Trip to Spain 2007 – Page 7 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Granada – Characters

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Granada was an interesting place in terms of people.

The first thing we noticed was the abundance of middle-eastern style shops/boutiques selling hookah pipes and silk scarves and gypsy style clothing. The people running the shops and many of the local “street” people all had a hippie vibe going. The smell of the incense and the abundance of dreadlocks completed the scene. And it was not uncommon to see one walking down the street with djembe on his back, probably just in case a drum circle broke out.

I’m not sure what it is about Granada that seems to be haven for this bohemian group of travellers. It was like the gateway to Toon Town for those who know the Texas Renaissance Festival “rennie” scene at all.

Speaking of the renfest, there was a whole ren-fair scene going on around the cathedral. Shops set up like little renfest booths with cheesy costumes and the typical schlocky wares for sale. This guy was selling swords and shields!

And this booth was decorated like a little castle and selling Donner Kebap

All it needed was to be on a stick and it would have been renfair-riffic!

Also in abundance were the gypsies. The “shtick” these women have is that they approach you and hold out a sprig of rosemary and say “un regalo!” which means “a gift.”

Your best bet is to wave them off and keep moving. If you make the mistake of stopping and taking the sprig (we didn’t, we were forewarned) you get a fortune told and then they expect money. The quickly explain that if you don’t pay you will be cursed and they take no coins as they are bad luck so the unlucky sap ends up handing over 5 euros to satisfy the gypsy.

The most interesting character by far was this old man

When we first encountered him he was sitting on his bicycle in front of a group of people waiting on a bus and ranting (in Spanish) about the end of the world. He was really going to town.

When the bus came and collected his audience he started peddling away on his bike which started to play a very ice-cream truck style version of Jingle Bells. Oddly enough, he sort of looks like Santa Claus.

On our last day walking we encountered this fellow

I envied his medium for a moment. As a painter, he is able to illustrate only the beauty. He can leave out the tourists and the modern-ish TV aerials on the rooftops and even paint the sky as it looked the evening before.

Granada – Random Shot 1

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Barcelona

We have arrived in Barcelona.

Our flight out of Granada was at 8:45 this morning. Manuel, the hotel owner, came in early to ensure our taxi picked us up at 7:00 am. From there it was a 30 minute cab ride to the airport and then a 1 hour flight to Barcelona.

We had to break our luggage down so we could check some if it as it was too much to bring on as carry-on luggage. This caused us some concern as we tend to imagine the worst and feared our minimal amount of clothing and supplies would be lost.

No problems though. We got to baggage claim and it was there in minutes.

We are now checked into the hotel which, as you can see, has abundant wee-fee.

We are off to do a bit of exploring and get our bearings….oh, and FOOD. We’re starving!

The Alhambra – Part 2 (The Palace)

The Palace, or The Palacios Nazaries as it is called, was built in the 14th century.
It’s a great insight into Moorish civilization on the Iberian Peninsula. The rooms are decorated with well preserved stucco, wood carvings, tile and molded plaster.

Words cannot do it justice. Even pictures fall short.

Here is what I captured that I wanted to share

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I was particularly fond of the carved wooden doors

And of course the gardens and fountains…

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Spectacular!

The Alhambra – Part 1

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Of course the main reason to visit Granada is The Alhambra. It would seem this is one of the most visited historic sights on the planet. To get in, you have to purchase a ticket and these tickets sell out fast.

Since we had not been able to get tickets online or the day we arrived we figured we should get up early and get in line. As luck would have it, my alarm clock failed to go off and we woke up around 9:00 am rather than 6:30 as we had intended.

We went ahead and had breakfast in the hotel. The owner, who’s name is Manuel, was taking care of the the breakfast orders and is an extremely nice guy. He introduced us to something called Spanish Toast. A piece of toasted bread with a light spread of freshly ground tomato which you then sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt then finished off with just the faintest amount of olive oil. VERY TASTY!

Manuel was speaking with us (mostly Cynthia) about the Alhambra and suggested we go over to the ticket line and then look for an area that sold tickets via a machine that took credit cards.

We hiked up the hill and located the ticket area he was speaking of in a matter of minutes and in no time flat we had our tickets to The Alhambra.

When you purchase your ticket you are scheduled a 30 minute window to enter the palace which is the main attraction of the Alhambra. Once you are in, you can take as much time as you like wandering the various rooms.

Our window was from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm. For palace visits after 2:00 pm you can go ahead and enter the compound and visit the other sights like the Generalife Gardens and The Alcazaba.

We took advantage of the the 4 hours and waled all around taking pictures and climbing the many many stpes to the top of the Alcazaba.

It’s a facinating place. The fort (Alcazaba) is from the mid-13th century and represents the last stronghold of the Moorish king Boabdil.

Aquaducts were the order of the day and this place still has water running through it in the form of small little water troughs that line the paths and feed the fountains. If your quiet and listen you can hear water trickling, gurgling and flowing all throughout the Alhambra.

We climbed and climbed and climbed….

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The picture at the top of this post was taken from down there

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At the top of the tower the view is amazing…

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Next, The Palace!

Granada

We caught the train from Seville to Granada yesterday. About 4 hours all told to get here. It was a wonderful ride, but not on the AVE high speed so we made a few stops on the way.

Granada is a much higher altitude so the temperature is a bit cooler. Around 75 in the day and down in the upper 40Â´s at night.

When we got to the train station in Granada and hailed a taxi we told the driver where we were going and he just looked at us with a blank expression on his face. We knew the hotel was small and out of the way, but were hopeful the address would be all we needed.

Fortunately the hotel told us where a nearby, well known restaurant was located so we told the cab driver about that and he knew where to go.

We drove to the restaurant which was closed and he figured out where the hotel was and he and opinted down a steep hill and said it was a two minute walk…

We looked at each other and with full packs started to walk down the hill. We got half way down, got uncertain and walked back up. The taxi was gone and we asked another person passing by and he had heard of the hotel and sent us back down. We felt more confident this time and in a matter of minutes we found it.

I rang the bell as there was a locked gate to the courtyard. We were buzzed in and a young woman who spoke pretty good English greeted us and we went inside.

This hotel is called The Carmen de la Alcubilla del Caracol and is a house converted into a VERY nice 7 room hotel. All the rooms have names and ours is called The Tower. We got checked in and shown to our room and oh my god itÂ´s the nicest room of the whole trip.

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HereÂ´s a panorama of the view from our terrace

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Those are the Sierra Nevada Mountains you see in the background.

We got settled in and walked down to the city center. ThatÂ´s something you only want to do once. ItÂ´s steep and unpleasant. The trip back up is even worse. Thank god we got our stamina built up in Madrid and Seville. We quickly discovered the little bus system that runs around town and we use that a lot now.

The roads are quite narrow

Everything centers on the Alhambra

We tried to get tickets but they were sold out. We came back to the hotel after deciding to try again the next day.

ThereÂ´s several holidays being celebrated this weekend. Spanish National Day as well as some smaller festival. We were awakened at midnight by a fireworks display practically outside our window.

The music we here coming up from the town is a mix of Spanish and Morroccan. Very strong Moorish influence here.

Sadly, no Wi Fi (wee fee) and I am using the landlords computer with a Spanish keyboard and Spanish spell checker so please forgive the typos.

More on the visit to the Alhambra as time permits. For now, IÂ´m off to bed.

The Giralda

Seville – Last Day

Today is the extra day we picked up in Seville due to cancelling the Granada leg of the tour. This meant we had to check out of the one hotel and into the backup hotel for one day.

We’re going to miss the La Musica Hotel with it’s classical music theme. Violins and cellos adorn the walls as does old sheet music and paintings of musicians. There’s even a soundproof room with a piano in it if you are so inclined.

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The bed was the most comfortable we have experienced in all of our travel. The towels were big and fluffy and the staff was friendly and attentive.

The best feature was the rooftop terrace where we enjoyed our continental breakfast each morning, overlooking the rooftops of this amazing little city.

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The woman who processed our checkout of La Musica was very nice and complimented Cynthia on her Spanish several times. They chatted for awhile and before we left she presented Cynthia with a little souvenir, a small hand fan for which Seville is famous for. It’s hand painted and has the name of the hotel on it and it’s very nice.

Fortunately the backup hotel is only a block away so we got checked in in short order. Having re-arranged our schedule we had no solid plans for the day so we just strolled around the city. It’s a little warmer today. It got up in the mid 80’s and the sun just blazes in the clear blue sky.

We found our way to The Plaza de España and took some pictures…

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Tomorrow it’s a 3 1/2 hour train ride to Granada. This is the part of the vacation where we wind down for a few days and take it easy before jumping into the hustle and bustle of Barcelona.