Every week
a teacher of the school Inmsol visits with the students one of the most characteristic
place of Granada.Yesterday we
have been in Sacromonte accompanied by Susanna. We have
walked, chatted (obviously in Spanish!) and finally got on the top of this beautiful hill! Granada is
full of enchanting places and this is absolutely one of them.
The
Sacromonte is situated in Valparaíso Valley facing the Alhambra. These
emblematic places are located one on each side of the Darro River, whose name
seems to come from the Latin expression "D'auro" (meaning of gold),
due to the famous gold sediments found there. It is a lovely place with its
banks and its beautiful Mediterranean forest. We are talking about an enchanting
place, made by Mediterranean wood and coastline, and decorated by chumberas (prickly
pear) and pitas.
Sacromonte is
the traditional suburb of the Grenadian gypsies, big and enigmatic but especially
free community. They speak their language: the calí, and people think they
arrived in Spain in the XV century, after having walked through Europe and
Africa. In their tradition there is a special celebration: the zambra
sacromontana, which has always enchanted the tourists with its charm and the
flutter skirt.
The caves are the usual home in Sacromonte. Even though their origin is not so clear the first one were built in the XVI century, when the Muslims and the Jews were banished from the city. Later the gypsies joined them. The caves were born for the excluded people.
These
architectonical elements, together with the lanes, ravines, the little squares,
the facades white painted amount to a unique landscape. The view and the traditions
of the inhabitants make this place and this way of life enchanting.