Tales of the Alhambra

The Alhambra is a large hilltop complex with several sights. Three of the sights (Palacios Nazaries, Generalife Gardens and the Alcazaba) require paid admission and advance reservations. The palace has controlled entry: you have a 30 minute window to enter the palace. Since our window began at 9:30, we’d need to be up by 8:30 to get ready, grab something to eat and make the hike up to the Alhambra.

Fortunately for me, there is a lower entrance to the Alhambra that is about halfway up where we had hiked the day before. Even though we had one of the early entry times, there was a huge crowd at the Alhambra. With so many tourists trying to frame their once-in-a-lifetime photos in each room of the palace, it was hard to take time and contemplate the space, the views and how this amazing place had been preserved. Or to imagine what it must have been like here during the time of the last Sultan who lived here.

We were at the Alhambra until just after noon and then headed back to town for lunch.

We’d been in Spain for nearly a week without having paella (except for the awesome tapas version at Bodega Casteñeda). Dylan wanted the full-on paella experience, so we decided to go to Restaurante Sevilla.

Tactical food mistake: we ordered the same number of orders of paella as there were people eating paella. Let’s just say that more than a few grains of rice went back to the kitchen. It was very good, but it was also nearly death by paella.


We waddled out of Restaurant Sevilla to do a little shopping. Liam secured a few items, including a nice wall hanging for his dorm room. After shopping, siesta!

Friday night we were all very tired, after a full week of travel, hectic sightseeing and adjusting to the late schedule in Spain. We cancelled our reservation at the restaurant in the Albayzin and looked for a couple of recommended places to eat in town, but could not find them. Frustrated, we headed back to the hotel for a brief time-out. Eventually we decided to go back to Bodega Casteñeda around 10. It was packed, with no room to squeeze in. We went around the corner to La Antigua Bodega, supposedly the oldest restaurant in Granada. We secured a table outside and settled in for some tapas and the Spanish classical guitarist playing tableside. We were ready to slow it down.