Beyond the Alhambra (Spain)

By Helen Matthews

I passed through the doorway and was almost overwhelmed by the cloying scent of jasmine and citrus that filled the courtyard. It was a quiet, calm refuge in the centre of the city, and I appeared to have it to myself. Walking round the cloister, I came to the refectory, a simply furnished room with wooden benches, whitewashed walls and a dark wooden ceiling.

Next was the chapter house, in a similar simple style, with just a few paintings adorning the walls. Outside, the paving stones of the cloister were interspersed with memorial tablets to deceased monks, some of them peeping out from beneath aspidistra pots. The sacristy was another simply-furnished room, which did nothing to prepare me for what was to come.

At length I came to the main church of the monastery. I stepped over the threshold and was transported to a different world. It was decorated in breathtaking contrast to the simplicity of the rest of the monastery, with deep ceiling relief, exuberantly painted walls and ceiling and a gilded altarpiece. A recording of baroque music was playing, so I lingered, enjoying the atmosphere.
Outside the monastery the helpful bilingual plaque explained the disconcerting contrasts within. The monastery of San Jerónimo itself had been founded by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, and given to the Hieronymite order. Later, the Duchess of Sesa had obtained the main chapel to use as a family vault and it was her architects who had wrought the transformation in order to provide more fitting surroundings for the family memorials.

Near the monastery is the hospital of San Juan de Dios. This is another Renaissance building but its courtyard is very different from the austerity of the monastic cloister. It is decorated with colourful wall paintings and ceramic tiles – perhaps how the monastery would have looked if the Duchess’s decorators had been let loose on the whole monastery . The surprise here is that the building is still in use as a working hospital, and its highly decorative courtyard is full of signs directing patients to various clinics.

Later, wandering around the town, I came across a street market at which old coins, stamps and postcards were for sale. At the end of the street was a large open square thronged with people. At first I imagined that this was a continuation of the market, perhaps selling bric à brac or antiques. On closer inspection, I realised that the women were not fighting over bargains but were seated around tables working with their lace pillows and bobbins. Around the edge were stalls selling patterns and equipment. To add to the feeling of unreality, Mickey Mouse was wandering among the tables selling balloons to the children.

In the nearby Plaza Bib Rambla, Winnie the Pooh was selling the balloons and children were also enjoying rides on a roundabout. At first this appeared to be just an ordinary ride for small children. But on closer inspection, the horses, reindeer and dragons they were riding were made out of old rubber tyres, and the roundabout was powered not by a smelly, noisy generator, but by a bespectacled man serenely riding a bicycle. This was Granada’s ‘ecological carousel’.

My visit to Granada had been full of surprises. Of course I visited the obvious sights as well - the Alhambra, the Royal Chapel and the Cathedral, but sometimes the most memorable parts of a trip are the things that you were not expecting.

First published in VISA 83 (Feb 2009)