About Granada

A great deal of information about the province of Granada, its geographical situation, history, tourist sites, weather, transport, etcetera, can be found at the webpages of the Patronato Provincial de Granada and the Ayuntamiento de Granada

During your stay you can also visit the main tourist office of Granada, which is located at a 10 minutes walk from the conference center. There you can request all sort of information.

A few practical tips:

• As most probably you all know, the time schedules in Spain are shifted 1-2 hours with respect to most of Europe (this is specially noticeable in Southern Spain). At lunch time restaurants start to serve at 13:30 the earliest, though most people show up at 14:30. The same happen at dinner, being 20:30 the earliest starting time. This translates into going to bed later that in other countries. They say that we don't sleep very much...but it might just be that we are so tired when we go to bed that we directly go to a deep-sleep regime!
• In Granada you can choose between three eating styles: through snacks ("de tapas"), through portions ("de raciones") or through formal lunch/dinner ("de restaurante").
  • De tapas: Granada is the world capital of Tapas. Everytime you ask for a beer, wine or soft drink you will receive for free a "tapa" (a snack companion). In general, what you get is a surprise, they choose it for you (however, if you are vegetarian you can ask for a non-meat tapa ... "por favor, una tapa sin carne"; typically they will do it for you). This works at lunch and dinner time up to say 24:00, when bar kitchens tend to close. 2-3 good tapas can perfectly substitute a formal luch/dinner.
  • De raciones: One might prefer not to drink that much and, instead of accumulating tapas, ask for a portion of some of the specialities of the place. Portion's prices depend on the place but one can easily find them for around 7-10 euros each. A portion per person should be enough.
  • De restaurante: At lunch time many restaurants and bars offer a menu of the day ("menu del dia") consisting in a first and second course, including bread, a drink and a desert or coffee to end up. Prices between 8-10 euros are easily found. The above time warning only applies to this eating style. Tapas and raciones are available during larger time intervals.
• Granada and Flamenco: Granada stands as one of the emblematic places in the physical and musical geography of the flamenco culture. With its peculiar idiosyncrasy, the city has distilled along the years those accents and flavours in the flamenco tradition that are characteristically eastern-Andalusian, enriching and offering a natural balance to other mythical flamenco sites in Andalusia. Access to the flamenco world is not always easy, even for locals. Here we comment on several options that might be of help in your 'initiatic' way to the 'duende'.
  • Peña La Platería (http://www.laplateria.org.es): located in the Albayzin quarter, with a charming terrace facing La Alhambra, it offers a genuine flamenco experience whenever it is open for non-members. In this sense, the "Jueves Flamencos" (flamenco Thursdays) represents a very interesting option once per week.
  • Cuevas del Sacromonte: situated in the traditional gypsy quarter, the caves in the Sacromonte Hill have been a cradle for flamenco creation along generations. More or less touristic shows perform every evening in caves such as: Venta del Gallo, Zambra de María La Canastera , Zambra Gitana La Rocio o Zambra Gitana de Los Tarantos (all of these caves stand along the so called "Camino del Sacromonte").
  • Tablao Albayzín: a traditional site for flamenco shows located by the beautiful Mirador de San Cristóbal in the high Albayzin.
  • Clubs: there exists a variety of music clubs with a regular flamenco offer, alternating with other music offers (jazz...). Among them, we can mention: Eshavira (Postigo de la Cuna, 2, in a turn left off from Calle Elvira), Upsetter (Carrera del Darro, 7), Huerto del Loro (Carrera del Darro).
  • Other Links: tourism granada