5-17-09

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Woke up around 9:45, grabbed breakfast, then met Jenn in front of the Cathedral. We peeked our heads in the big one and then the little one where they were having first communion! Everyone was super fancy and even though I felt incredibly touristy it was cool to see. We headed up to the Mirador but first stopped in Santa María church at the other side of Plaza Nueva. I love the sign that says, “With silence you can hear God better.” That’s a loose translation of course, but it cracks me up every time – most places just say “SILENCE, this is a holy place”. So we trekked up to the Mirador and I think it gets better every time. I really can’t pick a favorite trip up there because they were all so good. I will say that I loved the first time with Aurelio and the whole group, the night with Mitch when the moon was out of control, before the cena de despedida at sunset with everyone all dressed up, or last night with Mitch, Taylor, and Jeff. So in other words, pretty much every time. Anyway, I was really happy that Jenn loved it so much too. After hanging out there for a while I looked for the path up to the gypsy caves that Whitney showed me but I couldn’t find them so we just wandered through the Albaicín for a while. We went through the main plaza and then to the one with the Roman ruins then ended up at the Mosque that’s right by the Mirador. I’ve been wanting to go in there forever and I was so excited to see that it was open! There were some gorgeous flowers, fountains, and a great view of the Alhambra. We even got to see the fountain for the ablutions and the Mirhab! Of course we couldn’t go in since it’s reserved for prayer, but we got pretty close. I explained to her that sometimes you can hear the man who climbs the minaret to do the call to prayer but we didn’t hear it when we were there. I love that it’s a Muslim mosque in a Jewish quarter overlooking the Alhambra with the Christian Palacio above the Catholic cathedrals peeking out of the city below. Mind-blowing.
So then we came down to the Paseo de los Tristes, popped in another cathedral, and then I showed her the Corral del Carbón. Tour-guide Tammy kicked in (I didn’t even need Rick Steve’s, Aurelio, or Let’s Go! to help me – I can do it all on my own now :) and I felt like I kept giving all sorts of historical facts and anecdotes about Granada but I think she was glad to hear them because she kept asking questions. I guess whenever I travel somewhere I like to know more about what I’m seeing.
She grabbed a kebab for lunch (I showed her my favorite place) and we chilled in Plaza Nueva just chatting for a while. I showed her how to get up to the Alhambra from there, then I took her to the Alcaicería so she could do some souvenir shopping. I headed back for lunch since Juli Juli is starting her 4 day string of special goodbye meals. She’s really something else, ya know? We had veggie soup, stuffed peppers, and strawberries with whipped cream – YUM. I requested it (well, not the soup) as my last meal and Taylor’s request is hopefully coming up tomorrow. We still have to have cocido, paella, and tortilla española again. Whew! I’m also going to miss the food here..
I was absolutely stuffed so I sat around updating my journal and resting until Jenn called to meet up after she was done at the Alhambra. Since they don’t have free tapas in Madrid she wanted to experience them here so we met up with Taylor and went to a place by the cathedral then Europa. [Sidenote – on the way there some high school kid slapped my butt in the Alcaicería – joder!] We came back for dinner then went for ice cream ]at fiordigelato, I had to share my newfound favorite chocolate cone with stracciatella with Taylor. On our way we heard a band playing in the little streets across from Corté Inglés so we decided to check it out. Turns out there was a full-on procession! The only thing missing was the KKK outfits, apparently those are only used during Semana Santa. Anyway, we watched them maneuver the Virgen around some knee-breakers and a Dentista sign for a while which was pretty intense. We asked Julia why it was going on and she had no idea, apparently it was some Saint day and so they took the imagen of Angustias to the church by Corté Inglés.