We were told that no trip to southern Spain would be complete without seeing the city of Granada, which is known for it's Islamic legacy, the Alhambra Palace, with it's Moorish architecture. We were too late researching Granada to be able to secure tickets to tour the palace, but we decided to make the 2-hour drive to Granada to see the historic city anyway. The scenic drive took us through the gorgeous Sierra-Nevada mountains on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, with hills covered in olive groves as far as the eye could see. It was a wet and cold morning, and our arrival in the city was difficult as we tried to figure out the best way to navigate the unknown territory. Cold and hungry, we decided to find a nice place to go for lunch and hope for the rain to pass. Excellent reviews for Carmen de San Miguel prompted up to make the drive up a hill next to the Alhambra Palace.
This Wikipedia photo shows the immense scale of the Alhambra Palace. Although we were unable to see the palace, we were later able to walk around the outer walls and capture a few glimpses.
A local museum displayed samples of the ornate Moorish decorations that cover the surfaces of the palace.
But I'm getting ahead of myself . . . lets get back to lunch! We entered the quaint home turned into fine dining restaurant to find one other group seated for lunch in a room with amazing views of the city. Our worries that our noisy, busy crew was not suited to such a place, were quickly quelled by the charming host and our fellow diners. It turned out to be like a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. The splurge was well worth it! We dined on a set menu including salt-crusted sea bass, bacon and tomato asparagus, potato salad, roasted veggies (all homegrown) and more. It was the highlight of our day.
After lunch, sunshine and smiles returned and we decided to board a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. It seemed to be a good idea at the time, but the logistics of hopping on and off with strollers and crutches proved a little daunting. Nevertheless, it did provide us with a glimpse of the historical city. We even spotted the bull-ring where Bob had witnessed a bull fight in his youth!
Somehow, I convinced Bob and the others to let Bob and I revisit the area around Alhambra on foot. We left the Johnsons at a plaza in town and set out to see in greater detail some of the areas we saw from the bus.
I could have spent a lot more time sight-seeing at a slower pace, because I found Spain to be remarkably enchanting and colorful. But it had been a long day for the grandkids and time to head "home". The same peaceful scenery captivated me on the drive back. I determined that a return trip would be agreeable in the future!
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