Days that you are not traveling are great to sleep in. Wandering the streets we find ourselves at the first cafe we encountered the day before. Looking for Wifi but it is not obvious. We are in luck and I can call the kids. Missing them more each day and wishing they could have experienced some of what we have seen. The dollar has fallen even more.
Back to the top of the hill where we plan to see more of the Alhambra and Generalife complex. It is Saturday and there are queues to the ticket offices. We decide on beer and a walk. Through the Parador (State run luxury hotel) and we find a little fence that needs to be jumped over. Oops, we find ourselves in the gardens of the Generalife (usually requiring tickets for entry) and so we take the opportunity to look around. Finally getting to the Generalife palacios we again find free entrance this time through the exit. No intiendo is our motto for now, we simply don't understand. However, we do make the most of our opportunity and take a good lookmaround.
Yesterday we gained entrance to the Palacio of Carlos V and the museos housed within. Today the Generalife section. Will we push our luck and try for the Palacios Nazaries and Alcazaba. the former is guarded like Fort Knox and the latter has 30 m high walls. Getting in for free may require more than just luck. Perhaps tomorrow.
Back to the pension for lunch and we finally engage in the tradition of siesta waking at 6.30pm to head out again. This time we find ourselves in a more “islamic” section of town with tea houses offering free hookas per table. Of course it is only tobacco but we cannot bring ourselves to breath in all the smoke.
There is a great din down the street and when we get there we are confronted by a large group of young men soaked to the skin and chanting slogans, waving fists and looking up at windows framing young women. Obviously an ancient courting ritual where the young women alternate between exhibiting items of clothing from the windows and throwing buckets of water on their adoring male friends and suitors.
We make our way to a hill overlooking Granada. It is via a “shady” part of town but emerges into a plaza with throngs of people, music and hand made tissue flowers everywhere. There are people of all ages enjoying the groove. A local restaurant provides vino and tapas. Setting off down steep lanes and back alleys we find restaurants perched on the hill with great views over the city. Perhaps tomorrow for lunch?
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