Granada, Spain

Granada Day 1

Easy transition from Madrid to Granada on the train then a bus. Not much to see in between but there are many red poppies in bloom in the non-cultivated areas along the tracks. We had detailed directions to our AirBNB but the taxi can take us only so far  The last bit was paved but still a single lane of two-way traffic (luckily we didn't meet anyone coming in). 

          Here in Granada when the roads and sidewalks aren't paved with concrete or asphalt they 

          are "paved" with rocks set in concrete - larger rocks for the roads and smaller ones for the   

          sidewalks. The sidewalks often even have designs made of light- and dark-colored rocks. 

          The rocks stick up out of the concrete so it is far from a flat surface though they are shiny

          and smooth (and somewhat slippery when wet). 

Where the taxi dropped us off the paving shifted from asphalt to rocks. We made it about 10 feet pulling our wheeled luggage along. Jeff was the hero and carried both the larger bags the rest of the way which was short and downhill but still the bags are 30-40 pounds each. When we leave it will be a similar distance but we will be continuing downhill (and some of that has concrete sidewalks).

Our host was there to meet us and show us a bit around the house and where we are on a map. We are VERY CLOSE to the Alhambra which was intentional but Serena made these reservations so long ago she didn't remember the details. We have a tour tonight of the Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra but in the meantime we went down to the Plaza Nueva area to get maps from the Tourist Info office and try to find a grocery store so we can buy coffee and breakfast items. 

Our house (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/886960) has a rooftop deck. We decided to enjoy it and have dinner here. We bought some savory pastries and wine in town and had a light dinner at the house. 

BTW - We didn't get lost once yet today; this is unusual so far.

We didn't wish to press our luck so we left the house with plenty of time to spare to get to the meeting point for our tour and we were quite early. (FYI - Going down a short dead-end street parallel to the one you really want is NOT really "lost".) We were a small group of only three couples (the others from Chicago and New Mexico). Our guide Sophia (or Sofia?) grew up in Granada. She studied abroad in Manchester England for a year to improve her English. She was fluent but still a heavy accent. She was also quite knowledgeable and very proud of the local heritage (rightly so). We ended up on the night tour of the Nasrid Palaces because despite our early planning we were too late to get the regular tickets. It was an excellent tour and we ended about 11pm at a different gate than the one we came in at. And yet we still didn't get lost. We did recognize at one point that we were definitely someplace different than we had been earlier but we chose the right direction from there and shortly we were home. This being Spain and it not yet being midnight we of course didn't go to bed. We had a snack and a drink and got to bed a bit before 1am. Good thing we didn't go to sleep right away because the trash area is right next to our house and they pick up the trash here everyday and apparently they do it at 11:50 at night! 

Day 2 in Granada

Our "street" is a dead-end so not a lot of traffic and it was quiet enough that we slept until 11am. That wasn't the plan but it's okay. After breakfast and starting a load of laundry we headed uphill back to the Alhambra - our night Nasrid Palace tour ticket included admission to everything else today. 

The map brochure says the average visit is 3 hours; for us it was closer to 5 hours. We wandered throughout the Generalife gardens, both museums in King Charles V's palace, the Partal Palace and the Alcazaba. It's nice to be here in spring when the gardens have so many flowers in bloom. We highly recommend a visit to the Alhambra and the Nasrid Palaces (though you can probably skip the Museum of Fine Arts).

We left the grounds through yet a different gate and headed back to Plaza Nueva so we could have dinner at a Moroccan restaurant we picked out yesterday. The dinner was very good and the herba buena/mint tea was intense and sweet. Afterwards we were back at the house on the deck doing the usual - Jeff examining and culling photos and Serena doing her daily journal.

Granada Day 3

We bought 24-hour tickets in advance for the tourist train (wheeled passenger trolleys linked and pulled by a small bus) and today we used it to visit the Royal Chapel adjacent to the cathedral. This chapel is where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are entombed. You can see their carved marble headstones above and go below for a view of their lead caskets. There is also a museum with relics from their lives. We didn't plan to go to the cathedral and that was decided for certain when we saw the line for buying tickets. We caught the train back to the stop closest to our house which resulted in a downhill rather than uphill walk home. :) 

After lunch and getting our luggage ready to go for tomorrow we had lunch and enjoyed our deck again. Today started with light rain first thing in the morning but since then it's been a mixture of overcast (but bright) and sun. 

Caught the "train" around 7pm over to St. Nicholas overlook which has a panoramic view of the Alhambra. We had hoped for sunset light highlighting the buildings but it's too overcast now. It was still beautiful and we did have some nice views of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in the background. They light up the facades of the Alhambra at night so we got a window table at one of the restaurants below the overlook and settled in with a bottle of wine and a few tapas. The restaurant was only lightly occupied until just when we were leaving about 9:45 p.m. At that time a very large group of Japanese tourists started streaming in. We were able to take the "train" back to Plaza Nueva and walk up to the house.

Leaving Granada

We didn't realize until we arrived at the station this morning that we get to ride the bus again. Back to Antequera and catch a train from there to Seville. It's lightly raining this morning in Granada and we expect rain in Seville too.

Serena is enjoying her ipad and finding it super convenient to be able to journal and type these blogs when we're in transit without internet.

Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada

Alhambra at night (in the foreground is our restaurant)

Alhambra view from Generalife (also part of the Alhambra)

Interior decoration

Interior decoration

Typical road paving with Jeff's feet for scale

Jeff with the Hotel Alhambra Palace 

 

Granada Cathedral & Serena

Alhambra rose

Interior decoration

patterned sidewalk

interior decoration