Grenada

 June 6

I am a bit of a history buff, but I have never been particularly driven to learn the ins and outs of Spanish history, an oversight I plan to correct. As a result I have not been completely certain of the things I needed/wanted to see. However, I knew enough to know that I needed to see the Alhambra.

Months ago I booked our tours of the palaces, which definitely meant we had to keep our timeline coming out of Toledo. It was a three and a half hour drive from Toledo to Grenada through what I would describe as flatfish, hot land covered in olive trees and graffiti. Both Nic and I commented that the landscape looks something like the Southwest US. 

However as soon as we spun off the highway into Grenada the world changed dramatically. Granada is the gateway to the Spanish mountains. In the background one can see mountains tipped with just a tiny bit of snow. Before we knew it we were in the most intense driving I have seen, except in Rome, where I did not drive. Nic is a great driver. He managed the tiny streets and Google Maps redirecting us every time we missed a turn, which we did A LOT in trying to find our hotel. My vision for the day was to park by the hotel and walk to Alhambra. This vision rapidly changed as it became clear that our hotel was not easily apparent from the streets/bike lanes. In order to make our time at Alhambra we decided to go to their parking. This actually worked out very well. We had just 24 hours in Grenada (which is decidedly not enough) and we found 24 hour parking. For the first time in our lives, Nic said, “I don’t care how much it costs.” So we parked, and that my friends is one of the top ten best decisions of my life: Parking in Grenada. We left Ramona in the parking lot, waved goodbye and hoped she would be safe for 24 hours.

There are no words for Alhambra except that my phone died and I did not get all the photos I wanted. The phone dying was actually kind of a problem because I am the one with the international phone plan and we still had no idea where our hotel was. 

The history and ingenuity of Alhambra are a testimony to humanity. It gives me hope that somehow humans might figure this life thing out. If we can create such beauty, surely we can handle world peace, right?

Nic and I wandered in and out of palaces, monasteries, and gardens all afternoon. We also worked on organizing ourselves a bit more. We were both pretty dehydrated from all of the walking in the heat and not really having water bottles. We are also both too cheap to buy water in a restaurant, so I drank wine, Nic drank nothing. We were like two withered raisins. Finally we caved and bought $10 Cokes at Alhambra and used the bottles to refill with water for the day. This made a huge difference in our lives. Turns out, water is important.

I need about six months to think about Alhambra and fully digest my experiences there. I cannot adequately share those now in the flurry of travel. 

We walked out of Alhambra and down into Grenada. We went to a bar with a lot of pig legs hanging from the ceiling. I drank wine and begged the server to charge my phone. He was very lovely. When my phone was charged, Nic took one look at the map and declared, “I got it.” Now, I know Nic is good at directions, but nothing prepared me for this. He walked us through the maze of tiny streets and millions of humans directly to the door of our hotel, which was very obscure. I am not sure we would have ever found it by car. 

Our hotel, Casa de Reyes, was part hotel and part museum. The owner is either a madman, or a genius, or potentially both. As we checked in, he showed us the enormous hand-carved statues that he has carved over the course of his life. It was totally wild, and remarkable. Furniture throughout the house was also carved by him. The room was quaint and quiet, a refuge from the madness outside. 

If you want to stay with him, you only have three years. He plans to go full museum at that point. Go now, if you plan to.

He, his mother, and his wife offer a full costumed dinner party if you reserve the experience. We did not. This is not something I need in my life. Nic thought it might be cool to sit in the big chairs.

Don Quixote is important to the Grenada, and our host. It is his favorite piece so far. You can also see the windmills featured in the book along the roadside.

Nic really loved Grenada. I thought it was cool, but it is sooooo busy. I found it a little stressful, especially the driving. I would love to go back and spend more time seeing the cave district. We were working hard on figuring the food thing out, so we napped for a bit in the room before heading out for dinner. Again we struggled. Nic struggled to find a place he wanted to eat at that had food I could eat. He ended the night frustrated, but determined to master eating in Spain. I ended the night with a cheese sandwich, fairly content. Cheese in Europe is amazing. Bread in Europe is amazing. How could this go wrong?

We slept in until almost ten. We are still working to catch up with jet lag. On our way back to Ramona, we grabbed coffee and pastries and headed up the mountains for our next adventure.