The Alhambra

The Alhambra is so amazing that it deserves an entry all its own. This fairy-tale castle floats above the city like a dream, but it only takes about ten minutes walk (climb!) to reach the first gate. As you walk up the hill, you immediately notice the water. Many small streams, plus the Darro River, rush down from the Alhambra, and the sound of running water is always in the air. Granada is fairly dry, and the Alhambra itself has a rocky and forbidding facade; the abundance of water is surprising. It feels extra lush and luxurious.

Directly across from the Alhambra are the neighborhoods of Albaycin and Sacromonte, where the gypsies live in caves and give flamenco dinner shows at night. In the evening, the shouts of the flamenco dancers and the music can be clearly heard in the Alhambra gardens.

Madrid

We said goodbye to Granada, and arrived in Madrid in the late afternoon. Our hotel was right on the plaza that faces the train station, so we had a very lively view. The hotel was very old fashioned, with tiny elevators, and giant room keys that you turn in to the front desk every time you leave the building. We had no idea what to do, so we walked to the Plaza Mayor. There is a giant statue of a man on a horse in the center of the square - King Felipe I think - and lots of restaurants. We ate at the one with the least aggressive waiters. I had a salad with goat cheese, and a plate of fried pork morsels. Delicious! Ahmed had lamb. It was too much food for me, and for once Ahmed couldn't finish my food. :) The waiter was a bit concerned that I didn't like the food, so I said, no, no, it was delicious! I am so full! Ahmed asked for the bill. When the waiter came back, he brought two tiny glasses and a bottle. The bottle was filled with clear liquid, and had fruit and cinnamon sticks in the bottom. He poured some into the glasses, and said "A digestif!" Let me tell you, it was delicious! A little fiery, and scented with banana, cinnamon, and apricot. I don't know how good it was for my digestion, but it sure made my eyes water and my nose run. So if you are ever in Madrid, I recommend that you always leave a little food on your plate, and tell your waiter how full you are!

After dinner we walked to another plaza. I don't know the name, but it seemed to be the central shopping district. It was packed with people and street performers. Madrid is a very lively city, and I'm sorry we didn't have more time to spend there. On the way back to the hotel, we came across an amazing hanging garden - the entire side of a building was covered in plants. We finally went to sleep around 11, just as a group of musicians began playing in the plaza below. It was soothing music, thank goodness, and a nice way to end the day.

Unfortunately I had no time to go to Cordoba on this trip. Hopefully we will be able to go back to Spain and explore more. If we do, I will tell you all about it!

One last stroll through Granada

Last night we had one last wander around Granada. After an unfortunately lousy dinner, we walked along the Darro River. River and Alhambra to our right, the Albaycin neighborhood to our left. At one point I thought I saw a cat duck down a drainage hole on the river side of the street. I looked over the wall - cats! A whole gang. They looked at me as curiously as I looked at them.

At the end of the street the road began the long climb up to the top of the Albaycin. Ahmed wanted to take the bus and avoid the climb (lightweight!). So that's what we did. It is amazing how these buses zip along the narrow lanes, with just an inch of clearance on either side. We missed our stop, and it was a good thing - the bus rounded a corner and there before us was a magnificent view of the sunset and the whole city.

We jumped off the bus, and walked back down through the Albaycin. We passed by an impromptu street performance of gypsy music, and stopped for mint tea at one of the teterias. The mint is fresh, and really opens your eyes. On Tuesday we ate at Sultan, a Moroccan restaurant, where I had lemonade with mint. Wow! Talk about minty - I think they threw the mint and lemonade in a blender. Amazing. The meal we had was also amazing. Chicken, onions and almonds in a puff pastry dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar, drizzled with honey. Absolutely fantastic. I've had this before and it wasn't so good - nice to taste the real thing.

While drinking mint tea, Ahmed chatted with the shopkeeper, who complained about cheap customers who waste his time and then don't buy. It was pretty funny. I had another scoop of orange gelato from Los Italianos, a must for every visitor to Granada. And then we walked home. And that is it for Granada.

Churches and relics

So today I decided to give some attention to Spanish Catholic Granada. First I went into the Church of St John of God. St. John of God was the founder of the Knights Hospitallers. The church was very ornate - every surface was covered with frescoes, mirrors, paintings. The saint is buried in a raised room behind the altar. Impressive - a giant reliquary of silver that glows in the sunlight streaming through the windows behind it. From the back of the church, you can see the reliquary high above the altar - it is supposed to resemble a giant candle, the reliquary in its golden room is the flame. The custodian took me and another visitor up to the reliquary room. Again, very impressive, with every surface covered in pictures big and small. On closer inspection, I discovered that all the little picture frames affixed to the walls contained bone fragments. Then I noticed glass boxes full of skulls, and suddenly felt ready to leave. On my way out I saw a ghastly painting of John the Baptist - or rather his grimacing head, on a platter, the sinews and veins of his severed neck depicted in scientific detail. An informative sign stated that this picture was a gift to St John of God that he liked very much. Yeesh. I wasn't able to take pictures here unfortunately - it really was beautiful, even with all the skulls and bone fragments stuck to the wall.

Next I went into the monastery of St. Jerome. Much nicer, and far less gruesome. The towering wall behind the altar shows life-size dioramas of the stations of the cross, plus the greatest hits from the lives of the saints - saint whoever giving his cloak to the beggar, some poor guy being boiled alive, stuff like that. At least the central courtyard was full of orange trees, not dead bodies on display.

Time for a snack - I bought a cake donut that was dusted with granulated sugar. It looked ordinary, just a bit dark. I bit into it - cloves! Not nutmeg like we use in donuts. Very strong clove taste, interesting and good. It would be perfect with coffee.

This week has really been like boot camp. I've been walking about 8 miles a day, maybe more. And a lot of it uphill. I decided to wander around the Albaycin neighborhood, since I haven't done much hill work today. I stopped in to the Arab Baths (non-functioning), and found a lot of interesting old buildings. Tonight we have to pack, and tomorrow we go to Madrid.

Window shopping

Wednesday was a bit of a bust. I went to the train station to try to get tickets for Friday. The ticket machine was broken so I had to deal with a person, and he was not helpful. People here are rather reserved, and do not go out of their way to help. You have to be very persistent to get exactly what you want. I decided to go shopping instead. I slogged over to Hipercor - imagine a Nordstrom the size of a football field, with a Target on the lower level, also the size of a football field. I just wandered around for hours. When I visit a new place, I like to go to a grocery store. It's always so interesting to see what people eat and drink - some things surprisingly familiar, others new and strange. In the evening we went back to the train station, and a different, very nice man got us all set with tickets. Then we went to the center and thought hey, let's go into this cathedral we've been walking past all week. However it was 4 euros to enter so we said forget it. Ahmed was then assaulted by a gypsy, who tried to hand each of us some rosemary. I wouldn't touch it but Ahmed took it, so she tried to read his hand. It was pretty lame - you have a great love! Wink wink. You are strong! Wink wink. You have a big heart! Wink wink. We just kept saying Don't understand, sorry. Then she asked for money and Ahmed said no. She wasn't too unpleasant about it, thank god.

We had a nice dinner in the square near the church. Everything was good except my unfortunate soup - cold tomato cream with hard boiled eggs in it. Then the long walk back to the hotel and another day was done.

A visit to Alhambra

This morning I went to the Generalife, the garden of the Alhambra. It is impossibly beautiful. Exquisite bouquets appear at every turn. And the smell! Fennel, marigolds, roses, damp moss, and a thousand other things perfume the air. (Later when I went back to the hotel, I smelled like fennel.) I will let the pictures speak for themselves. 

 

I met another very friendly Alhambra cat. When I petted him he nibbled my finger in ecstasy, and when I stopped he put his paw on my hand as if to say Don't leave! In the evening, out of the bus window, I saw an old man with a shopping cart - you know, the kind you take your groceries home in - standing by the wall of the park near our hotel. He was vigorously mixing raw chicken and dividing it among several plastic containers, while three or four cats watched from the bushes. So we aren't the only crazy cat people in the world - at least we make the cats come to us!

The real story though is dogs. Everyone has one. Or two. And most people don't use a leash. It is amazing to see all these dogs faithfully following their owners. People here also don't neuter their dogs, so we've witnessed some interesting scenes, but not as many as you'd expect.

After the Generalife, I walked through the Carmen de los Martires, another beautiful public garden. The central fountain surrounded by palms reminded me of the World Financial Center Winter Garden. There was also a pond, with ducks and turtles. A very peaceful spot.

In the evening we returned to the Alhambra for a night visit - with full moon, just as I planned it. Too bad about all the other people. I wish we could manage to spend the night like Richard Halliburton did, but sadly those days are long gone - the staff is very vigilant.

The Alhambra is more beautiful at night - you can really see all the details. Again I will let the pictures do the talking.

 

Somehow today I also found time to take in the city view from the Mirador de San Cristobal, and visit the Corral del Carbon, a medieval hotel of sorts. What a busy day!

A walk through Realejo

Today I walked up the Cuesta de Gomerez, and down into the Realejo, the old Jewish quarter. The road up is very steep and lined with shops. At the top is a gate and the old city walls. As you approach the gate you hear a hum, and when you walk under the gate you realize it is the sound of water. The river is rushing downhill under your feet, so fast that the ground vibrates. Another grueling climb brings you to the top of the old Alhambra wall, and the top of the Realejo. It is a very pretty quarter, filled with white-washed buildings and winding steps. I stopped for lunch here - salad with grilled goat cheese, nuts and honey. Lots more cool graffiti, and I finally found that stupid iron!

Welcome to Spain

After a very long trip - 6 hour layover in JFK, plus a 2 hour weather delay on the runway - we arrived in Madrid. It was very organized. It only took about half an hour to get from the plane to the taxi stand. We went to the train station to get a train to Granada, only to discover that since our flight was late, we had missed the morning trains. Another 4 hours of waiting in the train station! We had fun watching the turtles in the turtle pond, and sleeping on a wall like hobos.

First impressions of Spain - they are very serious about graffiti. Clean - it is very clean - even the train station was clean. People are extremely polite, beautiful manners. Drivers aren't crazy like they are in Paris or in Italy. All around Madrid it looked very dry, almost like desert. Lots and lots of olive trees.

Manners: on the train ride to Granada, about 4 hours, no one talked. It was like being on the quiet car, except it was just a regular economy class car. When people did talk, they used their indoor voices, even the people talking on the phone. In Granada, we walked past this young guy who had a GIANT bottle of beer in his hands. It was half gone and he reeked of beer. He paused mid-swig and said Buenas tardes. Even the young hooligans are polite!

Our hotel is very nice, but they don't have irons! Not even one to lend guests. This is a major inconvenience, and hopefully I'll be able to find one somewhere. [Update: found an iron, thank god. Such a pain!]

On the first morning we bought some croissants, and sat at a corner bar and drank cafe con leche - so good! 

After desayuno, we walked down to the city center. One of the first things we saw was a wedding. We've only been here 36 hours, and we've seen at least 6 weddings. "Granada" means pomegranate, and there are pomegranates everywhere - on the light poles, the bollards, etc etc. We met lots of Arabic speaking people - Moroccans mostly. Ahmed is happy - two languages to bargain in.





We ate dinner at a restaurant called Carmela. Granada is famous for tapas, which are free with a drink order. I ordered a glass of Rioja (excellent!) and got some sort of delicious beef in a spicy curry.
I got two more tapas as a meal. One was goat cheese, caramelized onions and honey on toast, the other Serrano ham and cheese on toast, Ahmed got octopus, which he said was excellent.

While we were eating, along came a man, dressed as a woman, riding a donkey, with a group of guys following him. It was a bachelor party! They were wandering around downtown, saying Hola to everyone.

This morning we went to the Alhambra. We had a guided tour, thank goodness, because it is so big and so full of history and meaning. I am going to go back again to take better pictures. It is really a remarkable place - I will write more about it later.