Category: Spain Portugal 2016

We are spending two nights in Granada which is nice. It is amazing how fast one can ‘settle in’.

We started relatively early this morning to explore the Alhambra. It is network of Moorish palaces, irrigated gardens and towers sitting above the city it is world heritage site and rightfully so!

One of my favorite parts about our trip so far is being here in winter. Sometimes it can be cold but having so many sites almost to ourselves is wonderful. I really don’t like fighting crowds and it seems we never have to.

It was quite a climb from our hotel up to the Alhambra. We savored the views from the towers. Our room must be visible down there someplace. Then we got in line for our 9:30 ticket to the Palacios Nazaries. This central palace complex was all jaw dropping carved walks and ceilings, geometric gardens and running water and fountains. In my opinion the Muslim geometric designs stand the test of time much much better than medieval Christian paintings.

We stopped for coffee in the parador that is in the old convent of San Francisco inside the Alhambra. Someday we may stay here but it is the most expensive parador in Spain. A room even now in winter would be about €300.

After our coffee break we strolled through the gardens. Even in their winter dormancy they were gorgeous. Leaving the Alhambra we headed down hill back to our hotel for a siesta.

This afternoon we visited the Royal Chapel. I’m sure I learned about Ferdinand and Isabella in first grade when I first learned about Columbus. Of course we didn’t learn about how Ferdinand and Isabella united Spain or how they completed the reconquista and took over Granada from the Moors in 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella are laid to rest in the Royal Chapel. We saw their coffins in the crypt below their marble monuments.

For dinner we went to a taverna near our hotel and had a bottle of wine the grilled vegetable plate, the cheese plate and the free tapas that I think was beef. It was another wonderful meal for less than the wine alone would have cost at home.

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Up until today for breakfast we have been leaving our hotel and finding a place for coffee and toast. But today we had breakfast at the breakfast buffet in our Parador. It was yummy – especially the big bowl of fruit. Probably because it is winter there haven’t been a lot of fruits and vegetables in our meals. After breakfast we went for a walk.

We had a taxi pick us up to take us to the Jaén bus station. The ride to Granada was relatively short. Yesterday we didn’t get a picture of our Parador from the bus station but Duke made sure to get one today.

In Granada we are staying at a little hotel right next to the Alhambra. Duke and Vicky and Valerie stayed here when they were in Granada 14 years ago. This is the view from our room.

This afternoon we wandered around a bit to see the Cathedral and the streets around our hotel. We also printed our tickets for the Alhambra tomorrow. Duke bought them online a few weeks ago. For one part of the Alhambra they limit how many people are allowed in every half hour. Our tickets are for 9:30.

After 2 big excellent restaurant meals the last two nights tonight we are ready for tapas again

I’ll leave you tonight with another picture of the Granada Cathedral.

This morning we visited the Chapel in Úbeda which was right outside the window of our room. According to Lonely Planet it is one of the purest examples of Renaissance architecture in Spain. That’s our Parador on the left below and the church on the right.

Then we went for a walk along the the wall of the town and got a great view of the olive groves which surround Úbeda.

We stopped in to see a small collection of miniatures all made by one man. The gentleman was there and was very proud to tell us all about them. He said he has been retired twenty years and working on them the whole time!

After wandering through and marveling at the narrow streets and squares we picked up our bags and headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Jaén. The bus drove through unending olive groves before dropping us at the bus station in Jaén. The picture below is of one of the many squares in Úbeda. The nice thing about being here in winter is that we almost had the town to ourselves.

From the bus station in Jaén we could see way way above us the Parador Castillo de Santa Catalina. The Castillo de Santa Catalino was originally an Islamic Fortress. Thank goodness we took our first taxi ride of the trip to get there. By taxi it was about 3.5 miles and up 2600 feet. This picture is taken from the taxi half way up..

Word can not express how magnificent is the setting of our room in the Parador tonight. Although I’ll give it a try. We have a balcony with a wonderful view of the mountains and the town of Jaén below. We walked along the ridge next to the castle out to the cross overlooking the town.

After we returned to the Parador we stopped and read for a while in one of the common spaces and then had another wonderful dinner in the restaurant.

I’m leaving out any food pictures in this post. I wouldn’t want you to think we are eating our way through Spain!!!

Last night we ate tapas in what Lonely Planet describes as on of Córdoba’s best Tabernas (taverns), Tabernacle San Miguel El Pisto. On our walk there you could tell it was Friday night. All the young people were out socializing. The old people were out too and the taberna was packed.

This morning we walked to the bus station and caught a the bus to Úbeda. We had reserved seats in the front row so we had a great view of the countryside which consisted of unending olive groves and cooperative presses.

According to what I read Spain has 2.5 million hectares of olive groves, one third of the world’s total, and 1.5 million are in Andalusia where we are now.

In Úbeda we are staying at our first Parador. Paradors are historic buildings that have been converted into a chain of unique hotels. We have reservations to stay in several. This building was originally a palace built in the sixteenth century. Our room is extraordinary with two levels, thick walls and a view of the cathedral.

We had a wonderful dinner tonight in the Parador’s restaurant.

Our friend and realtor par excellence Robert Reid lived in Madrid for a while many years ago. He recommended Cerveceria Alemana to us so that is where we started our tapas tour last night. It was very popular and very good.

Next we went back to La Fragua de Vulcano where we had eaten the night before and had grilled shrimp in garlic butter

We wandered around a bit more but couldn’t eat more so called it a night.

This morning we took the metro to the train station and took the high speed train 250 miles south to Córdoba. We had reserved seats and the train was very comfortable and smooth. We were traveling about 135 miles per hour!

I think the temperature got up to 60 in Córdoba today. I took my coat off on the walk from the train to our hotel

Córdoba was a Roman colony so the river has an old Roman bridge.

When the Moors took over this area Córdoba became the Islamic capital of the Iberian peninsula. The mosque that was built during that period was considered the most important sanctuary of western Islam Now the building is the Cathedral of Córdoba and is referred to in our guide book as the Mezquita.

We explored, took lots of pictures, had a snack at a sidewalk cafe than headed back to our hotel for a rest.