Days 39 and 40: Granada

Day 39: Granada

It's been a pretty constant theme that between my broken Spanish and the shaky English directed toward me, combined with genuine cultural differences, that I am gererally operation this about 50% certainly about what is going on.  I still am baffled about store hours, how you are supposed to get your check gracefully at a restaurant, and, in this specific case, what the deal really is when you want a ticket to the Alhambra.  Somehow, I got it in my head you could only by tickets between 8-9 am and around 2, and, eager to see what had been billed as one of the top sights in Europe, there I was, huffing up the hill in the frosty morning to the ticket office. 

While I don't think that was necessary, there were still signicant crowds even early on- a phenomenon more or less unheard-of for me this trip.  And of course I soon found out why.  The Alhambra is a triple whammy: a huge ruined Moorish castle, a magnificently restored Moorish official palace complex, and a similarly sublime residence from about the same period.  Oh, and add to that a 16th century Spanish palace and beautiful gardens between everything, and there you have it: one of Europe's greatest attractions.  Of course, it is also on a ridgetop overlooking the city, and has the backdrop of the snowcapped Sierra Nevada in the background.  Who am I to argue?  It is amazing, what can I say that Washington Irving hasn't? 

After wandering dazed out of there, I kept walking up through the traditionally Muslim quarter, which is built on a steep hillside and after the Medina style of tight, mazelike streets.  At the top of the hill, the hill gets steep enough that the houses are just extensions of the caves that honeycombed the slope.  Apparently this section is still home to many musicians and artist types who don't mind the lack of morning sunlight.   I wandered until I found a courtyard near a church that claims (justly) to have one of the best views of the Alhambra and city beneath it.  Handily, there was a tapas bar with outside a eating just there, and street musicians playing flamenco music to those there.  I figured, "hard to top this" and spent the rest of the afternoon sipping cerveca and munching tapas while listening to the music and watching the sun set on the Alhambra. 

Quick note on tapas in Spain: there seem to be widely different rules about them, such as whether they come automatically with a drink order or not.  Granada has so far been the most generous- elsewhere you just get some olives or bread, but here you get real food, though you have no idea what it might be, and it can be pretty much anything.    Over the course of one afternoon and evening, I got fish in sauce, fried eggplant, pate on toast, fried sardines, blood sausage with potato chips, and quiche with tomato wheels. 

A final note today was a very fun bit of serendipity: while sightseeing at the Alhambra, I bumped into some old work colleagues Su Theida and Mike Stronger, which seemed so incredibly unlikely, but there it was.  We had dinner together and caught up, and since they were going to many of the places I had been, I was able to give some sage advice.  All in all, a really fun day. 

Day  40: Granada Too

An easier start this morning, where I woke up to a pleasant breakfast  and made a to do list of many of the trip logistics I had outstanding and plowed through most of them.  This made me feel less stressed, and happy to spend the rest of the day seeing some of the lesser known sights, but still interesting. The tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella rounded out my Columbus theme nicely, and I enjoyed the park dedicated to the apparently famous poet Garcia Lorca. 

Later in the afternoon, I was very pleased to visit the "Parque De Cincias", which was a cluster of museums in a very showy complex of modern buildings.  There was a really excellent exhibit on the scientific contributions of the  Moorish Iberians, and another on the the private collection of some rich guy who was fond of large nineteenth century clockwork contraptions, a nice raptor exhibit, and then some kind of goofy (and preachy! ) ones about proper nutrition and the importance of home and worksite safety.   Also the old standbys of such museums such as the miracles of biology (where they had a whale heart the size of a couch on display) and some fun physics exhibits.  Though the museum was legitimately good, it was mostly exciting because it wasn't more cherubs and elaborately martyred saints.

Not much after that, just a quiet dinner and then bed, which is just as well considering the long ride in store tomorrow.  It should be more relaxing for all my efforts today, and (knock on wood), the road looks considerably less hilly on the way for the home stretch.