|
Previous | Next
Marbella & Granada
Today we took our first tour,
as arranged by and bought through the first-class travel agency,
Abercrombie & Kent. We ordered a couple of continental breakfasts
by hanging the little breakfast order form tag on the door
knob last night, and it was delivered about 7:45. In fact,
the door bell woke us up! CNN tells us of more anthrax cases
and we see anti-American demonstrations by the fanatics in
some Muslim countries…so what else is new? At least the Dow-Jones
did well yesterday. Since we are nine hours ahead of Phoenix,
six hours ahead of the East Coast, the markets are still open
in the evening here.
Again it is overcast and grim-looking
outside, but fairly warm and with no rain falling. Still,
we pack rain parkas and umbrellas along with the camera and
hat.
We meet P & A and our young driver,
Carlos, in the lobby, load up in a Renault minivan that is
quite nice, and set off a little after 9:00 a.m. Carlos is
excellent: Good English, an aggressive yet alert driver, and
very knowledgeable about the area. We leave the shore and
head up toward the Sierra Nevada mountains and the city of
Granada. I learned what Sierra Nevada means! Sierra is Mountain
Range and Nevada is the adjective form of Snow…so it is Snowy
Mountains! Makes since, both for the range in California and
for the range here…but the rainy, overcast, conditions keep
us from viewing any snow-capped peaks today.
After about a two-hour drive
we arrive and meet Lucinda, our guide for the walking portion
of the tour. She was born in Kenya, lived in D.C. for years,
and fell in love with Granada where she went to college and
graduate school. Very, very, knowledgeable and a good tour
guide. I won't go into the reams of details about the beauties
we saw: The Alhambra Palace, Generalife Gardens, Cathedral,
etc., but you can all view the pictures and hear the travelogue
when we are in person…fair warning! When the Website gets
cranked up, I'll put on some pictures. The Moorish architecture
is spectacular, and quite unique. About 2:00 p.m. we reconnected
with Carlos and he took us to the Ruta del Veleta Hermanos
Pedraza restaurant for your typical 2+ hour lunch experience.
Seriously, this was a very special restaurant that has grown
at a spectacular rate since its start in 1973. Carlos ate
with us and helped in the ordering. Poor Pat! He has really
been fighting the time difference/jet lag (turboprop lag?)
and could barely keep his eyes open at times, having slept
only two hours or so last night. At least, once we were back
in the van, he was able to catch a few winks on our drive
back to Marbella.
The sun peaked through the clouds
off and on as we drove back but, unfortunately, as we neared
the coast it again became solid cloud cover. No rain, however.
With the big meal warming our
tummies, the great room waiting, and another long day of touring
set for tomorrow, we stayed in the room upon our return. Did
the normal e-mail checking, watched the depressing TV news,
looked at www.worldflight2001.com and found that Matthew has
added our loading-up pictures from Scottsdale, a little movie,
and also that we have some nice entries in the guest book.
Now it is 8:50 p.m. and I will log on and send this to my
list. Thanks for reading!
Previous | Next
|
