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Very Moorish: OutUK's Adrian Gillan gets to grips with gay Granada
- Andalusia's historic gem!
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Granada is a dramatically-landscaped uni town brimming with young cuties
yet with a rich Moorish past, set amidst the Sierra Nevada mountains, a cool
685 metres above sea level - topped by one of the world's great citadels.
Also, it's birthplace and home to one of Spain's most famous LGBTs: poet and dramatist
Federico García Lorca.
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The Alhambra Hill
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Lorca was executed by Franco's fascist homophobes in July 1936,
at the start of the Spanish Civil War. Granada now, mercifully, has much to offer
its visiting queers.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Just 50 metres from the world-famous Alhambra, and a mere ten minute walk from
the town centre,
Hotel Guadalupe is hard to beat - a plush,
atmospheric yet great value Andalusian gem. Fab restaurant too.
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Spend a day exploring the most stunning Arabic monument in Spain, strewn majestically
across the Alhambra hill - including the Alcazaba fortress, Generalife gardens and
Nasrid Palaces. Dating back to 1238 in parts, it is an exotic Moorish splendour.
Then, meander through the warren of bustling shop-and-café-lined streets in the
Albaicín district, on the hill opposite. And, as darkness falls, tour the gay venues,
some of which cluster - somewhat aptly, given the currently weakened state of Spain's
Catholic Church - just to the side of the Cathedral quarter.
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You can read more
about Granada at tourist info site TurGranada.es
NIGHTLIFE
No one hits bars or clubs here pre midnight! So take your time at the
gay-dominated eatery, Gayedra, on Tendillas de Santa Paula, in the heart
of the queer quarter - with its friendly waiters and frequent cabaret shows,
which make eating here anything but a drag.
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If you go a few blocks down, across the Plaza de los Lobos into Tic Tac on
Horno de Haza, to soak up its seedy atmosphere and acquaint yourself with
its cruisy reputation - notably the notorious darkroom, crammed with men
of all ages. The bar has a good reputation with a friendly staff and
some drag shows staged on a fairly regular basis.
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Patio de Arrayanes in Alhambra, Granada
Photo: miralex
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Stroll around the corner to XXL on Montalban - a modern, stylish yet
bear-dominated bar nearby. If your feet are tapping, then pop back to
Tendillas de Santa Paula, and enter 6 Colours - a relatively recent
addition to Granada's gay scene, next to Gayedra, with a colorful, young,
trendy, dancy pre-club crowd; many of whom eventually move onto
Zoo on Moras - the main gay clubbing joint in town cum weekends: large
and packed, though empty pre 3am!
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CRUISING
Still restless? Then hit Geminis on Santa Cruz, not far from the train
station - for its videos, cabins, café, dark room, steamer and dry sauna.
Open Mon-Sat 4pm-10pm; and Sun 12-10pm.
They operate a number of special fetish nights and there's often reduction for
any of the guys under 25.
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LGBT and Grenada flag on concrete wall
Photo: Bennian
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Otherwise, the two top cruising areas in Granada are the railway station,
mainly the gents; and nearby Jardines de Triunfo - a sloping park at the
intersection of the city's two largest streets, Gran Via and Avenida de la Constitution,
fairly busy in its lower stretches cum night.
THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK
Gayedra (Tendillas de Santa Paula 6; T: (+34) 958 201 437)
Geminis Sauna (Santa Cruz, 2; T: (+34) 958805126)
Hotel Guadalupe (Paseo de la Sabika; T: (+34) 958223423; Book Online)
6 Colours (Tendillas de Santa Paula 6; no phone)
Tic Tac (Horno de Haza, 19; no phone)
XXL (Montalban 13; no phone)
Zoo (Moras 2; no phone)
Revised June 2015.
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