Europe 2015
May 9 - Malaga to Granada
We had and early breakfast along with a few of the cyclists. Some of them including my Berkeley friends had very early flights and missed breakfast altogether. They missed a good buffet. We sat with Cindy and Dave Graham so that Cindy and I could tell tales about each other from our motor tour.
After breakfast, Ann and I packed up and wheeled our bags to the bus station. We were pleased that the station was only a few short blocks from our hotel on a pleasant wide city street. We chose to ride the bus to Granada because it would take about the same time as the train and would certainly be easier than driving. The station was modern, clean and busy.
The bus station in Granada was also modern, clean and busy. It was located a long ways from the older part of town where we were staying. We took a taxi to Hotel Casa 1800 Granada. Our room wasn't ready and we were hungry for lunch so we walked over to Bodegas Castaneda a very busy tapas bar. There were no tables available so we elbowed our way through the crowd to the bar and ordered a couple of cervesas. We discovered that a surprise tapa comes with an order of beer even with the mini beers that are normally served when you don't specify the size of your cervesa. We drank and ate our surprise tapa until we could decide other tapas to order. Our order came out quickly and the tapas were very good. I saw some negative reviews of this tapas bar, but our experience was fun, tasty and inexpensive.
The temperature was rising so we decided to go cack to the hotel to have some down time and and to cool off. Then we went to our 4:30 tea time which had some yummy snacks as well as tea. Our hotel had nice extras like this. They even gave us a bottle of the local fizzy wine. Although the temperature was getting hot, the thick walls of the hotel kept us cool even in the patio. Quoting from the hotel's website: "Granada Hotel Casa 1800 is located in a luxurious house typical of the seventeenth century, located in the Miguelete´s house just in the center of Granada, in the neighborhood of Albaicin. Being a protected historic building, originally preserved facade with Renaissance-style murals and charm of a building with a unique design, which makes all the rooms to be different. It also has a unique situation, being at the foot of the Alhambra, thus having a fantastic view of the monument from some of its rooms and public areas".
Soon after our tea, the temperature was cooling off so we took Rick Steves' Old Town Walk to get a better feel for the area we were staying in. We saw Corral del Carbon ( a caravanserai), the Alcaiceria (originally a Moorish silk market and now a mesh of tiny shopping lanes), the Plaza Bib-Rambla, the Cathedral, the Royal Chapel Square, Plaza Isabel La Catolicaand the Plaza Nueva.
For dinner, we went searching for a tapas bar that the hotel's clerk recommended, but it was closed. We chose another one at random. It was just OK. It was fun sitting at the table on the street watching the crowds walk by.