we rolled into granada on our high flying overnight bus ride, and crossed our fingers as we arrived to our "completely booked" hotel. she shook her head. we were nervous. she apologized for not having our room available... instead she offered us a key to a suite!!! she upgraded us!!! trying to compose ourselves, we giggled the whole way up to our grand suite. we could have invited a host of elephants, that's how much room we had. the enormous balcony, the bed, the two person jet bathtub, all of it... rocked!!! it took a lot to get us out of that room, and back onto the granada streets, exploring again. we explored; and we discovered a charming little spanish-arab town. the pride of this town is their 9th century Moorish (arab) palace, the Alhambra. like joe had mentioned, smart people get tickets in advance, not so smart people (like us), wake up really early and get in a line, hoping to be one of the lucky ones. that's exactly what we did the next day. we were prepared; we had a plan. we arranged for a 5:30am wake up call, and a 6:15am taxi to the Alhambra, ready to wait in line until the office opened at 8:30am. everything was set, until, instead of a wake up call, we got a call, "your taxi is here." the hotel had forgotten to write down our wake up call, and that's when our perfect plan began to unravel. we rushed rushed down to the taxi, only to be greeted by a waiting meter of $16. at 6:40am, our taxi delivered us to an Alhambra ticket office that held a crowd of people 2 football fields long. miserable. we climbed into our spot, and in the darkness of morning, we waited. anxiously, we waited, as the remaining 600 tickets could be sold out at any time! we could not believe how the story unfolded. it was 9:20am when the moment came, and we realized we were lucky number 601. not good folks. the guy right in front of us bought the very last ticket!!! ahhhhh.... the misery. we wallowed for some time, and then tried to gear up for their consolation prize... the Alhambra gardens. no one comes to granada just to see the gardens, but we did. :) in the end, we had to make the most of it. later in the day we found a market and treated ourselves to a sweet bottle of cheap sparkling wine and a bag of 10 plastic cups. as we sat at the foot of this fountain in a busy little square, we filled our two glasses to the rim and toasted to spain and all that lies ahead... including another overnight bus ride to barcelona!Monday, May 5, 2008
cheers and tears: granada, spain!
we rolled into granada on our high flying overnight bus ride, and crossed our fingers as we arrived to our "completely booked" hotel. she shook her head. we were nervous. she apologized for not having our room available... instead she offered us a key to a suite!!! she upgraded us!!! trying to compose ourselves, we giggled the whole way up to our grand suite. we could have invited a host of elephants, that's how much room we had. the enormous balcony, the bed, the two person jet bathtub, all of it... rocked!!! it took a lot to get us out of that room, and back onto the granada streets, exploring again. we explored; and we discovered a charming little spanish-arab town. the pride of this town is their 9th century Moorish (arab) palace, the Alhambra. like joe had mentioned, smart people get tickets in advance, not so smart people (like us), wake up really early and get in a line, hoping to be one of the lucky ones. that's exactly what we did the next day. we were prepared; we had a plan. we arranged for a 5:30am wake up call, and a 6:15am taxi to the Alhambra, ready to wait in line until the office opened at 8:30am. everything was set, until, instead of a wake up call, we got a call, "your taxi is here." the hotel had forgotten to write down our wake up call, and that's when our perfect plan began to unravel. we rushed rushed down to the taxi, only to be greeted by a waiting meter of $16. at 6:40am, our taxi delivered us to an Alhambra ticket office that held a crowd of people 2 football fields long. miserable. we climbed into our spot, and in the darkness of morning, we waited. anxiously, we waited, as the remaining 600 tickets could be sold out at any time! we could not believe how the story unfolded. it was 9:20am when the moment came, and we realized we were lucky number 601. not good folks. the guy right in front of us bought the very last ticket!!! ahhhhh.... the misery. we wallowed for some time, and then tried to gear up for their consolation prize... the Alhambra gardens. no one comes to granada just to see the gardens, but we did. :) in the end, we had to make the most of it. later in the day we found a market and treated ourselves to a sweet bottle of cheap sparkling wine and a bag of 10 plastic cups. as we sat at the foot of this fountain in a busy little square, we filled our two glasses to the rim and toasted to spain and all that lies ahead... including another overnight bus ride to barcelona!
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6 comments:
You two! It's just such a treat to read your blog...my morning cup of coffee accompanied by your stories and pictures...ahh, it's just a refreshing time. I laugh, or have a crown of concern showing on my forehead, but most of all a smile lights up as I hear of the great adventures the Lord has allowed you to go through. Thanks for keeping us updated.
Oh yeah...a Grand Suite!!!Sweet! Love it when hotels overbook and they have to put you up in a WAY BETTER ROOM!
Love you guys! Oh yeah, we heard the baby's heartbeat on Thursday...it's becoming more real to all of us.
But think, if you were number 717, you'd just have a not-so-fun story about how you got in line and saw that waaaaaay up ahead, they stopped taking tickets. At least you have the Macgyver-like thrill of 601, as much as that sucks. And of course there's the cheap wine and plastic cups.
Go by our old place if you have time - it's on the corner of Carrer d'Enric Granados and Carrer de Corsega, we were on the top floor above the small cafe. We lived just a few blocks from Gaudi's Casa Mila (a MUST SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Mil%C3%A0) and then you're just a hop away from the old place!
Hilarious! That story tops the charts, but at least you were well-rested from your grand suite!! 601...I can imagine the look on both of your faces. Cheers to a great glass of wine in the gardens :)
601... of course... of course. Well, it just means you will have to return sometime to Granada, not such a bad thing.
p.s. love the posted picture, it really shows off wani's birthday present well;)
There is no place like Granada. It is like a fairytale. It is too bad we did not talk before you were in Granada because there is great hiking above the Alhambra. There are these olive trees in the mountains that are overlooked by the Sierra Nevada. I can still see that scene when I close my eyes.
Funny thing is that hike was so great that I went back to Granada on my last weekend in Andalucia just to hang out with my cousin and do that hike one last time.
Hope all is well. Hope to see you two during Christmas time.
Creighton
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