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Anyone who thinks that la Alhambra is the only sight worth seeing in Granada is wrong.

When I started planning my trips around Spain, everyone — both the natives and the knowledgeable — told me that Granada is a beautiful city in Andalucía, the famous southern sector that also includes Sevilla. Most also told me that all I really needed was one day in the city to see la Alhambra, the famous expansive palace that housed centuries of Muslim caliphs and, later, Catholic kings.

I disagree with that sentiment. When I traveled to Granada with two other Marquette students over the weekend, we found a small treasure tucked into the mountainside. Granada is a city bursting with diverse culture, beautiful architecture, breathtaking scenery, great flamenco music, delicious food, Gypsies living in caves, and — of course — la Alhambra.

Liz, Rachel and I took an early bus out of Madrid Saturday morning, arriving in Granada in the early afternoon. We decided to just meander around the city center.

We did the obligatory tour of the city cathedral. Don’t get me wrong, it was enjoyable, but churches have become old hat at this point.

The cathedral had a pair of really cool pipe organs!

We then proceeded to shop, (I’m cringing as I type this), until dinner time. For once, I actually had an item of clothing in mind that I wanted to buy. Ever since I got to Europe, I’ve been craving a cool European jacket. All the Spanish guys wear similar dark-colored coats with lots of pockets. I can’t pull off leather, but I think I could rock this style.

After a few hours of looking, we failed to come across the perfect jacket for less than 80 euro. So that plan was out.

Liz, Rachel and I ate cuscus and drank Pakistani tea in a Moroccan restaurant that night.

As is usually the case when one goes shopping, I found something unexpected that I really liked. I’m the complete opposite of an impulse-buyer, but how could I turn down a cool jacket for 10 euro? It screams European, it’s a new look for me, and it’s reversible. Sold.

Eventually, the growling of our stomachs overtook the urge to continue searching the stores for my dream jacket.

We ate in a really quaint Moroccan restaurant. Each of us ordered cuscus with chicken, and Rachel and I also tried Pakistani tea. The food was delicious, and I’ve decided that Americans don’t know how to do tea because the Pakistani tea was heavenly.

Later that night, we crammed into a flamenco bar. We felt cool and completely un-touristy because we were the only non-natives in the place.

I love flamenco. It has the simplicity of American blues mixed with the spontaneity of jazz, but I am thoroughly convinced that the average American would completely eff up a flamenco concert.

As you may know, flamenco usually involves women dancing while someone plays acoustic guitar and sings. It always incorporates clapping, but on the off-beats. Since the crowds at every American concert I’ve ever attended epically failed to clap along with a straight 4/4 beat, I’m positive they would cause a train wreck at a flamenco show.

I felt like I got a taste of real flamenco culture at our show. There was a young Spanish guy playing guitar while seated. On the other side of the stage, a woman clapped the accents while occasionally dancing to the music.

Seated in the middle of the stage was this 80-year-old singer. He would scat a lot, using the vibrating voice that characterizes flamenco. He also hopped off his chair to belt out particularly powerful moments in the song, at which point everyone in the crowd would go nuts. I hope I’m that passionate about music at his age.

We soon grew tired of standing in the packed little bar, so we searched for a new hangout spot. It makes me cringe again to say that we settled on an Irish pub. In our defense, it had the television tuned to Spanish premier league soccer while blasting a kick-ass rock playlist through the speakers.

We three were the last to return to our hostel room, which also served as the temporary abode of three other travelers. Now is a good time to explain the part of this article’s title that probably made everyone go, “Wait…what?!” Rachel, Liz and I did not actually encounter corpses in the sense of cold, motionless cadavers.

However, one of our roommates seemingly lived in his bed that weekend. He was fast asleep when we arrived in the afternoon, he was out like a light when we got back late that night, and the cycle repeated itself the next day. There were only a couple of times that we saw his bed empty. Thus, Rachel dubbed him, “The Corpse.”

We met The Corpse the second night. He seemed like a pretty friendly Australian. The ten-second conversation we had was the only time we ever saw him “alive.”

The second day we tackled the big kahuna: la Alhambra. Our tickets weren’t good until 2 p.m., so we scaled the city’s hill to explore the famous Albayzín neighborhood. It was a chore to navigate the labyrinth of narrow streets, especially while walking uphill. There was a major payoff.

Me standing at the mirador de San Nicolas, with la Alhambra laid out in the background.

The view from el Mirador de San Nicolas was spectacular. From it one can see all of Granada spread out below, and la Alhambra stands directly across, on the adjacent hill.

The neighborhood also is home to many native Spaniards and immigrants alike, mostly Moroccans. I was digging the diversity.

We ate tapas along the river, surrounded by medieval Granada on one side and the impressive Alhambra on the other. Afterwards, we put our walking shoes back on to climb the other hill to la Alhambra.

La Alhambra did not disappoint. In 2007, it was in the running for the title of one of the “new” seven wonders of the world. The controversial poll, in which people could vote online an unlimited amount of times, yielded these results:

• The Great Wall of China
• Petra in Jordan
• Brazil’s statue of Christ the Redeemer
• Peru’s Machu Picchu
• Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid
• The Colosseum in Rome
• India’s Taj Mahal

I can’t argue with any of those choices, but I still think la Alhambra is worthy of the list. Like I said, it was built by Muslim caliphs, who ruled Spain from the eighth through the 15th centuries. Granada was the last bastion of Moorish rule to fall to the Catholic kings, peacefully turning it over to Isabel de Castilla in 1492. Isabel was living in the palace when Christopher Columbus delivered the earth-shattering news that he had discovered a New World. Isabel is now buried on the site.

La Alhambra

In addition to the rich history, the palace/castle has some of the most stunning architecture I’ve ever seen. I believe the Moors were the best thing to ever happen to Spanish culture, and la Alhambra gives strong credence to that argument. It is filled with colorful tile patterns, beautiful Arabic phrases carved into clay and wood, intimidating towers, luscious patio gardens, and unique ceilings.

Moorish decor

El patio de los Arrayanes. Love the reflection. (Copied this photo idea from a tourist guidebook.)

This ceiling never ceases to "wow" me.

Perhaps the best “wow” moment of la Alhambra was looking out on Granada from the highest tower of the castle, Torre de la Vela. It’s hard not to feel like you’re on top of the world.

View from the tallest tower of la Alhambra.

Having accomplished our main goal for the weekend, everything afterwards was just gravy.

That night, we decided to go on the hostel’s tapas tour to be social while having a night on the town. We went to three different tapas bars, and I had a blast talking with guys from Australia, Mexico City and Cleveland. The food was pretty good, too. I even tried blood sausage! (Never again. I ate one bite, and it tasted kinda like jerky. Problem was, I couldn’t eat it while knowing what it was. Too gross.)

The next morning, we rousted ourselves out of bed to hop on the hostel walking tour of the Albayzín neighborhood. Even though we’d already seen it, it was worth hiking up the hill again just to hear the guide’s commentary.

Our guide was a Brit who has lived in Granada for a number of years. He was hilarious, making us do a silly hokey-pokey thing at the beginning of the tour to loosen us up and telling us pretty witty jokes.

He was also a gold mine of interesting and useful tidbits. For example, I learned a ton about the history of Granada and la Alhambra, including that gem about it being the site where Columbus delivered the news to Isabel. He told us that Granada, which is Spanish for pomegranate, was thus named because of the abundance of the fruit that was introduced to the area by the Moors. Interestingly, granada is also Spanish for grenade.

He also explained why medieval Spanish doorways have smaller openings within their large frames. It’s not because Spaniards are historically short; it’s actually because the short doorway forces one to duck his head upon entering, thereby making it easy to chop off an intruder’s head.

The guy even explained to me why residents of Ireland and the U.K. drive on the left, while most of Europe and America drive on the right. (For the sake of space, I’ll leave this explanation out. If you really want to know, feel free to leave a comment below.)

All too soon, it was time to catch the bus back to Madrid. I started to miss Granada as soon as we departed. Although the city is fairly small, it is so full of life. I fell in love with the culture, the history, and the scenery. I’ve decided that Granada is my second-favorite Spanish city, behind Sevilla. It’s not a coincidence that my top two are located in the southern community of Andalucía, which has the most visible, lasting fingerprints of Moorish culture.

Although I’m completely satisfied with my three-day trip to Granada, there were a few things that would’ve been fun to check out, like the Gypsy caves on top of the hill, the aqueducts that supply water to the fountains of la Alhambra, and the abandoned monastery hidden within the surrounding mountains.

Having been there myself, I know that Granada has much more to offer than just la Alhambra. I will passionately argue with anyone who thinks otherwise.