Tour of Granada

An early rise for a tour to Granada. Sometimes you are at the beginning of the pickup schedule, sometimes you are the last. This time we got the first choice of seats, however also got to enjoy going to other hotels for an hour and a half picking up customers. As the Bible says “those who are first shall be last” so we had a repeat of this tour on the ride home. The twelve hour tour breaks down into 6 hours driving and 6 hours in Granada. OK, no more complaining. When the sun came up we were driving through the beautiful Malaga mountain range. After about forty minutes the bus stopped for a quick coffee break. The countryside was even more beautiful once coffee cravings were sated. As we approached Granada, the snow covered peaks of the Sierra Madre Mountains shimmered in the distance.

Our first stop was Alhambra, a walled city built and occupied by the conquering Muslims from 700 to the late 1400’s. It was the seat of power. The Sultans and Spanish Royalty lived there so the grounds reflect a combined beauty and style of two cultures. It was exciting to stand in the room where Christopher Columbus was given his charter to sail to America by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492.
The place is so full of history and stories I won’t re-write them here.

Next stop was downtown Granada. How do you spend one hour in a city that is so beautiful and steeped in history? Well...you do it fast! We walked quickly through quaint narrow streets, found an ancient church and cathedral that were closed. Most of Spain shuts down for siesta between 2:00 and 5:00 pm, a fact which always has to figure into touring plans.

In our rush, we got a little lost and had to ask for directions a few times. We made it back to the meeting place just in time to catch our bus back. The day reminded us that as much as tours have their place and make traveling and exploring easy, they are also very limiting. Elenore and I prefer our exploration to be less structured which usually results in more adventure. Most places like Grenada deserve more time to savour the culture and atmosphere. The good news is that we have another place we would love to return to.