The Holidays in Spain: A Two-Week Adventure (Part 2, Granada)

As I get this blog up and running, I'm posting summaries of our past trips, starting in 2011. This is the second post about our trip to Spain, December 2012 - January 2013.

We arrived in Granada around 7:00 p.m. on December 30, 2012. We still hadn't learned our lesson, and chose to schlep our luggage about half a mile to our hotel, through dark, deserted, unfamiliar streets. We arrived at our hotel, Suites Gran Via 44, and dropped our bags before heading out to dinner. Although we were staying right on the Gran Via, we didn't see a lot of places that appealed to us to eat. We ended up at a little wine bar in a back alley - La Bodeguita de al Lado. The place was empty when we walked in, but we decided to take a chance. The bartender (owner? who knows) didn't speak any English, and we speak essentially no Spanish, but we were able to communicate that we wanted to eat and drink. They had a delicious deli case and an expansive wine selection, so I knew we could do those two things.

I believe this is Aaron's "I don't know what's happening so I'm just going to roll with it" face. There was a record player behind the bar, and they played mostly old American music.

There was an English menu, so we eventually were just able to point at things. We pointed at "sampler platter for two."

It included lots of marinated veggies, sausage, pate, and maybe even blood sausage.

The bartender kept pouring glasses, and we kept drinking. We tried some local sherry, which was okay. Not good enough to buy a bottle to take home, but I enjoyed it. After a few hours, we walked back to our hotel, and I realized that we were in a gay bar. The best little gay bar in Granada.

Day 6 - December 31, 2012

We spoiled ourselves at this hotel and had breakfast delivered to our door. We had a delicious selection of breads, yogurt, milk, and fruit. We had more than enough for a meal, so we could save the rest to snack on throughout the day. It also made it easier for us to get up early for our tour. This tour was the entire reason we went to Granada—to see the Al Hambra. We had booked our tickets online about six weeks in advance, so once again we didn't have to stand in any lines. We purchased the trusty audio guide and walked up to the palace.

The Al Hambra was a Moorish palace that was held until the last of the Arabs were driven out of Spain, in 1492. Part of the tour goes through many rooms in the palace (which are gorgeous and have intricately detailed ceilings like the one pictured below), and another portion is the fortress, where the soldiers defended the palace. There were cats roaming all around the grounds, which kept Aaron entertained. One of his favorite photos of the palace is this kid trying to play with a cat.

After the Al Hambra, we wandered through town and purchased some groceries for the night and the next day. Our room at the Gran Via 44 was actually a small one-bedroom apartment, so we were planning to cook a New Year's Eve dinner for ourselves. I had read in multiple places that unless you wanted to make reservations in advance for a very spendy dinner, you wouldn't be able to find somewhere to eat on New Year's Eve. I had also read that the Spanish prefer to spend the holiday with their families, so all stores will be closed and no one will be out.

Both of those bits of information were completely incorrect. We should have gone out for a nice dinner, but instead we had a pretty bad pasta dinner in the hotel room. I think Aaron was awake to ring in the new year, but I was asleep, just like I normally am at home.

Day 7 - January 1, 2013

We sat around and relaxed most of New Year's Day, although we did go to an Irish Pub (which was open, contrary to what the internet had warned me about), so Aaron could watch another soccer match. I observed that in Spain there is a lot of poop on the streets ... I assume in part because the horse-drawn carriages are so popular with tourists. Although, a lot of it seems to be from dogs and doesn't get picked up. But perhaps the Spanish don't smell it as much as we do, because they're always smoking.

We grabbed dinner at a little kabob stand, and packed up to leave Granada for Madrid bright and early the next day.

Want to read more about this trip? Check out part 1, part 3, and part 4.

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