Day 5 Granada

Up early to pack and catch the train, we caught a cab from the hotel even tho it was a really short ride. We apologized to our nice female cab driver, but with her impeccable English said "no problem, it's my  job!" She was great and told us that Granda "was beautiful and the Alhambra was....how do you say? Awesome?". We laughed with her at the American description and thanked her for the ride. We knew the routine of the train station this time and we went straight for security and our gate. We must have been there pretty early, because the turtles weren't even out yet! ;-) We had about a 30 minute wait before boarding, so we people watched for a bit. Our train to Granada was not the fast train and it wasn't a fancy as the one yesterday, but was really clean.

Once we took off and I had the sun in my face, I got a bit sleepy so I snoozed off and on and watched the scenery. The ride was nice and every time I opened my eyes the scenery was a bit different the more south we went. But one thing never changed...olive groves...everywhere. Guy told me that Spain was the largest exporter of olive oil! Who knew? So about three hours into the trip the train had to pull over to the repair shop for a minute. They did tell us what was going on, but only in Spanish, so they didn't really tell US what was going on. But I heard the word momento and figured it wouldn't be too long. We pulled into an area where repair guys could have been below us, like a Jiffy Lube. Im thinking we didn't get an oil change, but whatever it was it didn't take long. Getting closer to our destination and getting kinda hungry, Guy ventured back to the snack car and came back with toasted ham and cheeses and cokes. It was actually pretty good. Upon arrival to Granada it was much bigger than I was expecting and was exceptionally busy. Really nothing too quaint about it, but it has a unique charm.

Arriving at the hotel, the cab driver dropped us off and pointed to a sign that had the name of our hotel on it with an arrow. Oh boy....so off we went with all our luggage in tow up a cobble stone street. Ahead is another sign with another arrow. Just when I started to think this might be quite the trek, there was the hotel. It is just off a main square and is super cute! Two young guys were working the desk and gave us lots of info. One of them sounded like he had a British accent, so as he was taking us to our room Guy asked him where he was from. He said "Granada". Guy said "your whole life?" He said yes, but explained he studied abroad in Liverpool, thus his English having a British accent to it. The center of the hotel has a charming courtyard that is open to the air. We are thinking they get near to zero rain here due to lack of grass and a huge dust tornado we saw off in a field today. As we headed to our room, it is very small but really different. The floor is like a Spanish tile, but the bathroom is marble. It has two windows and they both overlook the inner courtyard. I was excited about the hotel, so I hopped on the wifi and Facetime-ed Amanda to give her a view. She just had gotten to work, so Graham got to see it, too! We had a nice visit then we hung up to go explore the town.

Our first stop was to go to the "official" Alhambra store to get our tickets. Guy had purchased them a couple of months ago and he just stuck his credit card in a machine (the same one used to purchase the tickets online) and the tickets popped out. The nice lady at the shop gave us a map and walking instructions to the Alhambra. We can see it, but was wasn't sure the best way to get up to it...about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. As nice as the weather has been, it will be a beautiful walk I'm sure...even tho it is up a pretty good sized hill. So after our tickets were in hand, we walked around the town and browsed a few shops. We started looking for some place to eat and we forgot to Trip Advisor a lunch place, so we just looked around. We decided on one place that was packed and as we were waiting for a table, Guy checked out the menu and it was mostly fish and was pretty expensive. So we just decided to get a quick pizza and have a nice meal for supper. We chose a pizza place that was in an outdoor square and they served pasta as well. It was called Restaurante Gallio Pizzeria. So we ordered a pizza with ham, onions, and cheese and spaghetti vongole (with clams). Even tho the food was really good, the staff at the restaurant was not friendly at all and we seemed to be a bother to them, so we dined and dashed - a note of this will make it on Trip Advisor...

We walked around the town and we are seeing lots of souvenir shops with patterns and designs all starting to look the same. So they must be getting these designs from the Alhambra and knocking them off into souvenirs. We'll find out tomorrow, but I have a feeling I'll be buying some of them, I just want to see what this "awesome" place is all about first. ;-).  We ventured back to the hotel and it happened to be High Tea. I was still stuffed from lunch, but Guy had a little salami and cheese sandwich on a tiny hardroll and some fruit. We shared an orange Fanta and enjoyed the courtyard. Most guests are Americans, so we could actually eaves drop on conversations for a change. LOL. Up to the room I was a bit sleepy and I crashed for a short nap while Guy surfed on my phone. Wifi is slow but for some reason the ipad wouldn't pick it up. I came down to the courtyard to write my blog and it finally picked up down here. I saw a guy on an ipad who earlier was speaking english, so I asked him if he could connect to his phone and ipad both. He said his wifi was actually better in his room and picked up on his phone much faster than his ipad. Then I noticed my ipad finally picked up on it. He asked where I was from and I said Illinois near St. Louis and he said they were from Wisconsin. It was nice to talk to someone from home.

Guy spoke with the gal at the desk about a place for dinner and she recommended a restaurant for Tapas (small plates) since we were not too hungry for dinner. She also made us a reservation for tomorrow night at a restaurant on the hill that is supposed to have a beautiful view of the city. Trip advisor rates it highly and the menu looks pretty tasty (already spying the scallops). So we decided to freshen up and head out to Carmela's, which was a Tapas bar and it was fantastic! It was off one of the squares just a bit, but we could see a beautiful fountain and there were lots of people out for the evening enjoying themselves. The weather is perfect. So we ordered two small plates, one of a bread with caramelized onions and cheese. I was tasting a worchestershire type sauce and Guy thought a bit of balsamic, but either way it was great! Then we ordered an egg and potato quiche. It was tasty but could have used some salt and pepper. We had fun people watching and a small group of three guys in orange were playing music on the corner. They have been all over town today as we've seen them several times. One of the guys from the group actually came by the tables for a tip. Unless he could break a $20US or take a credit card...he was out of luck with me...so he moved on.

The walk back to the hotel was lovely and at 10pm this town is definitely hopping! As we made our way back to the hotel, we popped into the occasional jip-joint. Guy has trouble finding Tshirts that only have a small logo on them -usually they are pretty gaudy- so the search continues! The wifi is free here at Hotel Casa 1800, but it is REALLY slow.  I'll get the pictures up eventually, they are loading one by one. ;-) Night all! P.S. Yes, I did have some ice cream today. It was not gelato, but pretty darn close!