Our bus left from Alicante even before the sunrise, an exhausting commencement which made the four and a half hour voyage much more bearable with sleepy eyes. Marie graciously paid for our ida y vuelta (two-way) bus tickets, making the bus ride that much sweeter.
We arrived in the early afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel located conveniently al lado de La Alhambra. We spent the day sunning at the hotel pool, eating at the hotel buffet and finally taking a siesta atop fluffy hotel bedding :)
Carmen made reservations for us at a renown restaurant overlooking the most breathtaking view of La Alhambra: el Restaurante Carmen Mirador de Aixa. We must have been a spectacle for the employees of the restaurant: three giddy, giggling American girls taking as many pictures as bites of food. Not to mention when half way through our first course the Host approached us with cordless phone in hand, "Carmen Cortes," he hesitantly handed us the phone. Carmen and Marie had called the restaurant and asked to speak with "the three pretty girls with reservations" to make sure we liked the place.
"Te gusta mucha, eh?" Yes Carmen, we really really like the restaurant.
"Keep doing as you are doing, ok." Ok Marie, we will continue enjoying ourselves immensely thanks to you.
I guess you have to know Marie and Carmen to understand that while their mid-meal phone call to the restaurant may seem unprecedented (we all have cell phones), I have a feeling they do this often for all of their guests.
http://www.miradordeaixa.com/ <-- check out the website!
The food was amazing. A glass of white wine and a palate cleansing apple and frozen yogurt dish was presented to us to start. We ordered a white asparagus salad por el centro (to share) and each ordered our own main course. My choice was a suggestion of the house: steak in a mango and apple salsa, accompanied by carrots, truffles, and potatoes. De-lish. For dessert the three of us shared a warm brownie with ice cream, and white and dark chocolate "pearls" with a rasberry mouse. Needless to say, I never wanted this meal to end. However, all good things must come to an end, and by the end of the meal we experienced a beautiful sunset, the lighting of the Alhambra, and free mouth watering chupitos gratis.
Day two was spent sight seeing. I must precede the sights we visited with this fun fact: Michelle Obama followed us every where we went.
We had no idea Michelle and Sasha Obama were going to be in Granada when we booked our trip, but once we got there, it was impossible not to recognize their expected arrival. We heard people in every language having conversations on the street interspersed with "Obama" at every other word. It was amazing to me how excited these people were for the arrival of our First Lady - camera men were set up outside hours before her ETA and police men were patrolled on crowd-control on every corner.
Our first stop was La Catedral - unfortunately I think that the anticipation of Michelle's arrival somehow disillusioned our self guided walking tour through the giant church. Maybe I would have gotten more out of it if I wasn't constantly planning strategies to hide myself between pews to avoid the inevitable closing, and therefore retreat, of La Catedral for the Obamas....
When we were finally escorted out of La Catedral, we decided it would be a good idea to grab some Gelato (when isn't a good time for Gelato, right?) Wrong. Bad idea. We quickly were coerced outside of the gelateria by police officers - aparrently Michelle had the same craving for Gelato. After Michelle enjoyed her ice cream (a chocolate cup) we were allowed back in, along with cameramen and newscasters - we got our faces on TV eating at the same place the First Lady tasted her ice cream! The gelato was amazing ... good choice, Michelle.
Our final stop was La Alhambra. (Although we had to rearrange our entry time to earlier due to Michelle's arrival at the same time at which our ticket was reserved. At this point I was getting pretty tired of Mrs. Obama following us around.)
La Alhambra is HUGE! What's even more impressive is the history behind it; I found the Islamic influence amongst the stores throughout Granada captivating, but walking through the Old Islamic Palace left me awestruck.
It still feels surreal that I have the opportunity to see all these amazing sites - I always thought the closest I would get to seeing La Alhambra would be on post cards....
No comments:
Post a Comment