Saturday, April 18 - Granada

Saturday morning we woke up, showered, got dressed and headed a few doors down to a bakery (Helados Nordwik) for breakfast.  It was fantastic.  We sat outside and had coffee (well I did), toast, and croissants. Some of us even had seconds.  We had seen the place the previous night on our way back from dinner.  We made the decision we'd return the next morning for breakfast.

While we ate, Devon spent most of his time watching the changing lights.  The walk signal is a walking green person.  I'll try and get a video of it.  We see it at a bunch of crosswalks (zebra crossings).  Devon was fascinated.  He and Cody also liked seeing all of the city bussed going by.  They refer to them as RTD busses, the ones we have in Denver.

When we finally finished breakfast, we started walking into town to head to La Alhambra.  Granada is super close to the mountains, and there's actually a ski resort just a few minutes away.  Surprisingly, we didn't check it out.  But, we did see this Snowboard Shop sign in town.

Here are some views within Granada.  Chris S. - kept on thinking about you.

We stopped into an El Corte Ingles on our walk and got a tourist map and information at the tourist desk.  We were directed to walk down Reyes Catolicos to the Cathedral.  There we ended up at Plaza Isabel La Catolica to catch a bus up the hill to La Alhambra.  While I like to walk as much as possible in these super interesting cities, I was super grateful to be on a bus as we climbed up, up, up a very steep hill.

Devon enjoyed sitting on Scott's lap on the bus.  Rosa and Cody sat with me.

We arrived at La Alhambra with 1.5 hours before our reserved tickets would let us in.  So, we headed off to find lunch.

There aren't a whole lot of options, so we chose the closest one to the entrance, La Mimbre.

We sat outside.  It was magical.  We were surrounded by trees and peace and it was incredibly lovely.  We highly recommend this restaurant.

While fruit and vegetable stores are plentiful here, I still haven't found many fresh fruits or veggies on the menus in Sevilla.  But in Granada, I found this gorgeous and delicious salad with both.

Cody is trying to hide from the camera.

Rosa is embracing it.

Silly girl.

Sillier girl.

Cody and Scott at the table.

Scott surrounded by all 3 kids.

After lunch it was time to enter La Alhambra.  Wow!  We started by walking around the Generalife gardens and then we walked around the rest of the grounds.  There are a ridiculous number of pictures.

And here's a video of the kids going down a very narrow and steep staircase by a tower.

Taking a rest.

Ridiculously old walls.

Some of the floor stones in Generalife.

The kids had a blast playing hide and seek and running through the gardens.

Views from Generalife to the other part of La Alhambra, and the towers, then down into the city and our apartment, and off in the distance to the mountains.

Thiking of you cousin Iris.

Cody insisted I take a picture of this plant.

Courtyard within the Generalife palace.

Just amazing carvings.

Check out this ceiling.

More beautiful patterns in the stones underfoot.

Tracy and Ed, does our house's yard look like this?  Ha ha.

Check out the palm tree in the foreground and the snowcapped mountains in the distance.

Here are some excavations on La Alhambra side.  

And a street within the fortress/castle/palace.

Check out this tiny Red Cross car.

The kids had all sorts of questions about cannons.

A view down to the city from on top of the towers.

The boys had grand plans for who was going to ring the bell.  Unfortunately for them, it wasn't reachable.

After 5 hours up on the hill, and 3 hours within the Alhambra, we left.  We didn't even see it all.  We caught a bus back down the hill and into town.

As we walked towards our apartment, we stopped for an afternoon snack/early dinner at a restaurant (Futbol Cafe) in a plaza.  There were loads of people there enjoying the beautiful afternoon.  Scott and I ate, but the kids were too tired to eat much.

Here's a view of our tall apartment building (about 10 stories) from across the River Genil.

This photo is taken from more or less the same spot, just looking 90 degrees to the left.

After snack/dinner, we headed back to the apartment.  It was about 6:30pm.  Scott started the kids with a movie and I laid down to read and rest.  I was out within 10 minutes and didn't move for the next 12 hours.  I had intended to head back out, but just didn't have the energy.  Perhaps it was the sangria with dinner.  Scott managed to go out for an hour or so after the kids went to bed.