Our normal morning routine is a bit shortened today since we have an On Your Own tour booked with HAL and our meeting time is 8:15. No worries – we’re up, exercised and ready well before 8:15. Arriving in the theater, we find a different routine than on previous cruises. We aren’t checking in at the stage, but at the exit. Thus, we sit until our tour is called, then go to the exit doors, get our bus sticker and head to the buses. At first we are thinking this is dumb and creates a huge bottle neck that isn’t worth it. But on 2nd thought, it is actually quite smart. If you don’t have your sticker, you don’t know what bus # you are, and you can’t just walk outside to get on the bus first. Very sneakily smart! Of course, we’re one of the main culprits there, but, hey, we can position ourselves to get what we want. And we do, being the first in line to get our bus stickers from the sweet Jessica (who is so cute and nice and wants to make sure we know how long the lines were all day yesterday – which of course we knew! We were first in line there too….see a pattern?), then out to the waiting buses where we grab the 2nd row seats, of course keeping the 1st row open for handicapped folks. And of course, the couple who tried to bowl us over and get in front of us in the sticker line, at security and everywhere else takes the first row seats. Figures. The poor handicapped people who can barely make it up the steps have to go all the way to the back. Some people, that’s all we gotta say.
Thus begins our 2-hour bus ride with the adorably diminutive guide, Angela, who talks and talks and talks all the way through the whole 2 hours – giving us more information than we could ever possibly remember about Spain, Malaga, Granada – you name it. Did learn that the word Tapas comes from the word to cover or Tapar. The legend goes that King Alphonso 13 ordered some wine at a bar, then asked the bartender to cover the wine when he wasn’t drinking it, thinking it would be covered with a napkin or something similar. The bartender though, covered the wine glass with a slice of cheese. When the King ordered a 2nd glass of wine, he asked the bartender to cover it again in the same fashion – thus began the tradition of tapa. And here in Granada, they take that tradition up a notch by giving you complimentary tapas with every drink ordered. You never have to order food – of course you’d be drunk the entire day, but hey, might not be a bad trade off.
Angela gave us all paper maps – because she doesn’t like Google Maps – with every important site highlighted. She also organized the bus driver to take anyone who had tickets up to Alhambra after they dropped us off. They’ll have to find their own way back to the bus – still, that was a nice gesture (better than last time when we had to sit on the bus while we drove up to Alhambra to drop those people off). But, unlike last time, we are dropped much further away from the old part of town. So much so that Angela sweetly walks us all the way into the town, showing us different places and taking people to the little HoHo train she has mentioned, as well as the little bus that will take us up to Albaicin if we want to ride instead of walk. That’s a life saver!
You know us, we love a good walk, but it is all uphill, and we mean straight uphill with many, many steps, to get to Albaicin, so we took the 1 Euro 60 bus. Even though the bus takes a circuitous route up to Albaicin, it is still steep – with these teeny, narrow little roads the little bus can barely fit through, especially as the lanes are filled with people walking. It’s nuts. That red bus was a Godsend. Well worth 3 Euros.
Albaicin (or Albayzin) is said to be the original settlement of Granada. There is evidence of a Roman settlement there, and from the Nasrid period on, it was settled by the Arabs in the region. It is filled with Moorish architecture and retains its medieval street plan, all twisting and winding little streets that are more like alleys. We took the bus all the way up to the Mirador San Nicolas which has the best view of the Alhambra from up here on the opposing hillside. There are also stupendous long views across all of Granada and south toward the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Just gorgeous – but also very crowded.
There wasn’t much else to see there – the church wasn’t open, and we had a list of other sites, so we just began to wander, heading toward the Aljibe del Rey, the largest of the Islamic cisterns in Granada. Unfortunately, upon arrival, we found a sign that said visits were only by previously arranged appointments. There was a large Spanish group waiting to go inside, ringing a doorbell for admittance. Oh well, not for us. As we wandered away toward a little square next to the Aljibe, a local gentleman came up to us and engaged us in a long conversation – all in Spanish! – about the Aljibe. He told us it was for groups only – asking if we were Spanish (it seemed like he might have added us to the other group had we said yes!). When we said no, he launched into a litany of different things to do – the mirador, from where we just came and other places we didn’t understand. We then asked him about food – because we were getting a little bit hungry at this point, and we knew we were on a short time clock – but the restaurant he told us about didn’t open until 1. At least we figured out the name of the place and the time! Bidding him goodbye we reconnoitered a bit and decided just to start our descent back down to the main streets in Granada in search of food and drinks and tapas.
Good call! First of all, nigh on noon – we only have 3 more hours here – and walking down takes us a while (which also makes for an excellent decision on the ride up, btw). We took the route down Cuesta de San Gregorio, sort of the main thoroughfare up and down Albaicin – with loads of scenic alleyways, buildings and plazas. Along with signs against mass tourism. We need those in Asheville!
There were markets and shops and Arabic tea shops and tons of photo opportunities all the way down – just no open restaurants. Finally, down at ground level (can’t say sea level coz we’re still way up in the hills here), we found Meson Andaluz, a cute little place open for Tapas. Plopping down at a nice table outside, we ordered our wine and beer which came, of course, with our complimentary tapas of smoked ham on bread, then continued on with croquettas and albondigos (meatballs). Nice – not too filling and just right.
Then it is wandering time. We just sort of walked around, window shopped at an Ale-Hop, walked past Plaza Isabel la Catolica with the statue of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus, depicting when the Queen granted Columbus the funds for his voyage. Meandered back past the Cathedral, into the little back streets passing by a cute little square with the Monument to El Aguador, the Water Carrier and his donkey. Shopped at Sabor e Espana, only because they kept giving us samples of things they had – which actually persuaded us to by honey coated pistachios (oh so good/bad), finally ending up at another adorable restaurant called Bar Restaurante La Tortuga Boba. Beer and wine, and once again complimentary tapas. Although these tapas were over the top amazing – little pieces of grilled pork steak atop bread. Yum!
Drinks, tapas and time wasting handled, we headed back to the main street on our way to the bus pick up, stopping at a little pastry shop called La Casita del Pan. And casita it is – little in every way! Only one person could fit in the shop at a time, and then you just twirl around in a circle pointing at things you want! We ended up with 2 big thick cookies (1 walnut, 1 almond), 2 Orejas (those little pretzel looking flat pastries made from puff pastry, honey and sugar) and one bagel looking thing – all for only 1 Euro 47. That was the deal!
Arriving at the meeting point, we find a bench to hang out in the sun and wait for the bus. Angela had said the bus would be here about 10 minutes early, we figured we’d be taking bets on which passengers wouldn’t be here until late – but we were surprisingly wrong! Everyone is here – even the loud Alhambra people (we are noticing everyone on this cruise is really loud – the Alhambra people talked loud at the back of the bus and clapped like dopes when Angela announced they’d be driven up there). The bus driver is the one who ends up being late – 10 minutes late. LOL!
Back on the bus, we settle in for the long ride back, with Angela letting us all relax and sleep until our pit stop where she says we can try the Piononos, a traditional Granadan specialty of sponge cake filled with cream and cinnamon, drenched in syrup and topped with toasted cream and sugar. Oh boy! A total mess, but total goodness. With a coffee for Ed, we were all set for the rest of our drive back to the port.
We arrived right at all aboard time, thinking we would be the last bus – but no, there are 4 buses somewhere behind us. No way! That’s just crazy. We didn’t have time to dwell on that fact though, as we had made Pinnacle Grill reservations and could only get a 6pm time slot. We had told Yulia, the wonderful hostess, we might be late because we had a long tour, and she told us 15 or so minutes would be fine. We took her at her word, freshened up in the cabin then hung out on the balcony for a bit watching the birds circling around the bay for a bit before heading down to dinner.
Another excellent meal, with take away Lamb Chops for snacks later, and a lovely night on the balcony as we sail from Malaga. Two interesting facts: 1) We had to go out into the bay here and do circles to calibrate the compass on the ship, an annual task. We thought that was really funny since we have to do the same thing for our phones every once in a while. 2) As we were calibrated, we got a really good look at the Virgin Voyages Brilliant Lady who has been moored here outside the harbor for months now. Angela told us they have her here in Malaga in order to test the balance on the ship because Malaga gets strong winds from two directions. That doesn’t make much sense to us – and when we Googled the ship, we couldn’t find anything about why she is sitting here essentially abandoned. Her maiden voyage is September 25 from New York City. It’s just weird – that huge ship just sitting here for months on end.
And that’s how we end our evening, finally sailing off to Tangier, while we sit on the balcony in great weather.
Andiamo 