Last Wednesday, Clare and I decided to take another day trip. We got up early(ish), met at the bus station, and selected a destination at random. We ended up heading north to a town in Jaen called Úbeda, which is about 3-4 hours away. After several bus mishaps, we arrived shortly after the mid-day siesta had begun to find almost everything closed. We decided to just walk around the old town which was absolutely charming, although a little weird as we did not come across any other human beings in the heat. After a few beautiful plazas we came to a road that curved along the edge of a cliff, and the city. It overlooked rolling hills with farms and orchards and was lined with lightposts, flowerbeds, and a few playgrounds. After taking tons of photos, we headed back towards the bus station (armed with popsicles) and caught our 6:00 bus back to Granada (right as everything was opening back up after the siesta). Great day.
Fería
“All Granadinos say they hate the Feria, but they all eventully go”
“All Granadinos say they hate the Feria, but they all eventully go”
– Miguel Farfán Calderón, a friend and teacher
Thursday was a nice relaxed day as it was one of the main days of Corpus Christi, (the week-long celebration, also refered to as Fería) and no one had to work. The Melrose crowd all gathered for a lunch of grilled meats and then siestas. That night Angel came with me to meet Clare, Anais, Melinda and Ruben at the restaurant where Rafa and Mateo work (Melinda’s and Clare’s novios). This is a gorgeous restaurant in the albaycin next to the Mirador San Nicolas and we sat on the roof terrace to enjoy the breeze and the views of the sunset behind the Alhambra.
We stayed until closing and then all headed over to the Fería. This was kind of like the Fería in Cordoba, but even bigger. There was the Fair/Carnival side and then the Casetas – the tents with restaurants and bars, and then another final row of tented discos. We headed straight for that final row and ended up hoping from tent to tent, dancing until about 7:00 in the morning. (Pictured is Angel and I somewhere around 4 a.m. taking a break from dancing to eat some fair food). As you can imagine, Friday was spent sleeping. When I finally woke up I met up with Clare and Alessandra to go to the Castila Anniversary Party (Castila is the Spanish Language School we all went to). It was in the jardin at the school and there were tapas, a great crowd of people and giant jars of sangria. After a while, a trio of flamenco performers (guitarist, singer and dancer) put on an incredible show of original upbeat flamenco (which is a lot snappier than some of the sadder traditional stuff). They were incredible.
Vicky Arriving and Girls Night Out!!
On Saturday my friend Vicky arrived from England. She was at the school with me in February, taking time off from her job in the Royal Air Force. She arrived around 5 p.m. and after dropping her stuff off at my house we immediately went on a tapas run. We were joined by Clare, Alessandra, Melinda, and Blanca in one of our usual bars on Calle Elvira- Bar Circulo. We then found the Fería bus and headed out early (most adults don’t get there before 3 a.m. We arrived at 9). This time we went straight for the carnival side. We rode the ferris wheel, and some other creaky old roller coaster where our feet dangled. We walked around and searched for the crazy people that always show up for fairs. We saw a monkey and some ponies. We debated which gofre stand to go to and then split a gooey and delicious gofre drizzled in chocolate.We then decided to take a break from all that fun and sat ourselves down in one of the casetas. We chose based on the hundreds of red and white paper flowers along the top. There we took turns buying rounds of sangria and tasting various tapas. I was also able to barter down a jewelry seller to less than 2 Euros for a colorful beaded necklace! We were also visited by clowns.We ended the night with a round of dancing in one of the disco-tents. None of us were able to stay out nearly as late this time around.
La Fiesta de Piscinas
Sunday was SCORCHING. The only possible solution to this that Vicky and I could come up with was to have a pool party. The only flaw to this solution was that we had no pool. We eventually saved the day by purchasing 3 inflatable kiddie pools (along with a beach ball and tiny ring) going onto Javie’s roof terrace (He and Carol were in Portugal for the weekend) and after about an hour of blowing everything up and filling them with freezing hose-water we spent the rest of the afternoon napping in the sun.
Alhambra and Paella
Monday we got up EARLY and climbed up to the Alhambra. Vicky had tried to go in February but didn’t end up buying tickets so only was able to see the Charles V Palace. We had a great time exploring the Palace, the towers and the Generalife Jardins.
For dinner on Monday night we went in search of meat and cheese tapa platters. The one pictured is from Al Sur de Granada, one of my favorite places in town for chorizo.
Tuesday we hiked on up to the school for Vicky to say hi to everyone- and of course for some Paella and Sangria!! Paella is one of the most popular and well-known foods of Andalucia. It always includes rice and veggies and generally various fish and meats. This one had shrimp, rabbit and chicken and was cooked by Juana, Manolo’s wife (pictured: Manolo, Me, Antonio and Juana).
Salobreña
We woke up to a late start on Wednesday, and were not able to make any of the planned morning busses to Salobreña, a great beach town less than an hour away. After spending several hours waiting in the bus station, we finally made it there, and after another 30 minutes of waiting for a pizza we were craving to be made, we made it to the beach around 5:45. It was perfect- the sun was out, there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t too crowded. I also enjoyed diving into the Mediterranean for the first time! That water is unbelievably clear— and really refreshing. Taking a pizza with us also proved to be a FANTASTIC idea. We laid out, swam a little, and I played with some rocks. We were able to bask for about 2 hours before we caught the bus home. That night we were exhausted so we had a wonderful steak dinner before going to bed early.
We woke up to a late start on Wednesday, and were not able to make any of the planned morning busses to Salobreña, a great beach town less than an hour away. After spending several hours waiting in the bus station, we finally made it there, and after another 30 minutes of waiting for a pizza we were craving to be made, we made it to the beach around 5:45. It was perfect- the sun was out, there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t too crowded. I also enjoyed diving into the Mediterranean for the first time! That water is unbelievably clear— and really refreshing. Taking a pizza with us also proved to be a FANTASTIC idea. We laid out, swam a little, and I played with some rocks. We were able to bask for about 2 hours before we caught the bus home. That night we were exhausted so we had a wonderful steak dinner before going to bed early.
Pancakes and Monachil
By this point in the week Vicky and I had run out of food at my house so we went out for breakfast and found… PANCAKES!!!! They are very much not a Spanish thing so I was shocked. The place is called Café Belle, and they pretty much got it right too, except for mayple syrup they used a sweet caramel sauce. Very exciting. That afternoon we caught a bus up to Monachil, (a pueblo up towards the Sierra Nevadas, right after Huetor Vega). Vicky’s cousin Johnny lives in a beautiful house up there with his wife Marcela and their adorable 6 month old daughter Hannah (and their sweet puppy Che). We all had some wine and then went for a nice walk up in the hills to see some ancient ruins (pictured). When we hiked back down Johnny made a batch of his famous curry and we were joined by their neighbor Alan, a very very tall Brit. I have to say, I have not had much curry to compare it to, but this dish was delicious!! It was also incredibly nice to be in a home, and yes, even to play with a baby. (Don’t get excited, mom). I do have to state for the record that this one never once cried while we were there, just giggled the whole time. I don’t know why anyone would ever have one of the other kind (the criers/screamers).
On Friday we made a second attempt to go to Salobreña, but missed the bus again. We were able to make it there early enough to enjoy about 5 hours on the beach, which turned out to be just enough to avoid getting burned.
That night we went out for tapas with some of Vicky’s British friends, and then dancing with Ale and Rafa. We ended the night with the traditional and obligatory Falafel.
Lazy Weekend
Vicky left on Saturday afternoon and I was very sad to see her go. There aren’t many people a person can spend an entire week with and not get tired of but she is definitely one of them. I spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and napping.
Vicky left on Saturday afternoon and I was very sad to see her go. There aren’t many people a person can spend an entire week with and not get tired of but she is definitely one of them. I spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and napping.
Sunday I went out with Angel to a fantastic lunch at a restaurant in Huetor Vega. We had several different pork dishes and a jamon/asparagus concoction. We spent a lazy afternoon together reading the newspaper and eventually battling the heat by jumping in the pool. That evening he surprised me by playing the piano a little (he is always full of surprises!) and then we watched a movie and had milk and cookies. I had not seen him much this past week because in addition to me wanting to spend all of my time with Vicky, he and his buddies had gone to a nearby lake and built a “aquajump”. This basically consisted of a ramp that shot them straight up and then into the water. They all took their caravans up there and made a big week of it- bruising themselves on the jump all day everyday, the crazies. Below are some links to see these fools:
Angel
Angel2
Ernesto
SABES QUE…
In the past all the towns and villages around Granada were forced to each supply a specific amount of greenery to carpet the streets of the provincial capital [every year for Feria]. And historically, theatre carts travelled around the city, following the Corpus Cristi processions and putting on plays. That seems to have gotten out of hand at one point and in 1765 King Carlos III officially put a stop to the custom.
--www.andalucia.com/festival/corpuschristi.htm
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