Final week in Granada

It’s a bittersweet feeling to leave Granada. On one hand the kids are looking forward to being reunited with family and Tahoe friends, one the other, they are sad to be leaving their new friends. Both children have integrated well into their school and their sports teams. When I see how sad they are to be leaving Jose Hurtado, I think back to how scared they were on the first day of school. How far they both have come!  It’s been an emotional week with many farewells: their coaches, friends and teachers. Zoe’s swim teammates signed a Spanish Flag for her. Her class made a book with farewell notes. JT’s class also made a farewell note.

We’ve squeezed lots of shopping and visiting into our last week and crossed many items off of our "before I leave" list. We saved one special experience for last: Tom and I made a trip to the Arab baths. In the midst of all of last minutes errands it was a thoroughly relaxing interlude. One arrives, and is shown the 3 bathing pools, freezing cold, temperate and warm. There is also a steam shower and 15 minute massage. They also serve a lightly sweetened tea. One has a period of 90 to enjoy these delights. The setting itself is unusual, lovely tiles, warm floors, tranquil music. This time of year, they are quiet.

Over the past 3 months we’ve seen much of Andalucía and Madrid.  While we have enjoyed each place, each trip has reinforced what a great choice Granada has been for our family. The culture, the weather, the people the ability to learn Spanish have all been great. By living in Granada, we’ve experienced all of the benefits of big city living with none of the usual downsides. Granada is clean, safe, affordable, and friendly.  Access to nature is a bike ride away. The kids are begging us to schedule a trip to return within the next 18 months.  I hope their enthusiasm and their rich experiences remain with them far into the future.

Sevilla’s Christmas Splendor

The 2^nd weekend in December is a 4 day weekend.  December 6^th celebrates the signing of Spain's constitution and the 8^th, the feast of the annunciation.  A national holiday which is also a religious holiday seems odd to those who hail from a country with separation of church and state. Frankly, it also seems a little odd in Spain because while much of the country is Catholic, few attend services. Catholicism has become more of a cultural identity than a religious one.

Never ones to let a 4-day weekend go to waste, we booked a bus to Sevilla. My first impression of the city was not positive, but fortunately it improved with each experience. Most of bus stations we’ve passed through are quite new and surprisingly clean. Sevilla’s station was neither. The bathrooms were the disgusting and to add insult to injury, they were coin operated. It’s a rare moment when a bus port-a- john trumps a normal bathroom. 

As in Rhonda, we booked an “apart hotel”.  Despite its 2 star rating, it was an awesome apartment in a great location.  Tom had another “I wish I had stayed in a place as nice as this for the past 3 months” experience. These short term rentals are more economical than traditional hotels, are furnished with more character and offer a lot of space. On the downside, they lack services such as a front desk, room service, gym etc.  Our apartment was named after its street, Siete Revueltas, which means 7 turns. It was a narrow zigzagging almost alley sized-street closed to cars. The kids of course counted them and yes there were exactly 7 “turns”.

The city was brilliantly lit for Christmas. Each street has a specific style of lighting and I read that over 120 streets are illuminated. We saw at least 10 different variations. Since it was a holiday weekend, the streets were unbelievably crowded far into the night. Most stores close at 8:30, but Christmas markets are set up throughout the city and stay open quite late. Many corners had vendors selling roasted chestnuts. They used wood so the smoke filled the sky creating street scenes out of a Victorian Christmas card. In one plaza, lights and pictures were projected onto the side of an entire building.

The apartment was just steps away from the Metropol Parasol or as the locals call it “The Mushrooms” These are the world’s largest wooden sculpture with a museum of Roman ruins (found while constructing the site) on the basement floor, a food market on the main floor, and retail space on the upper floors. Tourists pay a modest fee to walk along the top. The view of the city is wonderful, especially at night. Zoe and I went up on Friday when all of the churches were celebrating the annunciation. When the bells struck the 9 o’clock hour from all quarters of the city and the lights shone through the haze of chestnut vendors, it was a surreal experience.

At the market, we bought stone crab claws and our favorite Spanish cheese queso Mahon curado. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the vendor slice jamon iberico (huge hogs that eat only acorns) for a queue of grandmas that was 20 deep. This was the first market where we’ve seen vendors selling rabbits, pheasant, quail and ducks gutted but with fur and feather intact. JT is not a fan of markets. He can’t quite overcome his aversion to the smell of fresh fish and meat. He hung around on the periphery while we shopped, and tried breathing through his neck gator—and given the state of that I am surprised he could smell anything else!

We really enjoyed touring the Mushrooms, but our favorite spot was the Plaza Espana. Every city in Spain has a plaza with this name, but in our humble opinion, this was the most spectacular. Built for the 1929 World’s Fair, the brick structure is beautiful in and of itself. But to make it even more special the building is embellished with ceramics. The roofs, the walls, the lamp posts, the fence surrounding the water were all decorated with hand painted ceramic tiles or constructed of ceramic itself. Built in a semicircular shape it has a moat with 5 bridges. At the center stands a huge fountain. Each province of Spain has a ceramic mural depicting a scene from when it became a province. We rented a row boat and the kids took turns rowing us. After our last experience, we skipped the rowing together step and they both did quite well on their own.

On Sunday, we strolled along the Rio Guadalquiver to the Torre de Oro. The 12 sided tower was used as a watchtower by the Moors. While there we hiked up the 112 steps for spectacular view of the cathedral’s flying buttresses. We also toured its small naval museum. Before having lunch, we took a quick walk through the Cathedral. It’s another impressive structure which holds the title of the world’s largest Gothic cathedral and 4^th largest church in the World. It’s bell tower, known as the Giralda, is one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. Even more interesting, it’s where the remains of Christopher Colombus are interred. After lunch we took the bus back to Granada for the kids final week of school.

The Alhambra--Finally

We’ve been in Granada for 3 months and one of the first questions any Granadino asks us is “Have you been to the Alhambra yet?”.  Sheepishly we shake our heads and respond no. At first we thought we might go with my aunt, but they had toured it before. Then Tom left for 3 weeks. In between, we took many weekend trips to places around Andalucía. So, with a scant 2 weeks left, we decided we had to go.  We kept an eye on the weather forecast so we could pick the best day. Granada’s weather is like San Francisco: mostly it’s in the 50s, but some days it drops down into the 40s.  Based on the forecast, we decided on Tuesday, and arranged to have the kids leave school early.

The Alhambra is the single most visited site in Spain, with over 3 million tickets sold each year. I am sure the number would be higher, but they limit the number of visitor each day to minimize the crowding. Many of the courtyards, rooms and corridors are quite narrow. Ticket pricing in Spain is generally child- friendly, so the kids were free. Our visit was very affordable, with the audio guides costing as much as our tickets.

The Alhambra is not a single building, but rather a palace and fortress complex built by the Nasrid kings. Apparently recent excavations show evidence of Roman ruins, but mostly the historical record starts in the 700s. A succession of Arab kings built various parts. The location at the top of a steep hill insured its safety. The complex is a self-contained city, with houses, baths, orchards (olive, pomegranate, persimmons, oranges were all in evidence), and many gardens. Some of the gardens are ornamental while others were for growing food. The palace was designed to create a paradise on earth, thus in addition to the lovely gardens, there are several tranquil courtyards with reflecting pools, other courtyards with fountains designed to produce soothing sounds and still others for the baths.  The arches, stucco filigree and tile patterns which are all very characteristic of Arab building were stunning.

Of course, when the Christians conquered the Arabs in the 1400s, the Spanish kings, most notably King Carlos V in the mid-1500s put their own mark on the palace. While their additions are impressive in their own right some of them are quite different from the Arab style and a bit jarring in their contrast. Apparently in the 1600s, the palace complex fell into a long period of neglect until the Europeans took a renewed interest in the buildings in the late 1800s and began the long process of restoring the site.

Despite our planning, the day turned out colder than we anticipated and was overcast as well. While the kids were incredibly engaged, JT finally ran out of batteries after 2.5 hours. So he and Tom headed home, while Zoe and I took a quick turn through the Generalife or the summer palace before quitting the place ourselves. In retrospect, we probably would have enjoyed the experience more had it been warmer or when the gardens were in full bloom.  On the plus side, we had the good fortune to visit on a quiet day, so we could take pictures at our leisure in front of the best spots.  Ultimately, the overcast sky made photographing the palace a bit easier. Ultimately, we were glad we made the trip.

JT’s Bday

Celebrations commenced with chocolate and churros on Saturday.  As much as we all love chocolate, eating that for breakfast and chocolate mousse cake for dessert was too much to stomach in 1 day. Recognize that I am speaking only for myself, as the rest of the chocoholics in the family would have undoubtedly managed it without complaint.  There were a couple of restaurants in contention based on teacher reviews. We ultimately chose a nearby restaurant favored by the locals.  We chose well. The children were served a heaping plate of steaming churros, a cup of thick chocolate each for dunking and a glass of freshly squeezed OJ. Tom and I shared a toasted baguette slathered with butter with coffees of course. The tab for this feast was under $15.  Even better, the setting was beautiful, with stucco art deco vines painted along the columns and a beautiful mural.

The festivities continued into the big day.  While Zoe was having a manicure (one of her b-day gifts), I picked up the cake. JT and Dad had ordered a “truffa” or truffle cake. Strangely, they sell cakes by weight and they managed to order the 2 kilo (just under 5 lbs) version with Happy B-day JT in English of course. In addition to roses, they put adorable gumdrop animals atop the cake. Carrying a 5lb cake through town was a bit stressful. JT’s new favorite dinner is gambas pil pil, which is an olive oil-based version of shrimp scampi.  I haven’t peeled shrimp in these quantities in while. As Zoe and I were up to our elbows in shrimp guts I was reminded of exactly why. Ultimately, the results were worth it.  To finish the day, Zoe had Tom pick up the 2^nd Harry Potter movie as a gift, so we watched that. It’s practically a marathon in itself at a weighty 2 hours and 20 minutes. All in all it was a fun day.