I have still a lot of time to improve my Arabic language skills and to overcome my ignorance of how things work there, fears and doubts have started invading my mind - but they cannot dampen my excitement.
But let's get back to Spain. The next city on the line was Cordoba. It is postcard-y in a similar way to Granada. Its cultural heritage from the Moors is being dramatically overused in the many souvenir shops and one could wonder how good the actual integration of the Muslim population is working.
On a more joyful note, the beautiful Mezquita-Cathedral just gob-smacked me when we entered from the orange tree patio. The many columns inside, the keyhole-shaped doors, the mosaics funnily mix with the catholic altars, chapels, portraits, graves and treasures. It's a strange harmony, where one house of prayer has made space to another. It nearly made me forget the disastrous fights and persecutions that occurred here a few centuries ago.
If you have some time left in Cordoba, a visit of the Alcazar is definitely worth it, small spiral stairs get you to the highest tower, where you can enjoy a beautiful view upon the city. For a short time visit, one must at least go on the Roman Bridge, that is located within a small nature reserve and offers you some good photo opportunities. My personal advice would be to go there at sunset, at that moment the colours are just magnificent.
For a chilled afternoon walk, the small picturesque streets offer a perfect environment and street artists at every corner will just enhance that experience.
