Granada: Tuesday

Tuesday:

Today was a very low-key, restful day (I think much needed!) We slept in for the first time all vacation and slowly made our way down the hill to check out Granada’s Cathedral (the second largest Gothic Cathedral in Spain after Sevilla’s) and the Royal Chapel, where we saw the crypts of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. They say (and by they, I mean I read it in Rick Steve’s) that Queen Isabel’s head is larger in their marble, life-size carvings above their crypt because she was the smarter of the two; she’s the one that sent Columbus off on his voyages. Also in the crypt were the tombs of Philip and Juana (la loca), who is said to have kept her husband’s embalmed body by her side for two years , one of the reasons her son locked her away in a monastery for the mentally ill for 50 years…

Granada's Cathedral

After our two relatively brief cultural stops, I was intent on finding another hummus-type place to eat (Spain isn’t known for their vegetarian friendly mealsJ). After a lot of wandering, we finally found the place we stopped at first the night before. They offer a deal: a small beer (like 8 oz) and a tapa for 1.70 euros. Pretty darn-good deal! I also got a falafel platter that was pretty good… By then it was mid-afternoon and there’s only one bus that takes us all the way up the hill closest to our hotel and it only comes about every 40 minutes. We decided we didn’t want to wait out in the sun, instead walked. We had done the walk a few times before, but in the cooler evening breeze… this HOT trek up hills & many many flights of stairs (that rival the flight of stairs to get up Salzburg’s Munchberg!!) I had to stop mid-way to get a coca-light (Europe’s version of diet coke)! After such a long trek, it was siesta time again!

For dinner, I read about a restaurant recommendation of Rick’s that specialized in fried fish (Matt’s favorite). So we headed over there and Matt ordered a canoa (canoe) of assorted fried fish—whoa! It was intense! There were squids & tentacles & eyes & a whole, scaly fish (we forgot to bring the camera, otherwise there would be a graphic picture inserted here!). He couldn’t finish it all there was so much! I was content with my seasoned tomato salad, bread, and completely vegetarian tapa of tortilla de patatas and salad that they brought pre-fish. Granada is one of the last cities in Spain to still serve free tapas when you order a drink. They’re usually meaty sandwiches that Matt eats for me, so I was ecstatic that this one was totally me-friendly!

Matt and I at the Mirador de San Nicolas, in front of La Alhambra