Granada, Stage Town

How can Granada and Andalusia forget the Dakar. How can we fail to recall those fantastic years of 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999, when the rally started from or went through the city, leaving us enchanted at the spectacle and the colour. Since sport has enabled us to strengthen the bonds which have traditionally linked Andalusia with African culture, let us sketch in an overview of our history.

Granada's cultural heritage.
It was during the siege of the city that Isabella of Castile granted Christopher Colombus the resources necessary to undertake his expedition to the Indies. An eventful history has left numerous imprints on Granada in the form of palaces, churches and other buildings of impressive dimensions which make up the city's rich cultural heritage. The monumental duo made up of the Alhambra and the Generalife, fortress, medina and palace of Nasrid monarchs, is world-famous both for its evocative architecture and its unrivaled panorama over the city of Granada. The same site houses the 16th century palace built by Emperor Charles V, grandson of the conquering Catholic Monarchs. On the opposite side of the valley to the river Darro, stretches the district of Albaicín, a fascinating succession of narrow, white-walled streets, half of which hide traditional houses with elegant gardens called “cármenes” by Granadians. The Albaicín houses the Mirador de San Nicolás, the famous square where visitors can enjoy one of the world's most famous vistas, that of the Alhambra and the Generalife, with snow-capped Sierra Nevada as a backdrop so beautiful as to be almost postcardly kitsch. Near to the Albaicín, a little upstream on the river Darro but still with a majestic view of the Alhambra, is the Sacromonte, with its sacred abbey and traditional gypsy cave-dwellings, most of which are now occupied by shrewd foreign residents. It is here that the “zambras”, Granada's flamenco spectacles, have traditionally taken place in cellar settings and that the Town Hall of Granada has also recently set up the Centro Flamenco de Estudios Escénicos. The new centre for flamenco studies is directed by a flamenco dancer, Mario Maya, who began his career in the Sacromonte zambras at the age of nine. The city today known as Granada was founded by the Romans under the name “Illibris”. It was the Moors who, having invaded it in the 8th century AD and settled down for the next seven centuries, gave it the name of “Granada”. Ferdinand and Isabella, the revered “Catholic Monarchs” of Spain, conquered the kingdom of Granada in 1492, marking the height of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. Granada also offers visitors a Renaissance cathedral considered to be the first of its kind in Spain. Adjoining the cathedral is the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella as their final resting place. (The first was a small chapel on the hill of the Alhambra today transformed into a hotel, the Parador de Turismo of Granada.) The city also counts a large number of historical churches built by Christians after the Reconquest in a unique style combining Moorish architectural themes and known as “mudéjar”. Another stop-off not to be missed by the well-informed visitor on the Granada circuit is the museum-house of Federico García Lorca in the Huerta de San Vicente, situated in the city park and dedicated to Granada's best-known and well-loved poet. This intimate, small museum occupies the house and gardens where Lorca spent his childhood summers. In addition to this rich heritage of buildings, Granada offers a wide range of contemporary cultural attractions, beginning with the city's annual International Music and Dance Festival, with concerts and recitals staged in the setting of the Alhambra, the Palace of Charles V and the gardens of the Generalife. Among other annual events in Granada, festivals devoted to jazz, theatre and the tango. Add to that the permanent contribution of museums, art galleries, public exhibition halls, theatres and auditoriums and the resultant cocktail is one of the richest and most evocative tourist cultural centres of Europe.