Granada(Juan Diego Florez) - Granada in a Day - 1st May 2016

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The first day of May dawned an absolutely glorious morning and with the sun glinting on the recent snow dropped on the Sierra Nevada mountains it was a perfect time for photos and video of the rather dramatic scenery.

The Sunday bus timetable to Granada wasn’t as frequent as the Mon-Sat version which had been hourly. Today it was 2 hourly and we decided the 9.20am was way too early and that 11.20am sounded better and would give us time to explore the opportunity of Alhambra tickets at the venue before searching out tapas for lunch in a cafe/bar.

We had noticed the young women with the tent head off to Granada to check out the nightime bars and this morning all was quiet from their tent site. The tent had stayed up well so they ended up doing a good job on its erection yesterday, but had they got home from the city?

We joined two Dutch couples at the bus stop and took the 30 minute ride into the city.

We had no idea where the bus route came to an end but simply followed all the locals off the bus when it emptied out. The map we had of the city did not seem to cover the street the bus dropped us in so we walked in the direction of where we thought we might find a road to lead us to the Alhambra which we knew was on a hillside.

Being Sunday the shops in the street were closed and the few locals about at midday wandered along the wide footpath.

Signage leading the Alhambra was very good and we soon changed direction to follow the directional arrow up a valley that was leading us to a steep hillside. It was also leading to the Sierra Nevada range but that was 50km away by road and we weren’t going that far!

The map we had was not to scale which made it difficult to understand just how far away the place was but we walked on in the pleasant temperature shedding our outer layering’s as we went.

There were bus stops along the way and we did consider waiting for a bus to come along to take us the rest of the way but no bus came. Were we expecting too much from the Sunday timetable?

Now the road took a sharp turn and the houses came to an end as the road climbed a little more steeply which we still felt was how it should be to get to the Alhambra.

The view over the city became more and more interesting as we walked on up the hill past an area where it looked like people were living in caves essentially in the hillside. The caves had doors and windows of sorts but we didn’t actually see any people. Not that would have been unusual considering it is Sunday and Spaniards don’t do a lot on the Sabbath.

Finally as we rounded another bend thinking that the target might have been in our vision Gretchen got out her mobile phone and checked our position reporting back that it was still another 1.6km to go!

Ahead of us now was an oasis in the desert!

With the sun heating the day even more as the time had got past 1pm there was a cafe/bar perched on the edge of the hillside with expansive views over the city and up to the Sierra Nevada’s.

Neither of us needed any convincing to stop and have lunch and a pint of cold beer before we continued on our way of the last 1.6km to the Alhambra.

After a relaxing lunch of a mixed plate of croquettes each (they didn’t have tostadas on today), and the cold beer we were refreshed enough for the last couple of corners and the rest of the hill to make it to our goal.

Things looked promising for tickets when we noted that the first car park only had a few cars in it and the lower three that we walked past to the ticket office also had some spaces.

What was evident however were the numerous large groups of bus tour parties all gathered in their groups waiting for their allotted time to enter the grounds and buildings of the Alhambra.

We should explain that the Alhambra is a larger version of the Real Alcazar and reportedly with a greater range of architecture to admire. The place has undergone renovations over the years as the upkeep of the extensive buildings had been let go at various times in more recent history.

We weren’t going to get a look inside though, for although we tried each of the six automatic ticket machines thinking that one of them might come up with a couple of tickets for us, we were out of luck.

We concluded that the issue of less tickets being available to individuals, is that tour parties in great numbers snap up the tickets available and as they only let so many people in at once, there is not much left to independent travellers like us. It was also a weekend and a holiday weekend for that matter which would not have helped our cause.

The camping ground could have sold us tickets for Monday but we are travelling on and there wouldn’t have been sufficient time to visit before we hit the road to the coast.

So we came to Granada principally for the Alhambra but leave without seeing anything other than the car park.

The walk back down the hill retracing our steps took no time at all and we were soon looking for a Heladeria and having to make our mind up over an ice cream. Here is was after 3pm in the afternoon and people were having lunch in their droves in the restaurants that lined the avenue we were walking down.

Gretchen tried a Rocher flavoured ice cream while I had a Mascarpone flavour. Both were very nice but for Gretchen she still likes her chocolate.

We did some people watching from a pedestrian mall which also doubled as a mall of stalls which of course were closed today.

We have probably said this before but Sunday is very much a family day in Spain and it was great to see 3 generations of a family in groups strolling along enjoying the sunny afternoon.

We had one other attraction to see before we tried to find the bus stop for the trip home at 5pm and with a bit of help from the mobile phone we found the Gothic style Granada Cathedral built from 1523.

By now though we had reached an area where the Alcaiceria,a Moorish bazzar,had been reconstructed after an 1843 fire and where crowds of tourists and locals alike were finding the small shops open for business.

There was an entrance fee for the cathedral which we took to mean there would be an audio guide tour to go with the fee and as we were running out of time to find our way back to the bus stop for home we decided to give the cathedral a miss. The exterior didn’t look that different to many others we have seen and been inside so we hoped we hadn’t missed anything by not paying the fee and taking the tour.

We had thought of retracing our steps completely to find the bus stop but after the walk up the hill to the Alhambra and walk through the downtown area we daringly chose what we thought would be the road that had intersected with one we came along after arriving in the city just over 5 hours ago. And we were right and we made it to the bus in plenty of time.

With time to spare we struck up a conversation with one of the Dutch couples that were on the bus this morning coming into the city.

We were a bit peeved when the guy told us about the bar they found where you got free tapas with each beer you bought whereas we had paid for our mixed croquettes. That is not to say that our lunch wasn’t better than theirs. And we did have a wonderful, panoramic view over the city and the Sierra Nevada’s.

The camp seemed to have filled up even more since we left for the city this morning and there were just a small number of spaces free, mostly tent sites which there don’t appear to be as many takers for.

We chatted with a Welshman as we checked our emails down by the bar. /cafe and we were a bit surprised he didn’t think Wales would much of a chance against the All Blacks later this month in the two test rugby series.

After a light dinner, we were both still quite full from lunch and the ice creams; we took a walk around the motor camp to check out the new arrivals and other campervans that we had looked at from a distance.

Granada has had its highs and lows with the find of Montefrio a high and our inability to get tickets for the Alhambra at the other end of the scale. And while it does have the majestic Sierra Nevada’s overlooking the city in a very prominent way complete with a new coat of snow on its upper slopes and peaks, we thought that Granada itself still couldn’t rival Seville for its beauty, sereness and charm.

Tomorrow it’s back to the coast and the seaside resort town of Mojacar.

PS:the song Granada being sung on this Youtube version is not to be missed,enjoy and feel the flavour

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