Archive - May 2008

So things may be quiet for about a week. Justin and I are leaving this afternoon for a week in Stuttgart, Germany. I am excited to travel to another country, and I have never been to Germany before. Lots of updating when we get back, I promise.

Took a morning day trip today to Torremolinos. This is actually the second time there, and it was much better than the first trip (more on that another day). I managed to get to the used bookstore, and pick up some new reading material. Made it home before the rain, read a little and fell asleep on the couch. Living in Spain is rough!

Earlier this week, Matt and I traveled to Ojén. Ojén is a small mountain town about 30 min north of Marbella. We had read about a wine museum located in the town that sounded fun and wanted to check it out. Had no problems getting a bus, in fact we were the only people on the bus initially and it was a very scenic drive up the mountains. Had a great view of the sea from the top, and the weather was wonderful. We arrived before the museum opened, so decided to follow the main road (continuing up the mountain) to look for some better views. The road is very curvy and there is no such thing there as a sidewalk, so we had to be on guard for cars, not that there was much room for us since one side of the road was rock and the other usually was a strong slant down into the valley. We walked for a while stopping at some exercise stations (I don't know why they were here, or who the target population is for these things) on the way, saw some older people walking the road with us, and went up til we got tired. Figured by the time we got back to town, the museum would open.

Went into the museum, hoping to be able to taste some local wines. Only to find out it was more of a gift shop then museum and the main guy was on the phone, so it didn't look like we were going to get any tastings. Disappointed, we headed back into town to get the bus back to Marbella. It was a wonderful day after all, and thought we could redeem the disappointment by spending the afternoon on the beach. Turns out the next bus wasn't until 2pm, that left us with 2 hours to wait! So we continued to wander around this very small place, happened upon some historic caves. And ended up spending the rest of the time in a small cafe, watching the old men gather. I have to say, they were pretty adorable, they obviously knew each other and going to the cafe was part of their daily routine. They would just wander in, sit with their friends and the waiter would bring them their regular drink (either wine or beer), they would talk (or argue depending on their tone) get up and leave.

Time passed... and I learned all about gaming. And we finally got the bus back. Managed to get in some beach time. All said, it was a cute town just rather not have spent so long there.

I have had lots of interesting trips to the grocery store. It takes me forever to go food shopping, first because I have no idea where anything is and second because I have to read everything very carefully. I have made some dumb mistakes because I have not spent time reading, for instance buying olives stuffed with anchovies (when it was printed in english)! And for some reason I got it in my head to make rice krispies treats, and I was motivated in this because some of Justin's colleagues have never even heard of such yummy goodness.

First bit of difficulty was finding marshmallows. I didn't see them anywhere. And Justin and I didn't know the word for it in spanish, and how do you go about explaining what they are to someone (white, soft, sweet, gooey) without making more confusion. Then a few weeks later, they just appeared in a store that I have looked in multiple times. Only odd thing about them was that they were pink, but thats alright isn't it?

Earlier this week I made a batch of rice krispies treats. This is where I run into the second challenge- I didn't have any wax paper, and they were WAY too sticky, Matt had to help me because everytime you touched something you would only make things more sticky... and I think I could have added more rice krispies... but they turned out not so bad, and made for a tasty treat.

The past two weeks I have been wandering around the Marbella market. Its held every monday and its a combination of flea and farmers market. I haven't explored as much around the nonfood part all that much, but the farmers side is excellent.

So far I have found yummy tasty strawberries, and a gigantic box of cherries. I am still working on learning how much food is actually a kilo and stuff like that, since I am not used to thinking in that way. And I am working on learning the spanish words to my fruits and veggies, like how do you ask for a bunch of bananas? They also have some crazy looking stuff that I don't even know what you do with. But you can be sure that this is going to become part of my weekly routine.

So just a side story... I was spending the afternoon in Puerto Banús, picking up some reading material, this is the closest english bookstore to me. I was waiting in line for the bus to get back home and this woman runs up to me:

British Woman: Do you speak english? I hope you speak english.
Me: Yes I do.
Woman: Oh good, I have been really unlucky today finding people who speak english.

She goes on the ask about where the bus is going, what stop to get off etc... Meanwhile her husband walks up next to her:

Husband: Did you find out where the bus is going?
Woman: Yes, this lady here helped me.
Husband: Oh good, she speaks english then?
Woman: Oh yes, and she has the most lovely accent. (directing her question to me) Where are you from?
Me: Uhhh... the US.

Now personally I would never think of my accent to be 'lovely', and I'm pretty sure its recognizable from just about everywhere. I am about as American sounding as you get, at least I think so. Her husband was kinda funny, after he heard me answer he looked at his wife like she was kinda crazy and said something like 'yeah she is american'

Anyway, made me laugh.

We'll be blogging our experiences last weekend in Sevilla soon -- architecture, tapas, flamenco, medieval fair, bunk bed disasters, and more! But for now, I just wanted to post a technical update for the seasoned blog readers out there.

If you use an RSS reader to keep up on this blog or others, we've now got a comments feed. We've always had a regular feed, so that's unchanged; however, now you can reach both through RSS-aware browsers like Safari right from the title bar (thanks to Daniel for some early prodding ;-) or you can reach them both from little badges in the lower right sidebar.

That's all for now!

What is RSS?

When I left off last time, we had spent a Saturday in Granada seeing many sights, planning to tour The Alhambra the next day. And tour it we did! But first, the lead-up...

We had heard that the ticket office opened quite early, plus city buses started running up the hill just as early, which would be great because they could save us a twenty-minute walk up the hill first thing in the morning -- before light, before breakfast, and while having to wear warmer clothes but then carry them around all day after it got hot. We walked to Plaza Isabel La Católica after checking out at about 7am and lucked out -- buses were just getting started and at 1€ a trip were a steal.

Now, bear in mind that we had been duly warned about the lines at The Alhambra -- as I mentioned before, this place does 6,000 people a day, year-round. I've waited in some lines in my day, so I figured we'd get there relatively early (realizing that some folks would certainly start at 6 or even 5am) and worst case, get turned away after a couple hours, leaving us to spend the rest of the day continuing to explore Granada and with intentions to try again another day.

When we got to the line, there were easily 500 people in front of us. Still dark out, mind you. But I figured, hey, the odds are still good. We took our place and started to wait.

We spent the next two hours not even moving.

The ticket office opened at 8am, but things didn't even move for another hour after that. Why did we wait? Well, it always seemed that just a few more minutes and things would get underway and that we would just move through the booth after that. We busied ourselves making runs to the snack bar, trying to guess what countries people were from, and sharing sympathetic, annoyed glances with our fellow waiters.

Eventually, we struck up a conversation with the folks in front of us, two Indian girls from Kuwait who now live in Chicago, and then, in front of them, a Dutch guy taking one of his eleven (!) annual weeks of holiday, and became fast friends. One of the interesting things we learned from our friends was that coming from the north on their trip, they found Granada to be the most lax in terms of English speakers and coming from the tourist-inhabited south, we found it to be the least English friendly. But we did ok!

An hour later, the security guard we had seen roaming around (a Spanish version of Kenny Rogers, in my opinion) proceeded to allow about thirty people to get directly in front of us because they had been waiting in the automated machine line for hours, not realizing that they were only for pickup and not for purchasing. (Why? Why can't this be automated?) It wasn't even worth making a fuss. We had transcended pettiness, impatience, and lower back pain and were committed to waiting things out, whatever the price or obstacle.

The best part of all was the Dutchman's explanation to us that he runs a consultancy on -- get this -- logistics. This experience was to him the equivalent of me waiting in line for four hours because they couldn't plug the computer in to let us buy tickets.

Anyway, I mention all of this only partly to vent, but mostly to impart a sense of the Spanish attitude towards things like this. We noticed that instead of building up the capacity to process more people, the waiting areas were built out to accommodate more waiters. Thirty people were told to just get in line in front of 500 or more people who had been there longer than them. And all the while, everyone seemed annoyed, but no one made a fuss. Everything was inefficient, but everyone was pretty zen about it. Or at least it's easy to say that now. In retrospect, I wish I had planned the Arab bath for after the line waiting, but que sera, sera...

Now, I can't recommend The Alhambra highly enough -- after all, this 12th Century complex represents the height of world civilization at its time, so it ain't bad on the eyes -- but do yourself a favor and buy your ticket online or on the phone. Don't even try to wing it unless, oh, you're training for a 26-mile stand-a-thon or something like that.

We still don't know what the general holdup was, but we got our tickets almost four hours on the dot after beginning our quest and then proceeded into the parking lot, blinking at the sun and wondering what to do with ourselves until our timed entrance at 2pm. We ended up heading back down the hill to grab some late breakfast at a nice chain-like place called Vía Colon (which I only pronounced out loud in English much later, to my simultaneous amusement and disgust).

Anyway, after busing back up, we spent the remaining time until 2pm exploring the public areas around the Generalife gardens, which consisted mostly of a beautiful building, now one of the world's best hotels, but in a prior life, the next-to-final resting places of Fernando and Isabel after their deaths early in the 16th Century and before completion of La Capilla Real downtown in 1521 (more on that later).

At 2pm, we were let into the Generalife. These are basically the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen and were the gardens and summer home of the emirs for centuries. If they are keeping them in this good of shape now, I can't imagine how they must have looked in their peak. Water is a central theme and seems to flow all over the place, making you wonder where it comes from and how it moves from place to place. It turns out that a single, distant ditch funnels water out of the Sierra Nevada to the north to this plateau and through an ingenious system of aqueducts and troughs is sent all over The Alhambra. It's amazing. And the elegance and detail of this summer palace only hinted at what was to come...

We went back out to the public areas, including the outside of the Palacio de Carlos V, Iglesia de Santa Maria de la Alhambra, and the Plaza de los Aljibes outside of the Alcazaba, or main fortress walls and towers. The main buildings here date from a much later period -- for example, the palace was begun in 1527, which the Alcabaza walls date to the 12th and 13th Centuries.

We made our way into the Alcazaba and started up some steps to the main interior level. As someone who's never really been inside what you could consider a real castle, this was a treat. The walls are in fantastic shape and you really get a sense of the kind of fortress this could be with soldiers manning the walls, watchmen looking into the distance, and bustling files of footmen drilling inside. Of course, I am envisioning a more traditional Western European type of castle, as those are the types featured in the stories with which I'm familiar. Does anyone have any recommended reading so that I can learn more? Are these a good start?

The highlight of the Alcazaba for me was standing atop the Torre de la Vela (Tower of the Watch), the place where the flag of Fernando and Isabel was raised in 1492, but long before that, the highest viewpoint for seeing The Alhambra, the city, and the Sierra Nevada. I could clearly see their snowcapped peaks even as the hot sun beat down on my head. Another highlight was being able to see the archaeological museum down in town that we had visited the day before from the Alcazaba walls.

After the Alcazaba, we neared the hour for our timed ticket entrance to the Palacio Nazaríes, the most famous and beautiful part of The Alhambra. There was no disappointment there -- just have a glance over the Wikipedia tour or look at a map of the place to get a sense of the size and complexity. Highlights for us here were the tile work, the archways, just the scale of the place, and of course, the often-photographed Salón de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors). I'm embarrassed to only be able to put it into a Western frame of reference, but this was the room where Columbus received his support from Fernando and Isabel to sail to the New World -- not to mention the place from which centuries of sultans ruled. Michelle and I were able to sit in folding chairs in the corners and take in the amazing ceiling and walls, but unfortunately not much came through in the way of photos as it was quite dark and hard to capture the detail.

I was a little disappointed with the Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) because the lions are actually being restored and the museum which normally houses one, in the Palacio de Carlos V, was closed. They are a rare example of Islamic animal sculptures. But it was still an impressive courtyard.

The remainder of the palace after that was made of more modern buildings, including a sunny courtyard filled with orange trees (have I mentioned how much I love these?), the room that Washington Irving wrote in, and some beautiful fountains and gardens. There was plenty of seating to take frequent breaks -- why get all tired out when we had spent the morning standing, it was hot out, and it was exceedingly relaxing to just sit and take in the views.

All in all, I would go back in a heartbeat now that I know where to focus my time and what to check on ahead of time (like the lions). However, you can be sure that I'll buy my tickets online next time.

After The Alhambra, one of the highlights that we were able to swing was the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel -- heads up, the site has music playing) next to the cathedral (which sadly was now closed to due being a Sunday). No photos were allowed, but besides an amazing chapel interior, an enormous and beautiful cast iron grille from the early 16th Century, and the stunning mausoleums, we went down into the crypt and saw the sealed lead coffins of Fernando, Isabel and family in person. Incredible. Seriously, spend a few minutes at that website and check it out. I can't impart to you the sense of awe and history that I felt there.

We spent a bit more time in Granada, but only really relaxing, eating, picking up our suitcase, and letting Spanish ladies wear my hat. Wait, what?

We were sitting next to a quiet couple from the UK, having a quiet meal, when a very large group of very loud Spanish folks came around the corner, descended upon our outdoor seating area, and proceeded to take all of the free tables and chairs in the place and assemble a large, combined seating area for themselves. Two ladies came over to ask for our empty adjoining table and seeing my hat on the a chair, kept trying it on and taking pictures of each other. I asked to take one myself and they happily obliged. I don't know if they were tourists from another part of Spain or merely a very comfortable local social group, but they were fun to watch and not as rude as they might sound.

All in all, a fitting end to a day in a thoroughly lively, thoroughly fun city -- Granada.

• Our Alhambra pictures
• Alhambra homepage historical introduction
• Wikipedia page on The Alhambra

Hello! I'm Matt. I'm a scorpio, I'm never ever sick at sea, and I'm a guest of Justin and Michelle's here in Marbella for the next two weeks. Consider us introduced, our ties intimate, and our history strong.

Over the last 24 hours, I've seen all that Spain has to offer a slightly jet-lagged individual with a thirst for ham and sunlight. Since Marbella supplies far too much of both, I think I'll have to gauge myself by trying out some of the other great things here.

Seriously, it's a beautiful country, and I can't wait to see more of it. Tomorrow we're taking a trip to Gibraltar, which I've really been looking forward to. I'm sure I'll find some more time to post, but for now I think we're looking to move on. I can't describe how happy I am to see my friends and be able to take such a (much needed) vacation at the same time.

Adios!

Just over a week ago we went to Granada for the weekend -- our first overnight trip since arriving in Spain. We were told that we would probably really like Granada, being that it is a college town, one of the big three cities in Andalucía, and full of history, architecture, and things to do. And we did -- it was a blast!

We tried to plan ahead and get tickets for the Alhambra in advance, as the word on the street was that they sell out every day, year-round -- 6000+ tickets a day! After some quick looking around online to make sure tickets looked somewhat available, we called a few places to stay (in Spanish, thank you very much) and managed to line up a hostal near Plaza Nueva, which is pretty central to town, the Alhambra, the Albayzín (old Islamic quarter), and anything else that we'd want to do. We figured we'd get tickets when we got to town and kind of play it by ear.

We left Marbella early Saturday by bus for the nearly three-hour ride up to Granada. That passed without incident or event, really, but was pretty relaxing and with a quick stopover in Málaga on the way, so now we know what that bus station is like. Right out of the Granada station, we were pretty sure we had figured out the city buses to Plaza Nueva, but with about twenty minutes to spare before the time we told the hostal owner we'd be there (noon), we figured we'd play it safe and take a taxi. We made it right on time, prepaid for our room (quite cheap, since we used the shared floor bathroom), and dumped our stuff to explore town. And our room was cute, in a very old house, with a nice family running the place and on a lively street (Cuesta de Gomérez).

We explored Plaza Nueva, with its kebab and gelato vendors, headed up towards Plaza Santa Ana and its old church, grabbed a city map at the tourist office, and headed a bit further into town to explore the area around the cathedral.

Granada is very lively, with lots of beautiful old plazas featuring open air restaurant seating, musicians, street vendors, historic information signs, window shopping, and street performers. We had a nice outdoor lunch at one place between the cathedral and Plaza de la Trinidad, where I had a tomato salad and Michelle a small pizza. When we sat down, there was no one in the restaurant and one other couple outside. Every now and then, someone would walk by (Granada is a great people-watching city, by the way) and stare longingly at Michelle's pizza, like they were going to take a piece. It was borderline unsettling, actually. But before long, there were a good dozen and half tables full of people enjoying food and wine. I like to think we had something to do with it, but in reality, I think we're just good at eating a bit early compared to Spaniards and only appearing to start a trend.

After lunch, we headed off in search of one of the Arab baths we had heard of, since we wanted to make a reservation for later that night. One of the things that we really wished we had done in Istanbul was to go to a famed Turkish bath, but none were both reasonably priced and co-ed, so we opted out of it. But in Granada, our guidebook recommended two Arab baths of similar repute and we decided to splurge a little and go to the nicer and more historic of the two. I got pretty far into the reservation-making process in Spanish (more on the relative popularity of English in Granada later) until I got tripped up on the stupidest of things. She asked for my nombre and I started with my cell number. Even Michelle caught that one. For some reason number and nombre really meld in my mind, but nombre is of course name, not number. So I hastily finished the reservation in English, thanked them profusely (but red-faced), and we headed back out into the city.

We decided to fill our time before the bath with the start of a walking tour of the Albayzín. It was really beautiful, but you could definitely tell that it was built in the shadow of the Alhambra as all of the dramatic intra-building views showed at least a corner of it, high on a hill above all the rest of town. Being as the majority of the walking tour was uphill and the day was quite hot, we decided to plan our walk to end back out at the archaeological museum, spend some time there, then swing back by the hostal to change and head to the bath.

The museum was small but well done, in a Renaissance-era mansion fully converted into rooms ranging from the Stone Age through the late Romantic period. There were a number of well-preserved Roman artifacts, including a mile post from the original Roman roads through the area, and another highlight was the line drawings showing typical lifestyles at various points in time -- cave dwellings, river fishing, boatmaking, and the like.

Just outside the museum we happened upon one of the weirder but livelier parts of Granada, a college-age group of guys dressed up like matadors, wielding a bullhorn and being chased by a guy dressed up like a bull (videos here and here). Good times.

Towards six, we headed down to the area where Aljibe San Miguel Baños Árabes, our bath, was to be found. This, my friends, is some of the best use of money I've ever happened across. You get a towel and a numbered bracelet, dump your stuff in a locker and change into your swimsuit, and head through a large, old, wooden door into a dimly candlelit chamber featuring six pools of varying temperatures of hot water and one well lit pool of cold water. I'd say there were about fifteen people in there with us, mostly college-age girls but a few other couples, and you basically get an hour and a half to just lounge about in these hot pools, switching around as you wish, with the recommendation that you do the cold pool last. All the while soft, strumming, Arabian music is playing and you hear the sounds of drips and soft splashes. It was truly relaxing. After quite some time, your bracelet number is called and you proceed to a side room for -- wait for it -- a personal massage. After that, you head to the side shower stalls to rinse off the massage oils, then we took the dip in the cold pool (I just went for it and plunged up to my neck -- it wasn't too bad if you didn't move). Next up, the side room with sweet Moroccan mint tea and small candies. Lastly, you head back to the changing rooms, grab your stuff, and make your way out. I think I was breathing deeply -- nay, sighing loudly -- for at least an hour after leaving that place. Best ever.

We had a kebab dinner out and headed home for an early bed -- about ten, when most Spaniards are just getting started on dinner -- in an effort to get up nice and early, head up to the Alhambra, score some tickets, and spend the day up there. But I'll leave that adventure for our next installment...

• Our Granada pictures
• Aljibe San Miguel Baños Árabes website