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Puerta Nueva
The "Old Fortress" quarter around San Nicolás is separated from the Albaicin proper (the quarter surrounding Plaza Larga) by the Puerta Nueva or "New Gate".
It was called "new" by the Moors, when they built it to replace the nearby Puerta de Hernán Roman, in which, many centuries later, the Christians installed a chapel to Granada's patron, San Cecilio.
San Cecilio, patron saint of Granada
Plaza Larga
The heart of the Albaicin is Plaza Larga, so named for its oblong shape. Several taverns use its space as an outdoor restaurant during the warmer months of the year.
On Saturday morning a lively market takes possession of Plaza Larga, where you can buy anything from a dress, a song bird in a cage, or a freshly peeled chumbo, or prickly pear.
When night falls, this gentleman often comes to the square to sell perdices - or "partridges", the name the granadinos give to baked potatoes. He sprinkles them with salt and pepper and puts them in a piece of paper so you can eat them in your hand with a small plastic fork, a great treat, especially at fiesta time. Here we see him taking out of his oven-on-wheels a buniato or sweet potato, for the lady on the left.
Every morning the dwellers of the Albaicin buy their fresh fish and groceries in the busy stores of the Calle de Panaderos - "Bakers Street" - which leads from Plaza Larga to the Colegiata church.
The Calle del Agua - "Water Street" - is so named because, in Moorish times, water was piped underneath to a public bath which stood there. With its pebbled steps and flowering balconies, it is one of the most charming pedestrian streets in the city.
Old house of the Calle del Agua
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GRANADA, CITY OF MY DREAMS, a book for the curious traveller, written and illustrated by Lorenzo Bohme and published by Editorial Natívola (2003) is now in its 3rd edition. To read about it and Nativola's other publications, click here. |
