Spain : Nov. 10 - 22

Granada: Saturday Nov. 12, 2005

It was another Brian morning and we were up at the crack of dawn to power down another hotel breakfast (it felt like we had eaten just 8 hrs before). The objective of the morning was a hike. Brian had it all planned out to a tee. We would hike for 3 hrs and be back to the car by 11:00. It would take us 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Granada and we would catch it before rush hour. So much for Brian’s plans.

We got started roughly on time for our hike, and left the car in the hotel parking lot. It took us 30 minutes of uphill walking to get to the jumping off point for our hike into the Sierra Nevada. From there it was up. Up and up and up. Trudging up a small track we were given great views of the old Moorish castle up on the hill, and a smaller castle another kilometer or two above that one. Our views inland were of olive groves. Miles upon miles of olive trees that went out to the far horizon and north and south as far as the eye could see. They were lined up in perfect rows and looked like giant checkerboards. If we thought Greece had a lot of olives they needed to come to central Spain. The further up we went, the smaller the track got. We finally reached the end of the track and were scrambling amongst old olive groves and old stone goat herder shacks. Eventually we met up with the secondary trail that was to take us back down to town. A couple of wrong turns later and Brian was powering his way back down the trail. He touched the truck at 10:59 and claimed victory!

We piled in, the kids powered up game boys and MP3 players (thank god for small electronics) and we were off again. Our destination was Granada, the last bastion of Moorish presence in Spain and home of the famous Alhambra Palace. En route we decided we didn’t want a repeat of the last few stops we had made where we were totally and unequivocally lost. So we bought a map.

As we pulled into town on the highway we quickly discovered the one major element with a map. You have to know where you are on the map before you can figure out how to get to where you want to go. As the signposts went screaming by the windows Debbie was frantically trying to locate the family on the map. Shooting from the hip we decided to follow the signs to the Alhambra though the direction we were going made absolutely no sense at all. We eventually ended up on the wrong side of the Alhambra with no apparent way of getting down to the town. Debbie was the victim of Spanish maps which don’t seem to follow the world convention of orienting North at the top of the map, nor do the street names on the map always correspond to the exit names on freeways or signage on streets.

After stopping to re-orientate himself, Brian quickly discarded the map and opted for the “gut feel” approach to navigation. Turns out we did much better as he steered for the lowest part of town he could find, betting there would be a river there. Turns out he was right and after taking 45 minutes to travel the final 3 km (traffic was a little bad), we ended up circling the block and zeroing in on our hotel. At that point the 13 Euro for valet parking seemed like quite a deal.

We piled out and took our rooms at the Tryp Albazyin hotel. It was quite a nice place, very centrally located. We were going to be here for a couple of nights but wanted to start to get a feel for our first “big” Spanish town in Andalusia. We split up boys and girls to get an idea of our surroundings. The girls headed out to find a grocery store and check out some local shopping while the boys located a tourist information place to find some Internet cafes. On a positive note, Sierra and Debbie found a shop with game boy games. Sierra found a game in English that she bought for herself. She was very pleased with her purchase and there weren’t any repeats of Geneva. We met up again to grab a late lunch / early dinner. We had decided we could not readily adapt to the late night dinner style so had to improvise. We grabbed a bite in a small café across from the hotel. Brian, Sierra, and Deb opted for Paella which was fabulous. Brennan opted for a meat pizza only to be reminded once again that it’s not safe to assume that just because things say the same words they will be the same thing. His meat pizza was covered in some form of meat paste and was totally unappetizing. He was less impressed when we made him live with his mistake.

An evening of homework and journaling was in the works before heading off tomorrow.

Nov. 13, 2005: Granada, Spain

We got a sleep-in day. Yeah!!!!!!! Brian pre-booked some tickets for us at the Alhambra for tomorrow. We had read that it was well worth getting the first slot of the day to avoid the crowds. The first spot was full for today so tomorrow will be a “get up early Brian day”.

After a lazy start, we decided to explore an area called Albaicin. It was the hillside facing the Alhambra and was one of the most densely populated and wealthy areas of Moorish Granada. It was filled with narrow cobbled streets and carmenes or villa-like houses with terraced gardens and patios. The facades of both the Moorish and Spanish homes in the older districts were quite plain, only accented by doors and occasional windows all covered by stylish iron grates. These homes focused on their interiors with beautiful courtyards and gardens. Sometimes we would get a peek through an open door or looking down from the hillside above. We also passed many churches and a few mosques, as we huffed and puffed our way along the steep streets.

Past the Albaicin area but too far to walk, even for our hardy crew, was the area of Sacromonte. It was even further up into the hills and the heart of the gypsy quarter. The gypsies or gitanos originated from India and appeared in Spain in the 1400’s. They were deemed a threat to the public and segregated from the rest of the town. They lived in caves and still do today. At one point in the 1950’s, over 3500 people lived in the caves. We saw these homes from afar. Brian didn’t want to take the car out of the garage for fear of never getting back to it. This was an extremely likely possibility as the streets got progressively narrower up the hillside. I suppose we could have taken a bus but we had more walking to do…….

We weren’t even close to finishing our hill trekking yet. As we weren’t sure where we had to get our tickets for the Alhambra, we thought we’d find out today to avoid a super early get up morning. However this meant going up to the highest point in Granada. There was a reason why the Moors built their fortress and palace in this location. We entered the Alhambra complex through the Puerta de las Granadas or the Gate of the Pomegranates, an imposing Renaissance arch built by Carlos V. By this point, we were about halfway up our climb. Eventually we got to the main entrance, found out all the details regarding the tickets, decided to take a bus tomorrow instead of doing this insane climb at 7:15 am and then trotted back down the hill.

Our stomachs were now dictating our course of action. Lunch was next on the agenda. We spotted a small Mexican restaurant and had a great meal. However I was craving chocolate and not just a little gourmet piece. I wanted lots of chocolate. The kids quickly followed me as I dragged Brian who was sputtering that we just ate. I wanted to try chocolate and churros. I didn’t really know what to expect but I pulled into a dessert café to find out. Brennan and I each placed our order for churros and Sierra had ice cream. We got a large platter of deep fried tube-shaped pastries and two full bowls of hot semi-sweet chocolate sauce for dipping. It was a cholesterol and chocolate heaven. Brennan was in love and my chocolate craving was satisfied. Brian just shook his head in amazement as we devoured everything.

Once again our activities were limited because it was a Sunday. Between siestas and Sundays, we have found shopping a challenge in Spain. We headed back to the hotel for homework and website stuff. As it turned out, it was a good call because it started to pour.( NEXT PAGE )