Clap your hands and say yeah!
So yesterday I had my first real night on the town here in spain.
I´d spent most of the day figuring out where I was going to go next and where I was going to stay once there and was feeling a bit tired of the whole traveling process. So I decided I needed to get myself out into spain and remind myself why I was traveling. (I´m learning that when I get in those funks it´s very important to get myself out). Anyhow, my friend Nigel from london and I decided a spanish dinner was in order. Here is granada there is a quite large morrocan and north african population so we decided to try to track a place down that might have some of that in its cuisine. (I´m getting a little sick of the jamon y queso tapas). Anyhow, the Lonely planet came through for us. We left the city center in search of the "real granada" and ended up at a tapas restaurant that served morrocan food in spanish tapas style.
The way tapas work in southern spain, or at least in Granada, is that if you order a drink you get a tapas. Each subsequent drink comes with a tapas as well. In some places you don´t get to choose your tapas it just arrives at your table, I´ve heard this is more common in touristy bars. Here in granada it is more authentic to have a tapas menu and when you order a drink you specify your drink and your taps. For example, I had vino tinto y schwarma de pollo (chicken pita sandwich) and Nigel had vino tinto y tangine bolito de carnes (meatballs cooked in a tangine). Anyhow, the food at this place was AMAZING. Tuna with capers, falafel, spiced pumpkin puree on crostata. I have rarely have had food as good as this. We were having fun with our spanish/english dictionary guessing what each would be and then seeing if we were right. And we all was said and done (and we were stuffed) the total came to 11 euro each. A steal! I´m telling you, this tapas thing could really catch on in the US with the way we like our free food.
Well, on a high from our outstanding dining experience we headed out in search of more authentic entertainment, namely a bar with flamenco music. Again, with the help of the lonely planet we found our way to a jazz flamenco bar. It was full of spanish people sitting around, The ceilings were low and there were lots of little rooms connected by arches with benches around the perimeter with people clustered together. The flamenco music was loud and sporadically people around would just start clapping their hands to the music, or later in the evening getting up and doing spontaneous flamenco. It was what I had expected of flamenco but obviously with a modern twist. Not the shows you see around town with the women in dress.
All in all a great way to experience the true Granada.
(Side note: It was at this flamenco club I also confirmed that the urban mullet is definitely a Spanish fashion trend. In fact many times the mullet is also dreaded or braided. Nigel and I have coined this hairstyle the "drullet".)
So I feel I have gotten a good sense of Granada, and I like what I have seen. Tomorrow I will leave for Tarifa on the very southern tip of Spain. It is supposed to be a very laid back surfer town with lots of german windsurfers. I´ll spend a day there on the beach and then hopefully be off to Sevilla. My current plan is to make a loop of Analucia and return to granada before heading north to Barcelona via Valencia.
I´d spent most of the day figuring out where I was going to go next and where I was going to stay once there and was feeling a bit tired of the whole traveling process. So I decided I needed to get myself out into spain and remind myself why I was traveling. (I´m learning that when I get in those funks it´s very important to get myself out). Anyhow, my friend Nigel from london and I decided a spanish dinner was in order. Here is granada there is a quite large morrocan and north african population so we decided to try to track a place down that might have some of that in its cuisine. (I´m getting a little sick of the jamon y queso tapas). Anyhow, the Lonely planet came through for us. We left the city center in search of the "real granada" and ended up at a tapas restaurant that served morrocan food in spanish tapas style.
The way tapas work in southern spain, or at least in Granada, is that if you order a drink you get a tapas. Each subsequent drink comes with a tapas as well. In some places you don´t get to choose your tapas it just arrives at your table, I´ve heard this is more common in touristy bars. Here in granada it is more authentic to have a tapas menu and when you order a drink you specify your drink and your taps. For example, I had vino tinto y schwarma de pollo (chicken pita sandwich) and Nigel had vino tinto y tangine bolito de carnes (meatballs cooked in a tangine). Anyhow, the food at this place was AMAZING. Tuna with capers, falafel, spiced pumpkin puree on crostata. I have rarely have had food as good as this. We were having fun with our spanish/english dictionary guessing what each would be and then seeing if we were right. And we all was said and done (and we were stuffed) the total came to 11 euro each. A steal! I´m telling you, this tapas thing could really catch on in the US with the way we like our free food.
Well, on a high from our outstanding dining experience we headed out in search of more authentic entertainment, namely a bar with flamenco music. Again, with the help of the lonely planet we found our way to a jazz flamenco bar. It was full of spanish people sitting around, The ceilings were low and there were lots of little rooms connected by arches with benches around the perimeter with people clustered together. The flamenco music was loud and sporadically people around would just start clapping their hands to the music, or later in the evening getting up and doing spontaneous flamenco. It was what I had expected of flamenco but obviously with a modern twist. Not the shows you see around town with the women in dress.
All in all a great way to experience the true Granada.
(Side note: It was at this flamenco club I also confirmed that the urban mullet is definitely a Spanish fashion trend. In fact many times the mullet is also dreaded or braided. Nigel and I have coined this hairstyle the "drullet".)
So I feel I have gotten a good sense of Granada, and I like what I have seen. Tomorrow I will leave for Tarifa on the very southern tip of Spain. It is supposed to be a very laid back surfer town with lots of german windsurfers. I´ll spend a day there on the beach and then hopefully be off to Sevilla. My current plan is to make a loop of Analucia and return to granada before heading north to Barcelona via Valencia.
posted by mnlrs at 3:22 AM
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