al-Andalus - Day 3

We spent the morning wandering through the Albayzin - the former Muslim colony built in the 13th century to house refugees (predominantly from Baeza, hence the Arabic derivation of the name) fleeing south from the ethnic cleansing campaign of the Catholic Monarchs. Early Islamic cities have a timeless feel to them and without the subtle Nasirid touches you could quite easily convince yourself of being in the old quarters of Fez or Damascus.

My attempts to build on no formal Spanish language teaching are drawing strange looks; I´m finding it very difficult to fight an overwhelming urge to pronounce every 'c', 's' and 'z' with a prominent lisp making me sound like an even less comprehendable version of Manuel from Fawlty Towers and giving my sister no end of delight.

One of Granada´s local delicacies is the churrito which consists of doughnut like sticks to be dipped in a thick chocolate drink. Needless to say we needed little coaxing into trying this particular specialty. We're planning to return to the Albayzin this evening for a meal and some inspiration - we face the daunting prospect of queueing at 7am tomorrow to secure tickets to visit the Alhambra.