Day 18 Granada

After breakfast in café/pub (the hotel doesn't do breakfast) we had two housekeeping tasks to get out of the way - to post the carpet and tablecloth bought in Meknes, and to buy bus tickets for our onward journey, the latter on the advice of the LP and the concierge. The post office was a short walk in the centre of town and we boiught a box for the two items and then posted them. The ladies at the counters were very pleasant and helpful. Box and postage over €45 for surface shipping; I'd hate to think what DHL/Fedex would cost. The bus station was a fair way out, on the outskirts, so we took bus #33 there and were able to pre-buy our tickets to avoid hassles on the day.

Back in town, we were much relieved to have those issues out of the way so that we could actually start to enjoy this fine city. I have to say that was the weather is absolutely fabulous - crystal clear air and sky, temperature in the mid-to-high teens. Under such conditions you simply feel great, sore ankle notwithstanding. Granada is a small city, less than half a million I'd guess. Everything is on a human scale which promotes a sense of wellbeing.

The chores finished, we embarked on a walking tour of the Albaicin area of town opposite the Alhambra. The map of this tour in the LP was so smallas to be useless, so I had to transcribe it onto a much larger tourist map. This was not easy, since finding matching significant roads proved to be a chore. We set out to join the route, navigating backstreets to save time. Before we really got going we decided to have lunch near the Puerta de Elvira. A nice restaurant, but apart from the initial salad, it tasted like cafeteria food. A pleasant experience but not good value. It's early days but we have yet to find a good meal.

Although Spanish maps are better than Moroccan maps, it was still a little frustrating trying to find our way. We were aiming for Mirrador San Nicolas. It was a real pleasure navigating the major lanes as there was always a picturesque surprise around the next corner. All these streets were paved with cobblestones made of field stones polished by foot and motor traffic. Rubber soles and car tires squeak on them in a delightful way. After a few wrong turns and stopping at a deserted café ostensibly for iced tea (by Nescafe, very refreshing) under a Lipton Ice Tea umbrella, but really for a pit stop. After a few more wrong turns, no harm done, we eventually ascended successfully to Mirrador San Nicolas, a small square adjacent to an unremarkable church. The attraction here is the outstanding view at this time of day, about 5pm, to the Alhambra opposite at similar elevation, but more surprisingly to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada range behind it. You felt like diving into it, it was so good. We visit the Alhambra tomorrow.

The scale of the city is such that it is far more compact than I had imagined, so getting around on foot was eminently do-able, even with my ankle. I think we will walk to the Alhambra tomorrow. On the way back we were surprised to see that the main drag, Gran Via de Colon was completely empty - I could see no traffic along five sets of lights and there was a cop in the middle of the road at every one of them. Our hotel is near the end of the street and as we approached we heard noises and could see that a protest march was underway. I photographed the signs, but no idea what it was about. It was peaceful.

We went out at 9:30 for our tapas experience. We located the establishment recommended by website as offering the authentic experience. It was very crowded, standing room only. It certainly seemed genuine as the clientele was mostly Spaniards  We tried another place and had a drink and some "free" tapas which consisted of fatty crisps and small pieces of chicken. We left after consuming these and looked for other places. The alternate venue of the recommended place now had free tables sao we went in and ordered the tapas selection. Bad luck- we've run out said the waiter so we ordered the next item without studying it carefully enough. Served on a large wooden plate, it consisted at least in half of three varieties of chorizo. We liked chorizo in South America but this edition consisted of large chunks of fat - quite unpalatable. The other bits - ham, cheese and pate - were okay.

Joan says: even though the risk of theft and mugging is higher in Spain than Morocco, we actually feel more at ease here due to the more familiar culture. The Spaniards are very laid back and it's easy to adopt the manyana attitude.