Mirador San Miguel Alto

My first encounter with Grenada

I arrived in Grenada that day and I strolled around the city to discover it a bit more. It was in the middle of the Plaza Nueva that I met Pedro, a team leader for an organisation that welcomes exchange students. Three Erasmus students surrounded him. They came from all four corners of the world and yet they all wanted the same thing as me: to find new, breathtaking places in this already dazzling city.

Reaching the summit by a secret path

Pedro suggested going to find Mirador, well-known in Grenada, but by taking a hidden path.

We passed through the neighbourhood of Albacín. This charming neighbourhood is set against the mountains. An intriguing neighbourhood because of its little white houses, stuck one against the other, as if forming an unbreakable group. A welcoming neighbourhood because of that impression of always being on the landing of a cottage or at the entrance of a garden.

After we wandered round those narrow, delightful streets of Albacín, we arrived at "the other side" of the mountain. We saw the "hidden face" of Grenada. We arrived in that place where people live differently, in houses dug directly into the mountain, sheltered from looks. However my gaze wasn't fixed on these differences but more on the splendor of that countryside that is always faithful to itself, whatever side of the mountain I find myself on. Alhambra was in the distance, like a delicate shadow adding to the beauty of the sight. The summits of Sierra Nevada in the background reminded us of the eternal magic of nature.

We climbed the fortification (in a last attempt) to see again what was happening behind the wall. What other beauties could nature still be saving for us? Nature was overwhelming us already on all sides but it was still saving the best until last.

A gaze towards the sun to have eyes full of stars

Having reached the summit, the Mirador de San Miguel Alto, we were dazzled by the sun and the uninterrupted view over the city and it was to the sound of a guitar and some voices that we admired for a long time what lay before our eyes.

There I saw mind-blowing sunset, in an atmosphere of shared tranquility.