One of the things in Spain is that you have to know what you want to order when a waiter comes around. Otherwise, he leaves and it might be some time before he returns. Today, got up at 7:30, had breakfast at 8:00, was greeted by our group on my birthday. Kathy gave me a blue balloon. Later, in Granada, she tied three balloons to my hat band which I wore all night.
After breakfast, went to the room for some final things and brought luggage down at 10:00 for us to take it to the van and leave. Trip to Granada is a bit under 3 hours, I think. We did one brief photo stop and one coffee/potty stop before getting into Granada around 2:00. Took our luggage on foot a few blocks to our hotel, El Ladron de Agua, on a narrow street pretty much right under the Alhambra, which is high up on the hill above. The rooms have names rather than numbers. Mine is Reino de la Polilla on the first floor.
At 2:30 we met in the lobby and walked in search of lunch. Ate outside and had wonderful stuff – too much as always. Then we wandered on nearby streets and into a park for a brief while. Lunch took from about 3:00-4:30 and we walked until 5:30. Needed to get back to hotel to get tripods and long sleeves for the evening.
Did 10,400 steps today, 11 floors, 3.1 miles. And the 11 floors were mainly walking a long way uphill on steep cobblestone streets to get an overview of the Alhambra for sunset shots. Needed to get places on a rail among all the others who were there for the same thing. So, we stayed up there shooting until about 8:45, walked downhill, went to the hotel, dropped off our gear, and walked to our restaurant, Pilar del Toro. Had a great birthday dinner … even had grilled octopus! Left restaurant at 11:00 and headed back to hotel where I found that the safe in my room had malfunctioned and had to get staff to open it.
Downloading, charging batteries and iPhone. Going to take shower, shave, wash clothes. Bet it’s 1:00 before I hit the bed. Up at 7:30 tomorrow for 8:00 breakfast and a walk with John before group heads out at 10:00.
Oh, and Internet service in hotel is almost non-existent. And it stayed “off” the rest of our stay.
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