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The Fodor's forum folks advised us to stop by Ubeda on our way to
Granada, as it was a really cute renaissance town. We drove the hour
or so out of our way to get there, and once we did we were wondering why
we bothered. I guess it's a nice enough town but I've seen much
nicer and there really wasn't much to see there at all. We did have
an outstanding lunch at the Parador there, so the detour wasn't a total
waste. If you are ever in Spain, you have to have a lunch in a
Parador at least once. The food and service are top-notch, and the
price for what you get is really good (only $43.00 for two people for an
all-out meal--it would cost about $200.00 for the same thing in the
US).
Once we got to Granada, we had to find our "hotel", Las
Cuevas Albanico. Yep, that's right, we were staying in a
cave. Thankfully the proprietor had given us extensive directions,
but even so we took a wrong turn and Mark wound up having to make a 20
point turn on a steep cobblestone hill in a car with a dicey clutch.
He made it, though, and we got on the right road. These caves were
really really hard to get to, by far our worst drive of the whole trip and
that's saying a lot when you are speaking about old hill towns with roads
so narrow you literally have to fold in the mirrors to get your car
through. I loved the caves, but if you aren't staying for at least
three days in Granada, save yourself the hassle and stay
downtown!
Once we got our car parked and got settled in we went to the San
Nicolas viewpoint in the Albaicin. This offers a great view of the
Alhambra, and
Clinton made a point to bring his family there in 1997 so it is sometimes
called the "Clinton Mirador". After that we walked around
the Albaicin following the Tapicheula
Guide to free tapas.
The next day we got up super early (before 7am!) to get to the ticket
booth early so we could buy tickets to the Alhambra for that
day. We got a time of 11:30, and so we went towards downtown
and found an open breakfast
place. Then we went to the Cathedral, but because it was Sunday morning it
was closed to tourists so they could have mass. We walked around the
downtown a bit. It started to rain, and so we bought a couple of
umbrellas from a street  vendor,
and started back up the hill to the Alhambra. After explaining the
rules about the time (it was for the Nazaries Palace only, you could still
see  the
alcazaba and the gardens before your time) to Mark for the fourth time he
finally believed me and we visited the alcazaba (built in the 13th
century) where we got a great view of the old town.
By this time it was our turn to go the Palace, and so we did.
This palace was built mostly in the 14th century, and it's the best look
at Moorish civilization  in
Spain. We bootlegged a tour, but finally got told to leave which was
okay  because
according to our guidebook most of the stuff the tour guide was saying was
wrong anyhow. After our tour of the Nazaries Palace was over we went
to the Generalife, which is the summer palace. None of the rooms of
the palace were open, but the gardens were extensive and if we hadn't been
experiencing gale-force winds  and
rain we probably would have enjoyed them a lot. As it was, for our
safety (some of those prickly fruit things looked like they would pack a
wallop if they landed on you!) we decided it would be better to try again
to see the Cathedral.
By this time it was really really raining. They finally opened
the Cathedral and droves of people entered to get out of the rain.
The Cathedral holds the remains of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand, as
well as the largest pearl ever known (it was carved into a cherub for
Isabel's crown). After looking at all that, we had to begin our epic
journey back to our cave. This was about a half an hour walk up a pretty
substantial hill in the pouring rain. Mark was not a happy
camper. We tried to find an open grocery store so we could cook
ourselves a meal and not have to go out again, but because it was Sunday
all the stores were cerrado. We made it back to our little cave, and
Mark settled in for his nap. Here are a couple pictures of the
cave--note Mark's Spock sign from the bed and the umbrellas drying in the
doorway..
 
For dinner that night we went to El Ladrillo. Mark ordered the
seafood canoe, which was enough fish to feed a family of four, and I got a
plate of teeny fish that maybe were smelt but at any rate one forkful was
about six whole fish. It was all very good, but if you go there may
we suggest that you split an entree? We went back to our cave, and
braced ourselves for the challenge we would face the next day as we got
our car out of the Sacromonte so we could go to Arcos.
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