Daily life
Empadronamiento
em-pa-dro-na-mee-EN-to
Registration on the municipal roll at the ayuntamiento. The keystone document — the Andalusian health card, school places and your TIE all depend on it.
Cita previa
SEE-ta PREH-vee-a
The prior appointment required for almost every government office. Getting one is harder than the appointment itself.
NIE / TIE
nee-eh / tee-eh
The foreigner identity number and the physical card carrying it. The number comes first; nothing downstream works without it.
Gestor
hes-TOR
A licensed administrative agent who handles bureaucracy on your behalf. Normal in Spain and inexpensive in Granada by national standards.
Carmen
KAR-men
An Albaicín house built around a walled garden with a view over the Alhambra. The local architectural type, protected, coveted and quietly difficult to live in.
Cuesta
KWES-ta
A steep lane. Granada is built on hills and half the old city is cuestas — which decides where you can park, what a delivery costs and how you feel about a fourth-floor flat.
La Vega
la BEH-ga
The irrigated plain west of the city, the historic market garden of Granada — and the fault system running under it that makes this Spain's most seismically active basin.
VUT
veh-oo-teh
Vivienda de uso turístico — a registered tourist flat. Granada capped these at 10% of dwellings per statistical zone and suspended new licences where the cap is already exceeded.
Social
La tapa
la TA-pa
In Granada the tapa comes free with every drink and is chosen by the kitchen, not by you. This is genuinely the local rule rather than a tourist gimmick.
Culture
Zambra
THAM-bra
The Sacromonte cave flamenco form, danced by Granada's Roma families. Distinct from the Seville and Jerez traditions and performed in the caves themselves.
Emergency
112
—
The single European emergency number for police, fire and ambulance. Free from any phone, with English-speaking operators usually available.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.