It's going to be a short one today folks, because it was a traveling day. Besides, it'd buy me more time to sort out the pictures and cook up a story for the next one.
The flight from Barcelona landed in Granada just after 9am after a 1h:20m flight.
Since it was still early my room was still occupied. The lady behind
the counter (Miriam, I believe that was her name) asked me if I spoke
Spanish when I greeted her "¡Hola! Buenos dias. Tengo una reserva" (Hello! Good morning. I have a reservation). So I replied "Un poco" (A little). Then all hell broke loose. She spoke her heart out. Good thing I understood the key words -- Desayuno. Segunda planta. Siete a doce -- Ok, got it. Breakfast - 2nd floor - 7 to 12. I believe so :D The same thing happened when I was picking up my ticket to Alhambra for the next day's 8:30am visit. Obviously she wasn't talking about breakfast but reminded me to be punctual :)
I strongly believe it's good to speak local language. Or in my case, attempt to. I may be worse than the toddlers but at least I tried right? It also serves as a good motivation that Italian and Spanish are like Melayu baku (Malay), so to speak because they're slightly more pronounceable for me, as a Malay speaker. Of course, the way how "v" is pronounced as "b" and the "th" sounds for c, d, z in Spanish throw me off a little bit. I tried German and French using the phrase books I had bought in advance for my separate visits awhile ago and I failed miserably. I'm sure I require formal courses but that may not even guarantee success :) But be prepared when they'd speak back to you with more Spanish (or the local language). "Los siento. No entiendo. No hablo mucho Español" (Sorry. I don't understand. I don't speak much Spanish) does really help ;)
Now, where was I? I apologize for the slight off tangent. That's a recurring event here in this blog :D
Leaving my big luggage at the hotel, I set off to Alhambra to gauge how far it was from the hotel. Tomorrow, I could stick around in Alhambra until 2pm, but one could only enter Palacios Nazaríes (The Nasrid Palaces) within the allocated time slot, by hook or by crook.
As you climb up the hill, you'd find the statue of Washington Irving. Irving lived in the palace while writing "Tales of Alhambra", that was instrumental in introducing the site to the West.
When Charles V conquered Alhambra, he ordered the building of this 2-storey square-shaped palace with an circular patio in the inside. It was actually unfinished, leaving it without a roof.
It was already cloudy when I was strolling in the outside courtyard. And I should have come down the same way I came. I took a wrong turn and ended up at the south side of the city by the Genil river. It would not have made a big difference but when the skies opened up, I got wet going back to the hotel.
It rained and rained and rained throughout the night. My first ever siesta was extended today. As much as I would have liked to stay indoors, I had to go out in search of dinner. According to the weather forecast, the sun would come out tomorrow to play. InsyaAllah (God willing).
The flight from Barcelona landed in Granada just after 9am after a 1h:20m flight.
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| Barcelona a Granada |
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| Olive groves |
I strongly believe it's good to speak local language. Or in my case, attempt to. I may be worse than the toddlers but at least I tried right? It also serves as a good motivation that Italian and Spanish are like Melayu baku (Malay), so to speak because they're slightly more pronounceable for me, as a Malay speaker. Of course, the way how "v" is pronounced as "b" and the "th" sounds for c, d, z in Spanish throw me off a little bit. I tried German and French using the phrase books I had bought in advance for my separate visits awhile ago and I failed miserably. I'm sure I require formal courses but that may not even guarantee success :) But be prepared when they'd speak back to you with more Spanish (or the local language). "Los siento. No entiendo. No hablo mucho Español" (Sorry. I don't understand. I don't speak much Spanish) does really help ;)
Now, where was I? I apologize for the slight off tangent. That's a recurring event here in this blog :D
Leaving my big luggage at the hotel, I set off to Alhambra to gauge how far it was from the hotel. Tomorrow, I could stick around in Alhambra until 2pm, but one could only enter Palacios Nazaríes (The Nasrid Palaces) within the allocated time slot, by hook or by crook.
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| The archway on the Cuesta de Gomérez street; notice the hill one has to climb up |
As you climb up the hill, you'd find the statue of Washington Irving. Irving lived in the palace while writing "Tales of Alhambra", that was instrumental in introducing the site to the West.
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| Washington Irving gazing at Alhambra |
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| Puerta de la Justicia (Tower of Judgement) |
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| Palacios Nazaríes (Nasrid Palaces) and the line to get in |
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| Alcazaba (in the distance) is the fortress |
When Charles V conquered Alhambra, he ordered the building of this 2-storey square-shaped palace with an circular patio in the inside. It was actually unfinished, leaving it without a roof.
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| Charles V Palace |
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| St. Mary Church and some cannons |
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| The fortress on the opposite hill |
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| View of the Alcazaba |
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| That's really a good way to get around Granada |
It was already cloudy when I was strolling in the outside courtyard. And I should have come down the same way I came. I took a wrong turn and ended up at the south side of the city by the Genil river. It would not have made a big difference but when the skies opened up, I got wet going back to the hotel.
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| The path that I took, and got lost after making a wrong turn. I didn't manage to beat the rain clouds |
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| Not too sure what building that is |
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| Path taken on Day 1 - voluntarily and involuntarily |
It rained and rained and rained throughout the night. My first ever siesta was extended today. As much as I would have liked to stay indoors, I had to go out in search of dinner. According to the weather forecast, the sun would come out tomorrow to play. InsyaAllah (God willing).
Ooooo Granada! NICE! Shame about the rain though. You forgot to pack the sunshine from Barcelona with you? :P
ReplyDeleteI have 2 answers to this:
Delete1) If I were to pack some sunshine, I'd exceed the 20kilo limit
2) The luggage with the sunshine got lost
:)
i hope they delivered your lost luggage with the sunshine by the next day ;)
Deletethey did. better late than never right? :)
Deletethe rain in spain falls mainly in granada? i don't think Andalusia is particularly rainy either, kan? maybe it's the weird weather. also kudos on your spanish! muy bien! :)
ReplyDeleteyeah, the weather got a bit screwy that week, which brought even colder temperature to London.
Deletehaha, gracias. they lasted me well till the time i left spain. of course, the another handy phrases - "no puedo comer carne de cerdo. que me recomienda?" ;)