Okeefereport: Grenada

We left our run to late to extend accommodation in our Seville hostel and had to move to the other side of the river. No big deal, easily accomplished with the aid of our concierge and a taxi which we shared with Cat and Kell as they returned to El Cid for their bus link to the airport. It was in the shower at the new place that the first of the stigmata appeared. Yes in this intensely catholic country, with a high standard of miracle, a wound in the shape of a rocket ship appeared mysteriously on my shin. Seeing canonisation as remote I contented myself with a wad of tissue held in place by Alice’s blister tape and thus it would remain till our arrival in Sydney a week or more later. Happily with care and attention it healed a month or so later and the only reoccurrence of this miracle was definitely aided by my boss’s clumsiness with plumbing pipe.

That off my chest I feel free to continue our travelogue which proceeded by train from Seville to Grenada. This day trip provided us with a view of rural southern Spain, completely given over to the farming of olives. So many olives that you’d have to hope no one else would be foolish enough to compete in the market.

The only breaks in this landscape were these delightful white villages

Dominated by the local rancher’s hacienda.

Grenada is wonderfully placed in the otherwise flat bright plain of Spain’s south in foothills of some, um, mountains. By now you have noticed that research is not my strong point. I have no affinity for a script. I like to work, as they say, off the cuff, which my research defines thus: “Spoken, performed, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought.” Sounds like me to me.

One advantage of this foothill situation is that compasses are made redundant. If your path takes you uphill you are traveling north and vice versa which my research defines as: With the order and meaning reversed but I promise not to continue with this Google definition stuff, not the least because it’s so distracting, to me. If you are traveling to the left of uphill you are traveling west etc.

To those not as obsessed with direction as I am, the next wonder is that it is cool and has climatic variation. Waiting before dawn for the Alhambra to open we froze our nuts off. I know I promised no more Google definitions but I could not resist the temptation to see if there was a cross gender variation of this expression. Of course I got no where but you surely get my meaning.

Not enough, then consider this that I hope my photographs illustrate. With a varied topography comes the potential for a view or as I prefer a outlook, and Grenada has outlook.

Unfortunately for you fate intervened causing me to forget my camera when in the chill of dawn we visited the Alhambra so I cannot show you the princely views, ah outlooks of those who once occupied these fortified palaces. Built to defend Islamic culture and royal privilege from possibly Christian though I suspect barbarian outsiders, the builders spared no expense, or effort, with these expansive quarters. No surface; be it wall, floor or ceiling was spared their intricate design and patterning. With the exception only of the floor all surfaces were patterned in relief which must have proved a nightmare for housekeepers. All windows opened to magnificent and tactically advantageous views of the valley below and if not to private sumptuous baths and ponds.

Any of you wishing to see the photos I failed to take need to go no father than my afore mentioned research source Google to find adequate craftsman like snaps if not those of the gifted artist that you have become accustomed to.

For the rest of this early rising day, after checking out for an early evening departure, we indulged our newfound knowledge of the workings of the Tapas system. An emergency call to Jack had clarified that in Southern Spain, which we were about to leave, you order only a drink and the nibbles come gratis.

At the first place we tried the system worked perfectly. A delicious curry dish accompanied the delightful sparkling red, two out of two. Anxious to test our newfound competence in this market place we proceeded on a virtual pub crawl tour of Grenada. Like most pub crawls it had its highs and lows and if a score were taken, most times we lost. The same order for alcohol, which we felt we had perfected at the first place, always produced different results though not always food. Eventually tipsy we returned to our first stop where we felt confident. Our confidence was soon shattered when no tappas arrived to accompany what was at least the original wine.

Along the way we did manage to visit some of the sights including the downtown of this very pretty city about the size of Casino with documented history back to the thirteenth century and here is some photographic record of what we saw.

Our first bar