Diputación de Granada publishes a new tourist guide to Easter in the province

The processional parades of Granada have all the characteristic attributes of Holy Week in Andalusia: images of great artistic value, pasos carried by hard-working costaleros, recollection, penitents, saetas, incense and a lot of emotion. But they also have a unique element that makes their contemplation sublime: a unrivalled urban setting that elevates their already high aesthetic value. The Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte quarters, the narrow streets of the Realejo, the Cathedral, are the setting for a Passion unique in the world.

In order to make it known to visitors, the Granada Provincial Tourist Board has just published an informative and promotional brochure on Easter Week in the city and throughout the province. Its purpose is to offer the tourist a selection of the most important and spectacular moments and the most appropriate place to witness them. "We want to share with the traveller the most valuable information we have in Granada, tell them what they cannot miss during their stay and encourage them to travel to the towns to enjoy events such as the Living Passion of Cuevas del Campo or the Incensarios de Loja", explains Enrique Medina, provincial deputy for Tourism.

Although there will be no processions this year due to the pandemic, the guide is timeless and is intended to be useful for many years to come. Medina clarifies that "the publication is not intended to be an exhaustive and encyclopaedic compendium of the brotherhoods and their processions, for that there are already booklets of timetables and itineraries that we also offer to tourists". Their aim, the deputy specifies, "is to help the visitor to choose, recommending the essential moments, explaining why our Easter Week is different and persuading them to extend their stay and visit other places in the province".

The president of the Federación de Hermandades y Cofradías de Granada, Jesús Muros, congratulated the Patronato on the publication of the guide, "which complements, with a different, much more touristic point of view, the numerous existing publications and literature on Holy Week".

The brochure has been published in Spanish and English, with an initial print run of ten thousand copies. It is a fold-out, page-size booklet, with a total of twelve pages in a very visual format, in which the photos, almost a hundred in number, predominate over the text. In the city of Granada, the omnipresence of the Alhambra in Holy Week stands out, as a protagonist or only as a backdrop; the spectacular image of the Carrera del Darro with the river and its bridges; the monumentality of the façade of the Cathedral; the bonfires and saetas which are performed in the streets of the city, and the monumentality of the Cathedral's façade; the bonfires and saetas that greet the Cristo de los Gitanos, perhaps the best known internationally; the big day in the Albaicín, Maundy Thursday, with La Concha, La Aurora and La Estrella; the beauty of the carving of the Cristo de San Agustín; the recollection of the Cofradía del Silencio; the history of the Chías; and the fervour professed to the Cristo de los Favores.

Most of the pages are dedicated to the province, in a journey that begins in Guadix, with the descent of the Christ of the Gypsies through the Barrio de las Cuevas and the Alcazaba illuminated by torches. It continues in Baza, with the Cristo de los Méndez; Loja, with the unique tradition of the Incensarios and its rich costumes; Padul, one of the most active and complete Holy Weeks in the province; Cuevas del Campo and its unique Living Passion, in which almost the whole town participates; Huéscar, and its Andalusian, Castilian and Levantine influences; Motril, with processions every day; and Almuñécar, with the spectacular celebration of El Paso on the morning of Good Friday. These are joined by some twenty municipalities, with unique rites such as the burning of the Judas, the 'carrerillas' and the profligate display of firecrackers and rockets.

The guide is completed with a section dedicated to the succulent gastronomy of Semana Santa, with its own personality, in which cod and sweets are the protagonists with such characteristic dishes as potaje de vigilia, 'bolaíllos', roscos, torrijas and pestiños.

The brochure is now available to the public at the Tourist Information Office of the Tourist Board, located in the old Colegio de Niñas Nobles (C/Cárcel Baja, 3) and in digital version on the website www.turgranada.es.