15:00 the walking tour starts and the guide informs us he lives in a cave (i guess i shouldn’t have been so shocked, he fittingly looks like it), much like many people in granada it turns out. when the gypsies came to granada they settled on the hills, for the sole purpose, i believe, of having the best view of the sunset… oh those gypsies. they dug out caves in the mountains around the city and overtime it became popular to build homes around them. what looks like a normal house, or bar from the outside will have the last room open into the mountain cave. sounds fine and dandy to me, until the mold starts collecting. some of those places don’t have running water, like our guides’, who brings it up the hill everyday from town, some don’t have electricity even, and those that do should perhaps re-evaluate their situation as there is water running through the mountain and often creeps onto people’s house walls. so cave dwelling sounds perfectly romantic until you weigh out the pros and cons. the attention of the tour, however, was focused on seeing graffiti art around the city. i read, in my lonely planet of known attacks on tourists, so to be especially careful, of course i decided not to venture out into any little streets and alleys. after meeting some of the ‘great’ locals i believed it 100%. but with a tour guide and a big group of people it was a good opportunity to see things i would not get to otherwise. the tour was an homage to the artist el niño de las pinturas who lives in a district of realejo in granada. a nice way to cover up some gray walls of an old city i thought. the last two images are not el niño’s but ummm wario… hello-my love for wario knows no boundries , i was also a fan of the crying elvis. since i don’t like to ‘critique’ other people’s work that’s my five cents. five euros well spent.
