Got myself up, washed, and ready for the day. The plan was to daytime walk around Granada and take it all in, take in Albaicin during the day, plan out my transportation to Sevilla for Thursday, and take in some more Semana Santa processions. All of the above happened.
Ended up on a huge long roundabout walk/urban hike around town. Finally realized I was starving and ended up walking into a restaurant in the downtown area that had a 3 course lunch advertised. Turned out I was over an hour early for their lunch, so I took the waiter/counter guy up on his suggestion of jamon, queso y tomate instead (along with the cafe con leche that I've become quite partial to). Add this the list of ham & cheese sandwiches I've had in Espana haha -- however, ham sandwiches in Spain are WAY better than those en los EEUU. I realized they use what I believe is referred to as Jamon Iberico in the US -- it's not slimy and wet like supermarket deli ham, nor strongly "ham" flavored (don't know how else to describe it) like when you buy, say, a ham steak. It almost looks like jerky, except it's pink like ham is. Also, the tomate component is a pureed tomate, which I've found I can hang with (I hate whole sliced tomatoes) and it enhances the overall sandwich. Also, can't go wrong with some cheese!
Finished my (huge) sandwich and my cafe con leche, and being out the door for less than 5 Euros, I was ready to ascend the Albaicin. Good Lord, so much height to ascend to get there! It's like Porto, Portugal all over again, but in concentrate. Got up there and got to the Mirador de San Nicolas again (finally), and got to take in the Alhambra during daylight hours.
Also, it was a trip to take in snow-capped mountains in the background.
Also, a visual of the steepness of some of these paseos!
Also, I have no problem drinking straight from the potable water that runneth from the fountains :)
Finally made it back down from the Albaicin and stopped off at the hotel room. I knew that I needed to figure out how I was getting from Granada to Sevilla, and I decided I wanted to train it. Caught the city bus to somewhere near the train station (I had realized I caught the wrong bus -- got off maybe a quarter of a mile away), finally found the train station and went in to purchase the ticket. The automated machine for some reason wasnt giving me my Sevilla - Santa Justa (district) destination that I needed (btw I lucked out with my Sevilla hotel in that it's just a few blocks from the train station), so I ended up engaging a ticket agent directly.
Had the coolest little conversation with the tercera edad ticket agent guy -- it reminded me of why I like to travel (lol HELLO, I AM traveling). For me, sometimes engaging in Spanish strips away whatever layers (just crap in my head) I have going on and the intent is to just get across everything I'm trying to convey, and understand whats being said back. Which paves the way for authentic, real-time banter. The guy quoted the arrival time in Sevilla which initially threw me off -- in Spain most things (written/published, at least) are in military time. When I realized the departure/arrival time was good and said so, and then apologized for my Spanish and said that it's different in my country (where we have the 12-hour schedule), the guy was intent on telling me in English that the arrival in Sevilla was "37 past 2 in the afternoon." Then he had the funniest little laugh. It was awesome. I ended up asking about the bus situation -- none of the city buses appeared to arrive directly into the train station (although I knew firsthand that they do for the autobus station -- weird). He confirmed such and told me that there was a parada nearby in front of the iglesia that was a few blocks away (after confirming with a colleague). He was quoting bus numbers that he knew went through there and when I told him I had caught the treinta y tres he was all "NOOOOOO...." and did the laugh again. Haha. It was basically the only bus that runs through the center of town that does NOT stop through the parada a few blocks away from the train station.
So, with Thursday's ticket purchased, I found the appropriate bus stop I'd need, and proceeded to walk back to the centro on foot. Granada is a chill city -- people going about their business not paying much mind to me as I walk through. Stopped at a convenience store and got some basic provisions (like more toothpaste; they have a brand of toothpaste here called Binaca -- of course that's what I bought), and headed back to the room.
Headed back out to hunt down some more of the Semana Santa processions -- ended up finding one that I followed through at a few different junction points (for some, the bands will only queue in/through at certain intervals).
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