The white walls of the Albaicín

After an easy going breakfast at the Guerrero café we started of for the cathedral. After the ones we saw in Madrid and Sevilla this wasn't a blast. I think it could look a lot better if it was maintained properly by the city. Many of the artwork, architecture, gold and silver were dirty or declined. Last time I was in Granada teachers planned our trip and they made us skip the cathedral. I now know why. Better things are to be seen in Granada, and better cathedrals elsewhere in Spain. I wasn't impressed, yet we had plenty of time and I definitely don't regret the visit. There sure are some beautiful spots to be admired too, in the Catedral Metropolitana. Yet I hate it when religious buildings ask entrance fees, and this one did. 3,50 euro's, and if you want to see the Capilla Real as well, you'll have to pay double!

But anyway, it was a nice start of the day. And a bit embarrassing, as my shoes made this funny noise on the cathedrals floor every time I moved. People could just hear me walking around from one side to the other... That was pretty annoying. Luckily there were a couple of small children visiting with their parents at the same time, and they were running around quite a lot so I wasn't the only one disturbing the solemn silence.

We started our climb to the Albaicín from Plaza de Triunfo and made our first real stop at the Mirador de San Nicolas. This is were you can enjoy the majestic view over the Alhambra, that you see on so many postcards and book covers. It truly is a wonderful sight. We stayed for a long time just sitting there looking out over the city. After all these days in the plain sunshine the skin on top of my head, beneath my hair, started to get burned! So nothing else to be done than get a scarf around my head, even though it was hot. It made me feel pretty Arab, but in the Albaicín with all the Jewish and Moorish influences, that wasn't really an issue. Later we wandered trough the streets to Plaza Larga, were we had drinks and tapas in the shade. Behind us were two girls having a drink, and when they got tapas they called the waiter back and tried to explain to him they didn't order any food. It was a funny situation, because by the time the guy understood what they tried to say he replied annoyed "It TAPA, it free!". We couldn't help smiling and started talking to each other about what a stupid mistake it was to complain about the unordered food, yet when we left it turned out that the girls were Dutch and must have overheard all we said about them. .. Aw!

In the late afternoon, on our way back to the hotel, we had a drink at the Paseo de los Tristes. Again, a nice view over the Alhambra (that in this case, lies above you uphill), and warm sunshine. We just sat down on one of the terraces and ordered some wine. The place we were in front of turned out to be pretty fancy, and so was the wine. It sure was good, but not the one I like, with a very explicit taste. I could smell it even before trying it, and it gave me a shiver when I first drank from it. Luckily, my father does now how to appreciate good wine, and we switched our glasses, which made me end up with tinto de verano (must have been number hundred since the beginning of our stay). The tapas we got made it all up though. It was a mix of all kinds of fish, prepared in different kinds of ways, on a huge plate with nice sauce and some grilled vegetables. Wonderful. It definitely looked and tasted like something you normally need to pay a lot for :) So if you want to get some fancy tapas, go here!