Description
The Realejo was the neighborhood of weavers and esparto craftsmen in Arab Granada. This route combines visits to active workshops with the history of the Jewish quarter and its surviving craft traditions.
The Realejo was for centuries the neighborhood of Granada's artisans. When the Nasrids ruled the city, silk weavers, blacksmiths, tanners, and esparto craftsmen lived here. After the Reconquest, many of these trades survived, albeit transformed, and today it is still possible to find workshops where esparto is hand-braided as it was in the 12th century. This route explores that legacy: it starts at one of Granada's last esparto workshops, where Don José continues to make baskets and mats with the same techniques he learned from his father; passes through the Casa de los Tiros, a Renaissance palace housing the city's best museum of popular crafts; and ends at Callejón del Gallo, a hidden alley where two artisans — a blacksmith and a leatherworker — keep alive trades that would otherwise have disappeared. It is a morning route, because the workshops close at midday, and requires patience: there is no rush, no tourists, no explanatory signs. Just artisans working and willing to tell you about their craft if you ask respectfully.
