Spain, Day 5: Granada

On April 17, we drove from our cozy abode in Marbella for a few hours to Granada. We had splurged on a hotel located about 3 kilometres outside the city because we figured we could use a little luxury. A LITTLE?! Check out these views from the end of our hallway (affectionately known as "the roof")...

We decided that a long walk would be best on our pocketbooks and on our (ever-shrinking by this point) rear-ends. Here's a little of what we saw along the way...

I was talking about Shalaina when I took this picture. I love sharing stories of the strong women in my life. And the flower is a broad, beautiful pink as well...how appropriate.

Upon our arrival into the city of Granada, after the long walk from our amazing hotel, we looked back to see the wicked combination of hillside and city structure. I knew it was going to be a magical day.

Blue on blue. Loves.

Awesome dread-locked and black-footed street performer and her wildly captive audience of one...

We stumbled upon this Turkish market wedged in the centre of the city. Strange. Gorge. It WAS a good day.

I couldn't get enough of the sky blue, church taupe, and orange orange. Swoon.

A little trip to the grand Cathedral...



...the spice market...

...and a note from our musical guest. All in a good day's walk.

A marching band, getting ready for a procession...

Even the not-so-beautiful in Granada was breathtaking.

I loved how these religious parades were flanked with Dora the Explorer and Sponge Bob Squarepants balloons for kids. Couldn't they have made a religious-themed balloon and sold them?

A few statues...

...and a few rugrats.

This begins our walk up Carrera del Darro...

At the eastern tip of Carrera del Darro, this adorable plaza houses hundreds of diners while we basked in the sun nearby.



What is a day at the park without snapping a picture of someone else's kids? Not much of a day in the park.

We found a park at the top of the river that I think belongs to this school.
It was so tranquil and worth a long sit-down to enjoy it.
I fell in love with this poor guy's underbite. Gotta love it.

There's Nathan to the left, meditating...

And Yours Truly, grinning far too much to be meditating:

Loving the houses around here, decorated to the hilt.



St. Nicholas Square provided the best views of La Alhambra, bar non. It was truly a fluke find, but what a fluke! We were in awe: we watched the sun set over the city; took some pictures of the Sierra Nevada mountains behind the relic structure; drank in the local culture (that included second hand smoking some marijuana); and reveled in the beauty of the cooling-off day.

We passed by this vegan deli-style restaurant earlier in the day, and just had to come back after our Granada tour to eat dinner. It was one of the best meals we had in Spain, says I, if not the best. Well done, El Piano.

(Little did I know this was a chain and there is another one in York, U.K. Great news.)

We were shocked at the throngs of people crowding the streets to get a glimpse of the gigantic, heavy portable alters bearing a figure of Jesus or Mary and hundreds of lit candles. To say it was a spectacle would be understating, but nothing came close to the parades we saw in Sevilla. You just wait.

Onlookers watching the processions from their balconies...

As night fell on Granada, we stopped awhile (or at least I did...Nathan just quietly put up with the constant halts) and watched the mountains. What a place: Granada was by far my favourite city.