Tapas to Tajine : La Alhambra de Granada

Today we began the first real touring. We have a driver, Alejandro, who is taking us everwhere from when we arrived to La Alhambra and eventually to the port in Algiceres this Friday when we move on. He is a big, bass voiced gentleman who is teaching us spanish as we go. Sydney got a kick out of her parents trying to pronounce the spanish ‘g’ which made us sound like we were coughing up hair-balls. A belly laugh every time.

So today we were off to La Alhambra, a great palace/fort/town high on a hill in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Spain. It was the capital until 1492 I was told and I can see why. A great mixture of Islamic an Christian architecture that is many centuries old. The mixture of city and gardens that supported it reminded me of San Simon in California. However the reverse is probably true, the existence of La Alhambra with its great art, very fancy pluming and lush gardens is one of the places in Europe that most likely let WR Hearst and Julia Morgan know that San Simon was possible.

Syd loved the place and was very patient. She really wanted to go into the Fine Arts Museum and see the painting collection and proceeded to quiz our guide on as much art as possible except for the modern art which she “did not find interesting”.

We then bombed back to our hotel where Sydney took off to the kids camp. Yesterday camp was déclassé but it is amazing what a day with the parents will change. Kim and I were happy that we had an evening to ourselves since camp ran late tonight only to have that shattered when the office called saying Sydney wanted to come back to the room. A very tired girl we had… But even this did not last. We decided to go for a drink and a bite in the common area and eventually Sydney saw some of her friends and we were forced to dine alone listening to a performer play what I called a gentle guitar. So sad to be left by ones children…

We ended the night as we have since we arrived, looking over the calm sea and watching the full moon and Jupiter play a chase game across the sky. Only tonight we consumed Cava (Yes with a ‘C” you smartasses) courtesy of Ladera Travel who helped us get here. Thanks Nancy and Sue for your patience and the Cava!