Granada Day 2- Alhambra

Granada Day 2
We are definitely getting used to the late nights of eating and to bed close to midnight- there was daylight well past 10pm. Slept well in air conditioning, in fact a bit too cold (at least for Leila’s taste anyway). Got up for an early 7am breakfast at the hotel, packed and checked out. We were able to leave our bags at the hotel while we ventured off to the Alhambra. Started up the road our hotel was on as Blair chose an excellent hotel that was closest to our destination. It was a steady up hill for about 15 minutes mostly in the shade of well kept trees and greenery – very pleasant. Our ticket to enter was for 9:30, so we had a little time to look around the exterior before we got on line to enter. The palace was amazing – best described in pictures. It brought back (for me, Leila) a taste of the palaces and mosques I saw in Iran. What was more significant is that the same detail of ornate tiles and architecture and the availability of water that must come from under ground  springs that created such luxury, was all  built on top of a steep hill top. In Iran (of 45 years ago-yikes!) many of the palaces and mosques seen were still intact and the bright colors of the tiles still vibrant, but these were not built on a high precipice. The Alhambra’s views were grand and the grounds grander…
After viewing the palace we wandered around and up the grounds viewing gardens and areas where the “general life” (of the grand people!) lived and luxuriated. Pictures represent the general overwhelmingness of this place. They don't do it justice, but here's a large sampling:

This guy was behind a screen restoring a fountain. I squeezed my phone through an opening in the screen and caught him at work.

This pigeon flew in and perched on the vertical face of the wall

Reflecting pool

This vaulted ceiling was damaged, so one is able to see the construction...fascinating to one such as I.

Deana and Leila deciphering Arabic writing on a wall panel.

New hat

The Arch of Misdirection, so named because it lured us onto the wrong path and we had to back track.

Lots of these labyrinthine constructions that were not identified. Deana thought maybe bathes. Tim suggested some kind of market place, or pens for animals. Never found out.

 The day had started out cool but turned very hot and by mid-day we were tired and hungry. We stopped at a restaurant (another tourist one) at the top and had drinks and shared some food. We had planned to have a real lunch later, but in the end we just wanted some ice cream to get us through. We anticipated seeing more of the grounds and other palaces on our way back down, but the heat drove us on, and we ascended the hill – straining knees and calves – till we arrived at our hotel. We gathered our bags, had our ice cream on route to the car and took off by 2pm with Deana at the wheel.
The trip back was uneventful, thank goodness! Deana and Blair (with the Google lady’s help) got us out of Granada and on the highway quite easily. Leila took over driving half-way at a rest stop, where snacks and drinks were purchased for sustaining us for the rest of our return trip. Tim bought a bag of potatoe chips that tasted like they had been soaked in motor oil. Chips were tasted and rejected by all but Tim, who persisted in sampling them until even he, the garbage disposer of the crew, couldn't stand them any more. They were relegated to the trash bag and we all tried masking the aftertaste with anything, but the residual remains of the motor oil persisted for most of the way back to Altea.  We arrived at Altea shortly after 6. Tim, Blair and Leila immediately took off for a swim. The waves were quite high again, but we managed to get in without difficulty. However, Tim in attempting to ride the waves in, landed on the rocky shallows on his bum again and got tossed by at least 3 good waves before he could stand up. Blair commented that there were 4 life guards on duty just to watch the 3 crazy old Americans get tossed by the waves.
We then decided to have dinner next door at The Columbus which was recommended to us by several people. We sat on the terrace outside and decided we could really get used to this kind of easy life! The food was ok, some better than others…Deana’s shrimp were not very satisfactory, Blair’s steak moderately good, and Tim’s pasta was excellent as was Leila’s paella.
We came back to the apartment and managed one round of Euchre that T & L actually managed to win, amazingly! Then to bed for an early rise for the guys to play golf in AM.