Las granadas en Granada

Did you know, that Granada no sólo es una ciudad sino también una fruta? That’s right! The name Granada signifies the city of Granada, Spain but it also means pomegranate. As I stepped out of my house 2 weeks to go to class, I dropped my keys and as I bent down to pick them up, I saw a tiny pomegranate imprinted on a street cover for the fire department. I was surprised to see that on something so tiny, the city was still represented with the fruit of the granada (pomegranate). Fascinated, this is how my own personal challenge for the last two weeks came to fruition. I told myself to leave a few minutes early for class, not walk con tanta prisa to my destinations, and to look around to see what other granadas there are in Granada. The result? Madre mía, as they would say here, they’re everywhere! We’ll start from where this idea came to me—outside of mi casa along el Río Genil. Within the 100 feet, I had found 3 granadas—all of them in similar locations to the first one I found. One was on the fire department cap; another adorned the cover of the lighting company and the last one landed on a sewer cover. You read that correctly, pomegranates on these seemingly forgettable things that people walk over every day. Crazy, I know! Until that first discovery of the pomegranate on the ground, I had never noticed that they are on every street cover I see.

Pues, seguimos. To find not only one, but dozens more pomegranates, I only had to look across the street. Lining almost every street in Granada are granada pillars to distinguish between the sidewalk and the road. During a 15 minute walk through the city, it is easy to come across over 50 of them. There are even different sizes!

As I continued my walk, I arrived at the Paseo del Salón. Aquí, hay muchísimas. First, leading up to the Paseo, there is a small wall dividing the pedestrian walkway and a garden.  Marking the end of this wall stands one of the larger granadas en Granada. Once you look past this stone granada your eyes fall upon what I have named “El fuente de granadas”. Decorated with large granadas throughout the middle of the fountain, this fountain is beautiful during the day and only gets more enchanting by nightfall, illuminated by the water and the lights. The spouts for the fountain are made after the tops of the pomegranates, yet another little detail that this city has put into demonstrating its pride. Around this fountain and other areas of the city there are granadas inlaid in stone in the walkways. These pomegranates I didn’t even realize were there until I started snapping pictures and saw them in it. This is what I love most—there are symbols everywhere of the pomegranates and some are as obvious as a fountain but others are so subtle you almost miss them.

 

          Some other small granadas but ones that take up a large portion of the granadas in Granada are the ones on the street signs. The classic pottery here is made of only two colors: dark blue and a teal-ish color. They only depict pomegranates and certain other patterns. Every street sign is made up of these colors, a pomegranate at the top and below, el nombre de la calle. This type of pottery decorated with granadas is also everywhere in my host mom’s cocina (and in almost every cocina in Granada) for everything from arroz/rice to aceite to judias/beans.

A hidden granada in the bushes outside the API office

Last but not least, there are the granada trees themselves! The city would not be complete without these trees scattered about giving their fruits for us to enjoy. My friends and I picked off the last granada on one of the trees in the center of town, broke it open, and enjoyed it right there—a delicious granada on the streets of Granada.

A granada tree in the

Las granadas!

Me, Jiela, & Tyler eating one of the last granadas

 

This pride is one of my favorite aspects of Granada. For me, even though it’s a city of 500,000 people, it has the feeling a small town like my town of 6,000 people in Media, PA. The pride and prominence of the granadas provide a sense of unity—something everyone is proud of, something that connects everyone. I’ve never seen a city be so ingenious about something like this. Many cities I’ve encountered are proud of their city but never have I seen so much thought be put into truly making a city stand out as I have with las granadas en Granada.