Hippie Hill

Tuesday, June 6, 2017--Cordoba to Granada

As usual, it was a tiring travel day.  We left the hotel at 9:45 and headed to the bus station 30 minutes away.  We did take a better route than the one when we arrived between the two locations; this time, we went up the smooth stone pedestrian shopping street rather than down the narrow cobblestone streets.

Our bus was full, but we had Seats 1 and 2 since we were the first to buy tickets for the trip way back in February.  We traveled through rolling hills and then through mountains passing several towns with castles on hilltops and the village below. Some still had their old protective walls around them.

We are in Granada now which is our next-to-the-last stop on the trip.  The bus station here is far from the center.  But it was an almost direct walk to our apartment with just a couple of turns.  We made it in 35 minutes, especially since it is common in Spain to walk across streets against red lights as long as no car is coming. 

This company has an interesting system with their two apartment buildings which are operated out of an office elsewhere.  At the front door there is a button with a camera phone for ringing the office.  I answered, and they told us to go to the 3rd floor. (I already knew it would take them about 5 minutes to get here from the office.)  They remotely opened the door, so we entered.  We took the elevator up to the 3rd floor thinking we would wait there, but then I heard the door buzz.  I pushed it and it opened.  So they had a way to remotely open the apartment door, too!  We came inside, looked around, and sat and waited until Javi came from the office to check us in.  

We are staying at Apartamentos Casa de la Lonja (Apartment Del Pan).  We have the entire 3rd floor of the building which is across a narrow passageway from the Cathedral of Granada.  Our apartment has a wonderful view of the tower of the Cathedral.  It is a very nice apartment with a huge kitchen (including a clothes washer which we are using), a spacious living area and dining area, a huge bathroom, and a bedroom.   It is very centrally located for exploring all of the city on foot without much effort.

We went out immediately to get our tickets for visiting the Alhambra tomorrow morning, the biggest tourist site here.  It gets hoards of visitors, so we reserved our tickets about 4 months ago and picked them up this afternoon to avoid long lines tomorrow morning.  After that, we went to a supermarket to buy food for breakfasts and happy hours during our stay.

It's late afternoon and I am doing a load of my laundry while Wes and I are watching a French rugby game on TV.  We will go out to explore more of town later tonight.  Tomorrow, we will wash his clothes while we are gone to see the Alhambra.  Mine will have dried leaving the drying rack available again by then.
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Tonight, we took a circular tour to see parts of Albaicin, the old quarter of Granada.  It begins just two blocks north of our apartment.  We went through Plaza Nueva (one of the main squares of the city), walked up the street from there looking down at the people who had been relaxing by the Rio Darro in the afternoon and were now leaving and up to the structures in the Alhambra, curved around the north side (which is just south of Sacromonte, the next neighborhood northward and home to many Romas) climbing higher with each step, turned south again while continuing to climb until we got to two overlooks for the city--the gardens of the Mosque of Granada and the Mirador San Nicolas.  Before going to the second, however, we wandered westward to the Arco de la Pesas which led us outside the old city walls to the Plaza Larga. 

The views from the mosque and from the mirador were fantastic.  We could look across to the buildings of the Alhambra which are on top of a hill of about equal height as the one were we were standing.  And we could look southward to the lower land where most of the city is located.  It was like a giant party at the mirador with probably 200 people there looking at the views, taking photos, drinking beers, singing, laughing, etc. 

But Plaza Larca was the big surprise of the night.  It is an area of town filled with hippies--true modern-day ones.  They were singing and selling jewelry and other items.  Many had dreadlocks.  All were skinny and wearing clothes that were well worn.  Men had on Afghanistan-style loose pants.  Women wore long, flowing skirts.  Everyone wore sandals.  Some were leaving the plaza area when we walked there, because it was 21:00 when things start to close.  But then we found them at the mirador with their wares set up and performing their songs for donations from the tourists.

Returning to the apartment from there brought us down Caldereria Nueva, one of the main streets of the old town with its shops, restaurants, hooka cafes, etc.  It feels as if it is still an Arab street today rather than an old section built by Arabs that now has galleries, souvenir shops, etc., like the one in Cordoba.