16/11 - Day 7 - Afternoon
From Seville, we took renfe train towards Granada. The renfe station at Granada worked differently from other stations we had taken.
1. No security check to scan our bags
2. No ticket counter to verify our tickets - we just hopped on.
Oh well, anyways we got onto the train, plugged into our iPads for movies. Then a few stops later, one ticketing officer came by and asked for our tickets, on the train. Which was like...way too late to be checking our tickets? Lol.
Anyways, he continued with his ticket checks, and we continued with our movies.
Then the one thing happened. Announcement began, and was first in Spanish before being in English. Then, everyone was starting to talk during the English announcement and I couldn't hear anything said. :p. When alas I could finally hear the announcement in English, it was too slightly complicated for me to understand. Everyone then had grabbed their bags and both of us had a really big question mark. O.o?
Plucking up my courage to speak up in espanol...(Hopefully someone replies)
Me: "Hola"?
One guy: "Si?"
Me: "El tren, vamos Granada?" - ok, very broken spanish hahaha
Can't remember what was said exactly, but the guy who answered me seems to know I don't speak much Spanish, and phrased his reply in the easiest way to understand. Very much thankful to him. What happened was, there were constructions going on from one of the stations onwards to Granada. So, the arrangement was to drop off at the next stop, take the shuttle bus provided to move on to the next station.
So, that was kinda unpredicted and sis was nearly bent on sitting on train until "Granada" if we hadn't asked. So we got off train, followed the crowd, and found the buses waiting. I wouldn't dare run for a toilet break cause it didn't feel like they will wait for us. Seems like the bus were there just to pick up passengers from this train.
The journey was about 1.5 hours long. Lol, A German sat opposite us in the next rows of sit. Throughout the journey, we had a small conversation going on. :) Was a pleasant journey.
Finally reached Granada, and it was the coldest city we had set foot onto yet. We walked up towards the taxi stand, as it was looking very dark to be wandering by ourselves on the first day. I initially planned to take a bus, and then walked up the long straight road to our Airbnb apartment. But better not.
And I have to say the taxi drivers here in Spain were very very helpful. This is Case 1. Lol. Didn't expect him to help us carry our luggage and put them into the trunk. (anyways my last account with a taxi in Singapore, the driver just waited in his car for us to load luggage ourselves P). And our luggage, were heavy. Lol after I gave a wide-eye-jaw-drop in appreciation of him helping us with the luggage, I said "Fuerte!", meaning "Strong!" xD.
Somehow his fellow colleagues/friends standing around heard me and started to joke in Spanish. They said that he was strong cause he eats a lot of Iberico Jamon! Wahahaha, one way to promote the Iberico products in Spain. Some laughter here and there and we were definitely amused. Teehee~!
From train to Sacromonte area (where our AirBnb apartment was at), it was roughly 7 euros. So, lol, feeling that it ain't that expensive. ^-^ After we got off, and was looking confused at where was the street that our host said to go to, the driver was really nice to get off his taxi, and direct us to the street.
You know the S-shape? He waved that as the direction. Our apartment...oh my, a super long climb. Whats more, the road up there...wonderfully paved by stones that were about palm size big. Lol, My sis and I began dragging our luggage up. Lots of whining and groaning happened and I half-thought we were gonna let go of our luggage accidentally then it will go tumbling down the S-shaped path. Lol. Later I heard from my sis that she hit herself with a cactus during the climb up xD.
After much ordeal, like 30mins (maybe exaggerated) passed, we finally found ourselves in front of the gate as directed by our host. So...in the dark night, I stuck and turned the key left-and-right left-and-right, after what seemed like 10mins, the gate finally spared us and opened. What happened next was all the more funny:
I thought finally we found our home! Just right in front! We rushed there, and stuck the other key in. Some how, it just don't opened! I can't even turn it. All in my mind was going like, oh shit I don't want to go down the stoney S-path with my luggage and find a hotel in the night ;.;.
Then the door opened.
I thought it was the host.
They were another guests. xD!
You know those scary movies, where you were the ones inside the house and then suddenly the door knob started shaking like someone/some-ghost-or-monster was trying to open from the other side, basically we were that "someone" on the other side. xD.
Much apologies happened xD, and they told us, our apartment might be the ones up the stairs.
The stairs. O.O
Omg.. so much more ... climbing. And those stairs were steep, and very skinny. We had to work together to bring up one luggage at a time because it was very steep and the railing nearly didn't exist. ;_;.
Finally, we found ourselves with another door that refused to open up to us. :( So much ordeal that day. Ok, anyways we finally did find ourselves with yet another door that finally opened and looked as advertised. Finally...big relax. Lol.
One of the weak night-shot from my camera from the balcony inside.
We decided to cancel the Zambra show we booked for that night, which was conveniently located right beneath the S-path. We were just too tired, worn-out from the climb. Lol. I called and cancelled, but was lucky to be informed that their show was cancelled too. Sadly, this was the only planned Zambra/flamenco show for Spain, and we missed it :( And too, we decided to cancel dining out. Haha. Ok, lets just find whatever expendable souvenir we had bought...the marzapans! Lol - which was badly crumpled up. :( Anyways if you were planning to bring some goodies back, theres a chance they may serve goodies in a paper bag which seems like the common practice in Spain, bring some hard plastic box. :P.
Funny, we each prepared 2 cup noodles for Spain. all were gone in during Madrid. Lol, Anyways, after we finally settled down (bathed, unpacked essentials) we finally get to take in the apartment itself - which fancied the Moorish-tiles design. We have a small terrace right in front of our beds, where you can opened up the wooden windows, if you welcome the cooling breeze. There was also an upstairs, which is an open-air terrace. You get to hang your laundry up there, and there was a BBQ pit there too. o.O
We started to hunt for the washer, but couldn't get it to work. Very confusing o.O. And there were 2 very cute cats, which keeps following us and wanting to be let inside. They were very scary at the stairs though, darting up and down while I was trying hard to grab the walls so I wouldn't fall.
So, in all excitement for the sun rise moment the next day (this is a perfect flat to see either sun-rise/set as it was rather high up on a hilly area, and with Alhambra as part of the scenery it would be totally amazing right??), I set my alarm for 6 am. Which rang.
And there was no sun rise. All was dark.
I think I got my directions wrong lol, Later in the day I realised there was huge mountain which was blocking it.
17/11 - Day 7
One of the shots from our terrace again! In the morning. The Alhambra sit grandly on the left, while the right-side is the Sacromonte (where we were). It is really super cold that morning too, can you "see" it??
Walking to Alhambra Guided Tour Meet-Up Point
Our official day one here begins with Alhambra (shall refer to it collectively for Generalife, Alhambra, Nasrid Palace), which we had booked a tour. Left with no Milo, both of us were quite hungry and cold, after we dropped off at the wrong bus stop, which leads us into a very different district, the Albaicin). Had to backtrace, and find ourselves in a bar that was opened, and got 2 hot chocolate and mineral water.
Woohoo, then walked on. The klutz in me argues with sis that we should take the longer route, around the Generalife and Alhambra compound when a shorter road appears (a big U-shape path). I didn't wanna risk getting stuck in the dead-end and had to do more back-tracing. Anyways, I think I was wrong later on...
Panicking as we haven't reached our designated meetup point, frantically called the tour and was informed that I was very early - my tour begins at 10.15am. My voucher stated 9.30-10am. x__x
Finally reached the meet-up point, GranaVision, which also has a cafe. Weehee, Ordered a sandwich each and they provided us with 2 different Pate to try. ^-^.
Oh yes, Pâté, should try and get some from Spain. It is something alike canned tuna paste spread that goes with bread. I prefer my bread to be slightly thicker, preferably toasted (like baguette) before spreading the Pâté
Generalife, Alhambra and Nasrid Palace
Finally our tour began. We first visited Generalife. It was huge, gorgeous, and smells veryyyy lovely! The last description, seriously, I have to emphasize it. Many of the garden we visited smells a little fishy where there were fountains - like the water hadn't been changed. But not here, Generalife was beyond looks, and it totally gives you a fresher mind after a few hours of stay. The garden was very well-maintained, we saw the gardeners trimming off the trees. And here, no plants looks dead - all flowers were vibrant with colors, and really superbly beautiful.
I took some photos using my iPad, a weak 2MP camera and I had to say, the photographic scenes itself just make the 2MP camera awesome.
Oh on that day I forgot my portable battery, had to save my phone's battery which seems to run out rather quickly in Spain, as I was the guide (between me and sis) for Granada. I had to use my iPad to take photos instead.
We then visited Alhambra, and the Nasrid Palace. To be honest, I can't remember which part belongs to which, so I am just putting them together.
The ceilings, doorways, pillars, were beautifully decorated with Arabic carving patterns. I seriously wonder how did they get it up on ceiling and such. And there were inscriptions which says something along, "There is no conqueror greater than Allah".
There were a huge lots of stuff to see, and our tour, roughly 4 hours (including Generalife) wasn't enough. The tour itself basically provides itself as an informative tour, and with the tickets, we could still go back to Generalife and Alhambra. Nasrid Palace is slightly more complicated with the entrance, and it is stated by your ticket.
I got a little itchy-hand in one of the rooms, cause I just had to touch and see how did they do the Arabic patterns. Touch touch here and there. Then one of the guards, ever-most discreetly said "Hola" to me.
He: Waves the finger left-right-left-right.
Me: nod-nod
He was the most polite guard I had ever encountered in my entire Spain trip xD. In other places, they will be Hola-ing you loudly, and the entire room of people will be looking at you, and then telling you No-this-No-that.
The next time I come back to Spain, I am definitely revisiting this spot, and I will be planning three-quarter day in it. But I shall be fully prepared with all the readings (I didn't do any :X other than reading that it should be the first itinerary in Spain).
This a must must must must must!
And don't worry about toilet break. There is a building of toilets, as named by our guide haha, located within the main compound just before the places where you need to present your tickets to other parts of the Alhambra..
On our way out, I kept hearing a vague "hello!", "hello!" Didn't react until this kid was right in front of me and "HELLO!"
Kid: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Singapore"
Kid, jaw-drop: "Woah!"
Kid: "My first one!"
Me: ???
xD Not sure what about the first one, probably collecting countries? Hahaha, but damn cute xD
So we head down the long path to the main square, it was like 2pm when we finally headed out of Alhambra, and along the way there were many souvenir shops. Many offering handmade items, and I got myself some of those wooden coasters. The shop owner was very nice, and he was doing some of the handmade items while we looked around. Was very tempted to bring some of the bulkier item back...but thinking about my heavy luggage...
Finally we reached the main square at 3pm after dawdling at the souvenir shops. Teehee, we hadn't had lunch.
Lunch - La Riviera
This one! Go! Super value in Spain. Lol, we were looking at the menu and wanted to order 2 mains, aand some tapas to share. Something about small plates in Singapore keeps getting to us, we always wanna order mains and sides to share. Lol. Halfway through ordering, the lady tell us,
"Stop! Too much!" o.O;
"One drink, one free tapa - choose (gesture to menu)".
Lol! Ok, so we rearrange our orders...
They gave us a starter tapa which we didn't order, and it was delicious (free too!) something alike a potato salad.
Then we were served our drinks, and 2 tapas.
I can't really remember what did we ordered, I ended up with like 2 big platters that looks like main courses: A plate of hugely grilled squid, and a plate full of fried stuff and kebab o.O;
The food here had a certain taste to it I can't quite put to. We didn't manage to finish everything as we were too full! Had to skip dinner and save my stomach Lol.
Catedral
If I remembered correctly, the Catedral offers free audio guide? :D
After we exited, we found some seller selling preserved fruits and teas located outside the Catedral (we sighted them while trying to find the Royal Chapel). They were very friendly, and the first thing that caught my eyes were the preserved aloe vera. I wanted something to chew on while walking. :D Walking in Spain gets you easily tired, and eating/sugar keeps you high!
The looming grand exterior:
After buying some fruits, we found their tea selection very interesting. It is alike flower teas, and each have a different names, and indication as to what purpose the tea were for. Like sore throat, asthma/bronchitis, blah blah.
Sis bought 100gram for 2 bags, and they were huge. O.O Of course, tea were light.
Lol a funny incident occurred to me yet again haha.
I wanted this "Malva" so I told the seller, "Malvia, 100 gram!"
Seller: "Malva!"
Me (somehow I keep repeating it since I was excited?) -chants-: "Malvia, malvia, malvia"
Sis: "Malva la...He said it as Malva, how come you keep saying Malvia"
Me -recognition- : "Ohhhh!! Malva!"
Seller: "Yes, Malva!"
Me -got a little high- : "MALVA!"
Seller: "MALVA -laughs-"
xD
Palacio de la Madraza
Lol couldn't find the Chapel after circling Catedral quite a number of times, and getting lost, couldn't find a specific bakery as well. The night was getting darker, and we finally saw this item on our itinerary.
It was very worth it. For a 2 euro, this place comes with a free tour that lasted about 20mins. Tour was very well paced, and very informative. The guide spoke good and clear English and other languages.
And...we finally saw the Chapel (which was close then) which is nearby the Palacio de la Madraza. Lol, use that as a guide!
Mini Shopping and Mini Dinner
Finally we found our Chapel which was directly across Madraza, and it was closed. As such, begins our mini late night shopping. ^^
We were probably in the main touristy areas and a number of shops were pretty expensive. We found a shop that sells Toledo stuff - ie damasquinado necklace, swords, beautifully carved watches. Sis was very tempted xD.
So we were just randomly walking about, and we pop in one of the shop to have some churros and wine for me to gather some heat as well. Lol, they didn't have a menu, so oh well, since were still pretty much full from our gigantic lunch.
I then realised that the skin on my knuckles was hurting, red and bruised, from the cold wind. o.O; I did feel the pain since Alhambra but didn't pay any attention thinking that I accidentally knock into a wall or something. Lol, in cold days, please bring a pair of gloves. :P
After which, was just small shopping again before taking the bus home z.z.
Did I mentioned, that the people in Granada were cute (as remarked by sis). When they hopped on bus, they greet with "Hola" to the bus full of people ^-^
Canceled item on that day: Basilica San Juan de Dios
Lol, kinda regret cancelling it. Trip Advisor ranked it higher than Catedral and Chapel oh sheesh. Didn't do enough homework. It was just slightly further away from the main areas.
2nd try at Night Shot Again!
18/11 - Day 8
This is our last day at Granada :(. Had initially planned to begin earlier, but we decided to do some packing instead. After which, we begin our first itinerary.
Sacromonte Cave Museum
Well, we were actually in the Sacromonte district, so most of the "walls" here have the cave-y look. But we didn't get to see the insides of the caves, so going to the museum to look-see was definitely on our list.
It was a longer climb up from where our flat was. Long long long stoney walk. We finally reached like 20mins later, paid for our entrance and started the visit.
One of the cave exhibit
Trying a "longer" panorama
The museum itself is actually smaller than expected, probably only need about 30mins to finish every thing. It showcased the interesting cave habitats, that definitely felt warmer than our Airbnb flat despite no heater or air conditioning. The fresh air probably comes in from the doorway.
Oh for a more unique staying experience in Granada, try booking a Sacromonte Cave from the Airbnb. We didn't have luck though we ended up in the district haha.
And! Going back down from the museum, lots of mini viewpoint that offers a generous beautiful scenery of Alhambra and the Sacromonte, Albaicin region. That itself probably took about 30mins of our time while we were happily snapping photos here and there.
My favourite shot! Took this while climbing down from the museum. The focus sadly wasn't on Alhambra, but I thought it was one of my best shot (ididn'tdoanythingtoit!)
Carrera del Darro
Finally, we were back at the main street beneath our flat. We decided to walk towards Carrera del Darro since the bus C2 goes towards Albaicin. But the really magical/weird thing is, we somehow, missed the turn to go towards Carrera del Darro and found ourselves winding up in the road towards Albaicin again! That was seriously wonked up. Lol!
Anyways along the way we found another breakfast spot. Hop in for a cup of latte and a sandwich each. Teehee.
Backtrace again, and finally found Carrera del Darro. This is one of the beautiful street in Granada. A small river, beautiful backdrop with Alhambra almighty perching above it, as well as the autumn trees turning reddish-yellow. Definitely photo-worthy in every spot, and a very nice place for people-watching if you had the time.
I am quite fail trying to take a good picture of the river. Ended up with nothing. X_X Shall see if my sis had any good.
This is one of the shot at the surrounding street. ^^ Another of my favourite
We stayed for about 20 mins and walked onto ...
El Banuelo
This is a very well preserved historical Arab Bath site. Lol, oh and I realised that the tourist center is just at the entrance and can offer a lot of good deals and information about visits to other touristy sites in Granada. Some were also free of charge too. Could stop by if you need more information. Anyways it was already our last day...
The Banuelo is an interesting place with a very starry ceiling. You'd realise that every or most Arabic ceilings were all very uniquely with all the geometrical shapes, or starry shapes. The one in Banuelo had those stars shape extracted from and the light comes in. Super nice!
This is probably another short visit lasting less than 30mins. But well, talk about cam-whoring (no one else to photobomb :D), take another 20mins.
Mirador de San Nicolas
Then now, begins the walk in the Albaicin district and towards the view point Mirador de San Nicolas. Read about reviews on Albaicin saying that it was a very magical district. But weird, we didn't see much shops while we were there, and the endless turns and climbs was getting into our heads.
It was about 20mins of walking and we finally reached the view point. It was about 12pm right then, and despite the hot sun we sat there for roughly 30mins. The scenery there was beautiful and totally looked just like a picture on your computer. Lol.
The best part of this place, there was a singer with a few other buddies, strumming guitar, clapping, and singing. Made up the super nice ambience I was getting drown in. I nearly didn't wanna go. Had to get a CD from them, and show a little support for the musicians on street!
Helado de San Nicolas
Sighted an ice cream shop just beneath the Mirador, and we headed over there. Some of the more unique flavours were very flowery - ie. Lavendar ice cream, Rose ice cream. waha!
We had 2 scoops of ice cream each and slowly savored it. Cold day, cold ice cream, super shiok! The ice cream guy also kindly gave us a free postcard each ^-^
So rather funny, now we are on our way to search for lunch while we had our dessert first.
Carmela Restaurant
I found this restaurant based on reviews, and again, I forgot to check my notes to see that there might be a menu del dia. We had our priciest meal in Europe yet, totaled up to 42 euros. Seafood / fish were supposed to be their specialty.
We had a rose wine each, a russian salad to share, and a main course each. I chose the grilled fish - which only came slightly warmer than my palm itself. :P The fish itself was nice though despite the lack of heat it in haha. For the pricing, there are definitely better places elsewhere in Granada.
Royal Chapel
The visit was alike other Catedral in Spain. There more interesting parts were about the tombs that resides there.
Own-Time-Own-Target
Left with quite a bit of time, we tried looking for the Bakery Street, Pan y Dulces, which seems to be hiding from us.
The plaza it was supposed to be at was seemingly frustrating to find and we found ourselves in the wrong direction multiple times. X__X finally we found it and it wasn't opened. Opened only from 5pm...
We dropped by some of the more touristy-looking shops to look for souvenirs. Particularly we ended up in Alcaiceria, as recommended by many online resources. Rather than silk, I think we saw quite a lot more figurines for decorations there. Some of the more beautiful exquisite glasses pieces for smoking pipes, arabic hookah(?), glass piecies that looks like a vial for perfume? Very interesting stuff! I found myself 2 additional crystals bracelet in one of those shops.
Before heading back, supposedly we might be missing our dinner and we went in search for something to take out. Pizzas, breads or what not. In the end, we ended up in yet another bakery shop.
I got the chocolate muffin (awesome!), a cookie, a bread(?) Can't remember.
It was roughly 5pm, and we started to head back to our flat. We were to take a domestic flight towards Barcelona at 9pm. But lol, sis was all-the-more rushy and wanna chiong to airport right then.
Anyways, when we finally reached our apartment, packed up stuff, and began dragging our luggage downwards to the main street. Made a phone call to a recommended driver (it was quite quite pricey), and she came. She, alone, lugged our luggage into the trunk herself. Kudos!!! Must really be the iberico!
Our driver was quite entertaining as well, sharing some of her experience and chatting with us. Teehee, we learned quite a bit of stuff from her, haha, but all for the next trip as we were parting Granada. Finally reached airport and the cost was 55 euros (big expensive!). It was about 6.30pm, and we couldn't check in yet.
The airport was very small, nothing much to shop. :P. Sheesh, I could have more time to shop ;P.
Canceled Items:
Monasterio de la Cartuja:
- Read that this was very worth it if there were time as it was slightly further away from the main areas. ;P Decided to cancel it as we might not have the time.
La Botilleria
- This was one of the restaurants I found from Trip Advisor and I was veryyyyy bent on going there before coming to Spain. But my knees...So decided not to go. It is further down from the main region, in Realjo where there were many graffiti work arts. Should be a nice scene if we had the time and were less painful in the knees. Boohoo, one of my big regrets to have missed it :(
Goodbye Granada, was a super pleasant stay. I find it very magical somehow and couldn't quite explain it. And weirdly, I was reading up on Granada after returning to Singapore and that was very much the sentiment decided for Granada. I will definitely be back in Granada for the next big Spain trip. It shall have 5 of my travel days! For one, we could also find the time to visit Sierra Nevada, the mountainous region which our driver said it would be an awesome photo taking place. ^-^
