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Granada Basilika

Hi this is Wayne of the loud font...
I have the Rick Steves Bbook, 'Sevilla, Granada & Andalucia' copyright 2017 for text.
It uses the bus naming of C1, C2, C3, C4. These busses' names have been changed to C30, C31, C32, etc. The change might have been December 2018. Although every now and then a bus stop still has the C1 system on its signage.

We are on our third day and ran out of "Rick" suggestions, so I googled the basilika across the street from where we are staying. WOW! This should definitely be in his book. Google San Juan de Dios, read the tripadvisor reviews. They are so clever, they made me excited to visit our neighbor.

By the way...basilika, or bazilika, or bazilica means a church with extra ordinary beauty. So it is always worth checking out.

I have been to many churches, basilika, cathedral, monastery, and chapel. This is in a class of its own. I thought I had seen the pinnacle of Baroque when I saw a mamouth church outside of Ololouc, Czechia. This is the baroque that broke the style. (Sagrada Familia, Chartrer cathedral and the Aya Sofia are not baroque in style.)

How to get there. Very easy. Get to the cathedral in Granada. Find Calle San Jeronimo, it Ts into the cathedral. Put your back to the cathedral and walk until calle San Jeronimo Ts (at calle Gran Capitan/calle San Juan de Dios). This is a university neighborhood, so there are lots of students, and is very safe. At the T, go across the street and turn right. It is about the third building on your left. The entrance is on the left immediately beyond the old stone structure itself. Enter through the small garden. Entrance fee was 4€ as of 28 March 2019. Audio is included.

Don't leave until you get upstairs for a very close view of the relics and momento St John of God. And don't leave until you see the 4 minute special animated presentation in the naive.

We have only visited once, the stairs going up were gladly opened upon request at half past the hour, and the 4 minute show started on the hour. I am pretty sure that that door gets locked and people shooed out of the upstairs before the animation can start. Someone could get injured or the automated equipment damaged if left behind.

This is a must see. Using Rick's method, I would give it three triangles. And list it immdeiately below the Alhambra. Maybe he doesn't list it because it is 7 short blocks from the cathedral and people don't have time for this short walk or they become frightened by narrow streets and grafitti. Trust me, you know me, it is a short walk. Straightish. And safe.

On the way back consider calle Duquesa as an alternate route home. It leads you past Jardin Botanico, and ends at Plaza Trinidad. From there turn left (east with a compass, but maybe not on your map) and head back to the cathedral.

Enjoy your travels,
Wayne iNES

Posted by
4525 posts

Glad to see you calmer, Wayne. Thanks for the updates. I will say, I rarely rely only on RS books particularly if somewhere more that 2 or 3 days. I did take his Spain guide for the trip but had made notes of other interests on post its and stuck them in the relevant RS pages.
I missed the Basilika, though as I don't think it got sufficient shout outs from other books (and my feet gave out somewhere day 3).

I had originally bought one of the Dobla d'oro tickets for the Alhambra as I had time and decided to visit the other buildings run by the Patronato. Some are actually free to enter, so if interested, check out the alhambra-patronato website for the lists of buildings they oversee. Some lovely little gardens attached with them.
There are plenty of buildings and sites the RS just doesn't have time for....understandable given his propensity of short lists.
If you haven't been to Seville yet, do look up Palacio de las Duenas. At the very least, read the countess' history. She was a colorful character.

Posted by
26829 posts

Thank you for this, Wayne. It sounds like a very interesting church. I'll be in Granada in early May, and I thought I had done a lot of research (I think 4 different guidebooks), but I had missed San Juan de Dios.

This is further evidence that it doesn't hurt to skim through the TripAdvisor Things To Do list to be sure there's nothing your guidebook has overlooked that sounds appealing to you, personally. You have to watch out for misinformation on TripAdvisor, but the crowds posting there are often aware of something the guidebooks didn't have room for--or something very new.

Posted by
1286 posts

I agree it's very worth seeing, thank you for the recommendation. The style is called churrigueresque, a Spanish baroque, very lavish. And, as an alternative route, if you are walking down through the Albaicin so that you pass Mriador la Lona and come out near Puerta de Elvira then the church is actually quite close for walking back to the centre.

For others who might visit the church there are also two other sights nearby. Next door is the hospital San Juan de Dios. It's a working hospital, so you can't walk around everywhere, but if you go in via the clinic waiting room you can visit a couple of impressive patios and see some old tiling. And a short walk further on is the San Jeronimo monastery, another great sight worth visiting

I'm a little surprised these weren't in your guide book, as they're pretty well-known tourist sights.

Glad you are enjoying your hols.

Posted by
1936 posts

I found in Sevilla and Granada it was often more fun to stumble upon a small church or former mosque that may not be in the guidebooks. Rick seems to pick the general tourist sites but misses some smaller attractions-which is fine by me.

Posted by
1189 posts

Hi from Ronda,
The basilika is not mentioned in most guide books. It is not included in the Granada card. It is not part of the Alhambra d'or package mentioned above.

And it is a basilika, more than a church. And as much as I love small country churches this gem is one of a kind. The religious buildings in Ubeda and Baeza are a great collection of renaissance work. The chapel in Ubaeza is pretty amazing mostly because of its lifelike staturary and that it was and still is financed by one family. The off spring of the secretary to Charles the I, AKA Carlos V. He might have been a little light fingered, if my history books were correct, and helps explain some of the family wealth.

But this basilika beats all of them. For baroque, I would like to see nominations of a more elaborate structure. Seriously. If you have seen this basilika, is their one you would nominate as more unbelievable? Second on my list is the church outdide Olomouc, Czechia.

Wayne iNES