Granada

We headed toward Granada looking for a place to lay our heads that was within an hour of the city. Tried Baza first. Didn’t like the “feel” of the town. Guadix was next on our list of possibilities. Yes, oh, yes. Checked into Hotel Mari Carmen, ate dinner, and went to bed.

But not before reading about some cool cave dwellings. Apparently they are fairly common in the area but are particularly concentrated here. These are homes that are literally built into the side of a mountain. The thick walls insulate so well that a fairly constant temperature of around 19 Celcius (66 Farenheit) is maintained year round. The next morning we hiked around town until we found the local bakery then drove through a couple of “neighborhoods” before leaving for Granada.

We decided that we would still go to Granada and Seville but we would only have enough time to “do” one landmark at each. Granada would be Alhambra. Seville would be the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Sea. Call us jaded.

After seeing the new mosque in Casablanca, Alhambra was sorta like just another…even though it was centuries old. Perhaps it was the fact that we were a little hurried. Perhaps it was one of the few places we actually had to stand in line and deal with crowds. We walked through, oohed and aahed a bit and then were ready to get away from all the people.

On the way to Seville the countryside was lush with lots of olive trees. There were crazy winds sweeping across the valley and we couldn’t help but admire (more) windmills and high speed train rails. First drive-through was Marchena. Nope. On to Carmona. Both were pueblos blancos or white villages…charming towns, narrow streets, plazas, all homes/structures whitewashed. The government of Spain purchased castles, palaces, convents, fortresses and other historic buildings throughout the countryside and turned them into luxury hotel accommodations. There was a winter special being run and we felt like splurging so we spent the night in Parador de Carmona.

Dressed up and walked the streets to the central plaza. Found a restaurant attached to the museum and had a wonderful meal—with the place to ourselves. Pleasant night all around.