More of the Spain

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After our siesta in Barcelona, we had a pleasant visit with Gilad--Asaf's brother, whose house we stayed in while he was back in the States. Anyway, Gilad showed us his Barcelona by taking us for hot chocolate (it's more like a hot thick pudding that you eat with a spoon), to his favorite local restaurants, and showing us around his neighborhod, Gracia. It was a short, but sweet, visit.

Then we had a 4 hour bus ride from Barcelona to Valencia. I (Erin) have been hearing about Valencia since I was a child from my mom's best friend, Nani, who was born and raised there. Every summer Nani goes back to Spain to visit her family and would return with bags from El Corte Ingles (these department stores are as common here as Starbucks in the US!) and stories of the annual Fallas (a parade of huge papermache figures that are burned and a day-time fireworks show) and paella. Luckily, we were able to get together with Pipo, Nani's brother, and his wife, Isabel. They were kind enough to meet us at the main gate to the city (which was once walled, but all that remains are two entrance gates) and give us a tour of the old town. On our journey, Pipo pointed out that the city animal is the bat and can be seen on all city signs and figures. We had fun seeing all the different places bats would show up. We went for horchata, which is made out of a bean called chufa; it is a little thicker, creamier and better than Mexican horchata. Pipo also took us to the Cathedral where he and Isabel were married and is the home of the Holy Grail. We walked through the park that runs through town and climbed on the giant Gulliver playstructure. We both really enjoyed our time in Valencia. It's smaller than Barcelona, but has a great energy.

One word about eating in Spain; their hours are at least 2 behind the rest of Europe. We learned the hard way in Barcelona when, at 8:30 pm--I was very hungry--we couldn't find a place to eat, because restaurants here don't even open until 9 pm! We also got a big laugh from Gilad, Pipo and Isabel when we told them we had paella for dinner. If you ever come to Spain, paella is a lunch dish; you'll be an obvious tourist like us if you order it for dinner.

We then took an 8 hour bus ride from Valencia to Granada through the Sierra Nevada mountains. They are as beautiful as the ones in California. The landscape is beauiful here, dry Mediterranean vegetation and amazing vistas. It was a long but pleasant ride.

Granada is very active. It feels like a college town and is very touristic. We've heard as much American English (and British) as we did in Cinque Terre. But there is good reason for that; we spent today at the Alhambra. It's an amazing palace on the hillside with intricate gardens, fountains and waterways and commanding views of the city below. I say the Alhambra is a must see in your lifetime. If you ever visit: buy your tickets online (to avoid the long lines--that start at 6 am!), get there early (because they assign you an exact time to enter the palace, which is a 15 minute walk from the entrance), and plan to spend most of the day there. It's beautiful.

Like the bats in Valencia, we kept noticing pomegranates all over Granada; on street signs and manhole covers, in building decorations, etc. Until Asaf remembered that in French, pomme means apple, and pomme de terre (or apple of the earth) means potato. So, pomegranate must mean apple of Granada. And in Spanish, granada means pomegranate.

Our time in Spain has been great, it is perhaps overshadowed by our excitement that we will be in Morocco in a few days, and Asia in two weeks. We've loved our time in Europe, but we both look forward to more exotic destinations.

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Comments

[Amanda Hamilton]

I love Granada too!
Erin, Jason, I loved reading your blog - I lived near Valencia for a year before moving to Córdoba - the province West of Granada above Málaga .. and I adore Granada city ... ! Where we live now we are an hour from Córdoba, Málaga and Granada cities so we can get to any of them really easily - although I must say I like to come home to the spectacular beauty of the olive groves here in the Sierra Subbética ... I love it so much I opened my very own "Home from Home" Guest House - check it out if you want to : http://www.casa-la-celada.com I hope you have many more happy adventures in Spain and that one day you may even discover the hidden treasures of our province. Best wishes, Amanda