Granada Adventures—February 8 to 11, 2019

Granada Is the birthplace of the Flamenco dance so I looked forward to seeing a performance.

After a 2-hour comfortable bus ride from Malaga to Granada, we pulled into the Central Bus Station where I stopped at the tourist desk and got a map of the city as well as what bus to ride into the central area—No 33.  She also gave me information on the Flamenco dance options and I signed up for one along with which bus to take to the Serramonte Caves where the Flamenco performance was—C34.

Somehow, I had not brought the Lonely Planet section of Granada, but the materials I got from the tourist office and using my new downloaded map.me app for my iPad was good enough to navigate my way around Granada. 

The hostel I had planned to stay at was full, but they directed me to another one which was also full.  Apparently, the weekends here in Granada were a very popular destination.  I found the Barbiere Hostel had a bed for me for just one night and I took it.

Like Malaga, I was amazed by the cleanliness and lack of homeless people contrasted to what we have back home.  Also, their highway, transportation, and road infrastructure were well maintained, convenient, inexpensive, and efficient compared to what we experience in the US.

I then went up to the hillside neighborhood and found the Makuto Hostel, but they had no vacancy for the following night so I reserved a place for the day after that—Sunday.  After checking out about six other hostels to stay at for Saturday night, I finally went online and booked my Saturday night at the Eco Hostel.

Now that the logistics of my travel were done, it was time to explore this beautiful city beginning with the Cathedral area.  There are so many plazas filled with lots of tourist shops, restaurants, and cafes, most with outdoor seating on most of these streets.  The streets are so clean thanks to an army of street cleaners and street sweeper machines, both large and small.

I discovered that many of the small bars offered free tapas—small plates of food—with every drink you had.  Here are some of the treats I had.

Many of the streets heading up from the cathedral are so narrow that just one car can pass at a time and others are for walkers only.  One street—Baja’s—is filled with tourist shops and North African or Muslim restaurants.  It is the way to the Makuto Hostel I stayed at on my 3rd night.

I went up to the Serramonte Cave museum where they showed and described that this was the birthplace of Flamenco, and where people dug caves like these as their homes.

Before the Flamenco show in the Venta el Gallo caves, I had dinner at the neighboring Flamenco showplace and restaurant. It was a very long cave and the show floor was in the middle of the cave and the tables were set all along the way.  The walls were filled with black and white photos of guests who had frequented this place, including a picture of Michelle Obama. 

At first, I was the only diner and it began to fill up with tour groups beginning with a group of 25 Chinese women.  They were also delighted in seeing the photo of Michelle.  The food was delicious.

  

It was then time to head to the nearby cave where I saw this amazing Flamenco performance. 

During the weekend, the crowds were huge throughout Granada, especially when I walked up to the Alhambra.  Although I walked the general Alhambra area, I needed to have tickets and reservations to enter the Palace and Alahadaba area.  When I tried to make a reservation, I learned that there were no tickets available for 5 days.   It is a good thing I had gone to Morocco to see the elaborate tiles and architecture of the Moors. 

While there I saw numerous Muslim tourist groups visiting this site.  For them, it was like a pilgrimage similar to what Christians do when visiting Jerusalem.

I got lazy and my knee was starting to bother me, so I took the 8 Euro bus tour around the city which provided me with different views of the city as well as returning to some of my favorite areas around the Cathedral and along the Duro river area.

I stopped at the Duro River area for some paella before returning to my hostel. 

At the Makuto Hostel, I again ran into my bunkmate from Malaga who was from Ireland as well as met Mohammed who was from Morocco.  He now lived in Paris and worked in the financial industry and was on his way back to Fez for a visit with his family. I told him about my adventures in Morocco and showed him some of my pictures there. 

I ended up catching a 10 am bus to Valencia.  It would be a 9-hour bus ride with stops at some interesting cities along the way.  Many of the cities along the Mediterranean Sea were condos and high rises built for visitors from the chillier Northern European countries.  It was a most comfortable ride along with the modern, and smooth freeway and included wifi.  

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  

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