Granada - one day was not enough

This sight was a common one as we meandered through the larger streets of the main City. After being further impressed by the food prices $5 each for a full breakfast we set off the pick up our tickets to the Alhambra (wiki definition here). This UNESCO world Cultural site is Spain's premier attraction we are told not to miss it. But walkup entry to the site is impossible so tickets must be  booked on line and then picked up before entry at a special ATM type kiosk. The one we were off to see was in the large public area of the City near the Cathedral. Only 8,000 visitors per day are allowed on the site and when we booked, online the early visit times were taken and we picked 1400 hrs and hoped that the sun would not be to hot that day.

Anyway yesterday was that day and it started off brisk and ended up nice 26 degrees. But prior to the leaving of the hotel the saga with the car had to be completed. After finding the hotel in the maze instructions were given to park the car outside on the street as the space in the garage was gone. "But you have to move it before eight!" Up at seven thirty to move the car, it was naturally hemmed in by the car behind me and as I get in the onlookers on the street all had the same attitudy look - "What you can't get out of there?" I did after a seventeen point turn, and following the map I drove three kms to get to a garage less than fifty yards away, but up a one-way street. Squeezing into the last space available I felt secure enough to start out on foot.

So leaving the 'maze' we entered downtown and proceeded to meander. Wandering around the area about the Cathedral our mind was made up for us, not to enter (just how many churches can you see on one trip, all the Cities have them!), by the cost to enter 8 euros ($12). So waving off the 'sage ladies' - Rick Steves describes them as "down and out women who accost you trying to pin a piece  of sage on you and them demanding a tip".  couple of pics of the street scene are below.

 This one was a beauty, just park where you can buddy!

These are wonderful inventions - coin-operated Banos.

Anyway after the meander we settled on a place to have coffee and people watch before leaving to go to the Alhambra. We soon learned the hard way the difference between 'cafe con leche' and cafe con crema, at least at this place. Having spoken the wrong phrase we were surprised to see our 'coffee con crema' - a coffee glass half filled with dark coffee and topped up with whipped cream. Eating half the cream and then stirring the rest into the coffee gave us a very good tasty drink, But at three times the normal price we learned to order the proper item.

Back to the car and driving to the Alhambra was a breeze, found a space and at 1230 we presented ourselves at the gate. Noticing our tickets were stamped 1400 the gatekeeper officiously told us "Come back at 1400". So we attempted to find the free stuff in the place to kill time. Our travel guru Rick Steves explained in his guide book, ensconced on my e-reader, that we should do this. So strolling leisurely (we had to kill time) we found ourselves at the top of the site and the place to lineup at. Again "Come back at 1400". Even when we tried to enter the Fort the same refrain, so biting down on an icecream we stood in line.

Finally the appointed time arrived and we entered the Palace, the finest example of Moorish relics in Spain - it was outstanding, impressive and worth the wait. Moving from room to room we saw the interior of the Sultan's Palace, as it was in the Tenth Century. This self-guided tour lasted about a half hour and we exited into the gardens.

Now we were allowed to go anywhere we moved into the Palace of Carlos V, another large square building with a large interior circular courtyard.

 

Then on to the Fort,  climbed to the top and enjoyed the view - time to leave. 

Onto the highway to the next place to stay - a small hotel in Iznajar, an inland Town on the way to Cordoba. This is where we met up with an old friend from my Army days, he now lives part time in Spain and is building a house in Iznajar - it was on the way to Cordoba so we agreed to meetup. We did and caught up over a meal in a rustic Mensa, for an even cheaper rate than previous days. The meal for four with drinks and wine came to ninety euros, $135.

Off to Cordoba Today.

Into the most garish cabin we have ever seen

The return of the car to the rental place, in Brussels, was the quickest and easiest ever consequently we had more time to waste in the Terminal. Finding two comfortable armchairs and having good books we settled in. Food prices were average for Airport plus location, i.e Brussels Airport.

Four hours came and we went - from the lineup at the Ryanair desk to the lineup at the screening and then into the lineup for the plane. Having read about Ryanair's policy of handbaggage - they have smaller bag limits and aggressively charge for infractions (well that's what many pages on the interwebthingy told us),  we were worried about our bags. Well strike that one out, a frequent flyer told us they backed off a couple of years ago. It showed; passengers surrounding us gleefully packed and toted bags far bigger than usually allowed - take that Ryanair! 

Landing at Malaga we finally met the car rental chappie, certainly the most "back of the envelope" booking arrangements I have ever seen. The  internet car rental company must have subbed out to rental operators just like "Uber" which has taken over the taxi industry. After being led out of the Terminal to a godforsaken place in the lot he asked "which car do you want?" Picking one filling out some forms we were off.  He showed us where he wanted us to return the car to and then he drove to the hotel. Being another IBIS the room was identical to the one in Belgium, they must have a factory prefabbing the rooms and then ship them out to the next new hotel. Must be confusing for very frequent travellers who wake up hungover in the same room but a different City!

Malaga was the first day in Spain, and supposedly the scourge of the Costa Del Sol, due to yobbos and yahoos committed to serious partying ruining the Town with loud music and drunken revelling. Disn't see any of that - it was midday when we hit the streets. What we did see was a bustling tourist Town - clean and pedestrianised and free of cars in the downtown shopping areas. Time to have a casual coffee - loving these Spanish food prices, and then a very slow drive along the Coast to a Town called Molita where we turned inland to Granada.

The drive was along the road that links all of the Towns in the Costa del Sol thus the scenery in the Towns was large developments of apartment and hotels filled with Northern Europeans, the roads between the Towns were windy affairs with spectacular sea views. The pic on the left was a snap of the view of such a development - hotels in former farmland.

Stopping for a break in Nejer, a less developed but easy Town, we discovered the clientele of such a place - wrinklies who love the sun. These folks were sitting and drinking in a place run by a Dutch couple. We had a very nice "toasty" and drinks. We did observe that these folks must have been English and obviously not introduced to each other as they were not talking to anybody other than themselves - very strange.

Out of there after buying a SIM card for the phone, and one hour later we landed in Granada. Our hotel was in the inner city a place where cars have been banned because the streets are only eight feet wide - hence the maze of one-way streets. We found the place thanks to a free GPS app on the phone. Entering the hotel we discovered that the hotel was on the fourth floor and did not occupy the whole building - another European feature, we found one of these in Rome a few years ago. Nice place, the wrinkle was the car had to be registered as a hotel visitor, as the Police check the cameras and fine the non-allowed cars for being there.

Last order of business was to find a place to eat. Pointed toward Calle Navas, featured in the pic on the left, we found one from a choice of many.

Tomorrow we visit the jewel of the South of Spain - the Alhambra.

If this is Saturday it must be Belgium

A six and a half hour hour flight, faster than we thought, a mixed bag of fellow travellers, grandparents going home, young parents and a preponderance of older adults just travelling -  destinations unknown. 

Usual routine for European flight: get on, sit down, and then....read, listen to music on personal devices. One hour into the flight get a packaged dinner, three hours of lights out, another box of food (breakfast) then another hour until touchdown.

Touchdown and wait for three hundred people to leave, did we mention that our seats had been preselected for their position on the plane - two seats by themselves in a row of two, at the back of the plane - great bargain at $40 a piece. Anyway the plane had taxied for twenty minutes (how big is Schipol Airport anyway - too bloody big!) and a walk that was twice as any in YYZ (Toronto). Finally get to baggage claim 18 and yet another wait - total waiting time 70 mins. Clear customs with nary a glance from the one Officer at the gate and on to the car rental. Quick paperwork and then another long walk to the car.

Get the car, make sure the (in)attendant marks down the huge gash in the rear quarter panel, familiarise oneself with the controls and we are off to Aalst. Two hundred and thirty one KMs. With Doris the GPS lady telling us exactly where to turn we made it in just over two hours. Speed limits are variable but range from 90 to 130 KMs very good for an impatient person.

Check in at the IBIS in Aalst and the room is ready, Doreen immediately closed her eyes and slept, I was off to the bar for a coffee. It arrived in a small Euro cup, just enough milk to turn the black less black, two cubes of sugar but it was a caffeine jolt equivalent to any four RedBulls. Welcome to Europe! Mitigating the price was the free croissant and the two little dessert goodies that came with it - just what was needed.

What with Doreen's eyes refreshed and mine not closing, because of the coffee, we are ready for the Family Stuff this afternoon and tomorrow

That's all for today next post after the weekend when we fly to Spain.

The bane of travellers

Airports, that is. You know the drill - hurry up to get through all the procedures and then wait to get on and sit down. Today was livened up by the stupidity of the people in front of at the scanner. After doing all the usual stuff - belt off, coins in tray, laptop out of backpack, we waited to go through the scanner, load up all we had stripped off and be on our way - not. A couple with a kid and a cat in a cage struggled to obey all the rules, all of which they were conspicuously ignorant of. Their cat had to come out of the cage to avoid being x-rayed to death - it didn't want to come out - a small cage and a large cat. Next their carry-on luggage, which consisted of many carryons and kids stuff, how they got past the ticket agent is any guess, but the woman had packed all of her toiletries in two bags, of the many, and all of them were full size - gone in the garbage, the piece de resistance, a steak knife - obviously a utensil to be used when making up the sandwiches on the plane - it went too, with little fanfare.

Finally watching this with interest, what else can you do? we arrived at the gate. For those who haven't been to Terminal One lately you should know that in the quest for more money the seating has been pulled out and replaced with a Cafe. But signs invite you to sit without having to buy anything. With the free food (on the plane being hours away) we gave in and realised that the holiday in Europe started at Gate B29 with european prices. A Tuna sandwich $9, a yoghurt $6, round out with a KitKat bar for dessert and the smallest bottle of water and there is little change out of $24, amazing but expected.

Next stop the plane.

Yesterday's answer to the 'bag crisis'

Not doing much of anything yesterday, before hitting the highway for a twelve hour shift., I get a phone call asking if spending a large sum of money on a carryon bag that fitted Ryanair's smaller dimensions was OK by me. Of course I said, "If you like it you buy it." So she, the love of my life, my life partner who can do no wrong and my travelling companion did. 

I then returned to doing nothing in particular only to be interrupted by the bag buyer returning home. "Look at this" she said, "It fits everything you wanted" Then it dawned on me that the bag buying was for me not her, why I thought that was understandable, after all her bag needs were greater than mine - I had adapted another larger bagpack. I deserved a medal for the next action - I said "That's very good dear I like that."

Bloody Ryanair!

A BIG crisis

After many years of travelling all over and to many places one would have thought that we'd have it cracked by now - the logistics that is. The bags we use and the routines of the airports. Wrong! This trip involves two legs travelled on Ryanair. Attracted to the mode by the price one is aware that everything you do with these guys will cost you money. For instance the one bag we are putting all our stuff in costs more to place in the hold than it costs to put our bums in the seats (After all Ryanair does promise "cheap seats" it's just all the rest of the experience that costs money.)

So starting to pack I went to the website to see about the carryon luggage rules. Now the poop hit the fan Ryanair's carryon baggage size is about 1.5 inches smaller than the industry standard. Another tale involves Doreen's woes when trying to find the perfect carryon bag - she found one after years of experimentation with every size imaginable and now the bloody thing is too big!!

CRISIS.......So we think we have the problem solved, I moved my stuff into another backpack and a small manbag and she is off, at this very minute checking out local bag purveyors. Armed with the measurements she will find one, but will it be to her taste and become a favourite or will it be just another bag to put "stuff" in?

Getting closer

So now the conversation is, "How can we get enough clothes in the suitcase to last 17 days?"

I don't know the answer all I have to worry about is which charging cord goes with which gizmo we are taking and how to get all the gizmos in one backpack. The unknown worry at the moment is where to get the SIM card for the unlocked phone which will be doing double duty as the GPS.

Despite the fact that the planning binder is one inch thick and every day is accounted for I am sure that there will be something that will crop up - the mystery will be what will it be?