Granada, mas a menos

We set our sights that afternoon for Granada, said to be one of the crown jewels of Andalucia. A  pleasant drive with luscious views of the tall southern Sierra Nevada, the tallest peaks in Spain. The tops of the peaks were sprinkled with snow from a snowfall two weeks prior, while we simmered and baked in the dry spanish heat down below.

We got lost as we normally do and finally found our bearings and a reasonable hotel, another Hotel Centre, half the price of the one in Sevilla. We asked the man at the desk about securing us tickets for the Alhambra and he said impossible, to try the internet. Leslie got out her ipad and we discovered that the 6000 tickets available for the next day were sold out as they in fact were the rest of the week. The man at the desk had said that if we got up at dawn and waited, perhaps some tickets would be released, early the next morning.

We walked into town and I must say that although fantastic, it was not my favorite, a young college town with little to entice me. Maybe the trip was starting to wear on me a bit. Heaven would wear on me after two weeks and vice versa. As we strode past the park on our way to find supper, birds raucously sang in the large trees on the playa.

We found a cafe and had an excellent meal. I dined on roda de toro, a hearty oxtail and vegetable stew, picking up the jointed sections with my hands and slurping off all of the meat and gristle. Leslie had lamb medallions cooked in cumin, cherries and wine. A young hippie gypsy couple with two dogs in tow read tarot cards at the next table as the college kids rolled their own cigarettes and pounded beers.

We got up in darkness the next day to find the Alhambra. A note, if you ever find yourself in Granada and you see the sign for the Alhambra, don't take it. It is a trick. It will not take you anywhere near the Alhambra. We got hopelessly lost once again, finding ourselves on a mountaintop outside of the city.

We started asking people and no one in the city knew anything about the location of their most famous landmark or destination. Or if they did know they weren't telling. After circumnavigating the town four or five times we finally took desperate measures, commandeering a bus only street and finally located the castle.

The Alhambra is a fortress of three distinct areas. It means "the red" in arabic.The earliest part is the Alacazaba, built in the 11th century by the Ziridians. It was rebuilt by the Nasrid prince Ibn Ahmar in the 12th century. He had been driven south from Zaragoza by the reconquest.

The other two sections on the hill are the Generalife or palace gardens and the Casa Real or royal palace.

The Moors of Granada were the last surviving muslim kingdom, paying allegiance to Ferdinand to maintain their autonomy.

We walked up and lo and behold, scored a ticket. We were in. We walked through the Generalife and then into the old moorish baths and then visited all of the various towers, buildings and complexes. Grand and stunning.

We played with the local cats and watched the local craftsmen create their beautiful mosaics.

The place is unbelievable of course. If I wasn't exhausted I would give it to you in living color and every detail. But I am.

Lots of tourists of all stripes walking around.

I overheard a tour guide tell a group that Germany and America would have to come in and pay off Spain's considerable debt. I couldn't help myself. When he was alone I pulled him off to the side and asked if I had heard him correctly. Fat chance I told him. Who's going to pay off our debt?

Spain has had it really good, printing and spending money with reckless abandon. It is the most modern and together country I have ever visited. Now I guess it's time to pay the piper. It is probably going to hurt.

We walked into the old royal palace. There was a wonderful exhibition upstairs of paintings that Joaquin Sorolla painted of his own garden in Madrid from 1908 to 1920.