tues Granada: up and down a hill

From the tourist office, I decided that the road next to the church that I'd almost gone up on accident was too interesting to pass up. It had a river between the church and the road and a stone wall to hold the sidewalk on the other side in. On the mud next to the river, there were loads of cats. The French girl next to me called them a colony. There were arched bridges over the river. Cute houses lined the side of the street opposite the river. It was very Europe and very cute.





Not surprisingly, there were churches all over the place as I continued up the street, peering into alleys at what was beyond.






I came to a clearing and could see buildings on the hill across the river. I decided it was probably La Alhambra and my map confirmed it.




The road SPLIT. One half went up the hill into more of a neighborhood/town looking place. The other side went ACROSS the river. What a dilema!! I looked at my map. Across the river was a park. This side continued into a maze of little streets. This looked like a more culturally interesting experience so I stuck with what the side I was already on. I was almost immediately rewarded with a view into someone's garden. It turned out to be a museum or something (I'd seen a few more interesting interiors on the walk up, but didn't pry in to take a picture).





I couldn't help but notice the ground. It was made of little stones. Then there were cobblestones for the street and YET another pattern further on toward the buildings. Uhh how many patterns does it take to make a street?!




Then I came to a HILARIOUS "yield to pedestrians" type of sign. Someone had added some underwear to the walker in question.




As I continued up the street, I noticed that all of the buildings were white and they all had deep red or deep green rooves. They all had dark windows and dark doors. What happened to the colorful paints used in town?! Lots of the doors had really interesting shapes. Some had spikes and other decorations coming off of them. Also, lots of the bigger ones had a smaller opening that opened in case you didn't need to open essentially a wall's worth of space.




I was starting to wonder if I was wandering too deeply into the neighborhood. Is this like trespassing? Is it safe? Is it frowned upon? Then I saw more cameras... in the hands of some fellow tourists. I felt much better after that and continued documenting my surroundings.







Some of the houses did have nice decorations, in spite of their color schemes.




At the top of the hill, there was a big church and then the road curved around it. The whole way, there were signs for BUS STOPS. After a while, a little van of a bus came trucking up the hill. I had to move aside on the narrow road for it to get by. I was too interested in the houses to take photos of the church. There were also signs with pictures of old fashioned cameras on them. APPARENTLY, there were officialy viewpoints up here. I learned in Korea that usually, there's a nice view or a temple or SOMETHING neat at the top of a hill. That same logic was starting out nicely here too. I'm working on finding a time when is it not worth the sweat and energy to get up a hill, it seems. As I continued to wander, I felt more and more like I was in a rural village far from a city (aside from the buses rollign through).







This man's bike was breaking down as I passed him. I got to the end of the street where it curved and realized that it went downhill without a view. I had seen someone else going up some steps and decided to go back and see if that was the viewpoint. I had to go back by the motorcyclist. HOLA, again.




I went up the steps toward a church and it's plaza patio that was above the level of the other rooves. Ooooh yeah, THIS is why the bus comes! There was a nice view of La Alhambra AND a huge chunk of the city and the mountains beyond. I feel like I keep seeing things from afar before I get in them (ex: Sagrada Familia). I think it SHOULD be the other way, like oh I remember the... I took a set of connecting pictures and then someone took a picture of me!










I changed my seating and tried a couple more. I also sat in a puddle with cigarette butts floating in it when I moved. I had a wet bum for the rest of the day. Yum.







Then I took a couple of pictures of the church. It was a nice one. It was also white with a dark roof and dark windows and a dark door, of course. The ground here was also made of stone, but these ones were strategically placed.








Then I detoured away from the stairs that I came up to get to this door. I tried to just cut back to the main road but got stuck going down random little alleys. I decided that this little town wasn't built logically in a way that complimented my sense of direction. I didn't learn my lesson right away. I went down a set of stairs and found a street that was blocked on almost all sides aside from one other option. It was like a cattle shoot that wound around the houses. There was no way to keep your bearings. I stuck with the main road and noticed lots of doors.







I went up more stairs because there was a man at the top of a sort of set of walls. I figured it was a park or something. It also could have been a parking lot in my mind, but I decided to risk it. It WAS a park. I'd seen 2 cute little boys whose photo I tried to stealthily take, but failed. They came to the park too because it had playground stuff for them.



On my way down from the park, I reached into my purse to get some candy and felt something wet. Turns out my water bottle had leaked ALL over EVERYTHING in my bag (not like water generally avoids important stuff, but I was still disappointed, especailly about my now-warped guidebook/bible-- a book to live by). I immediately knealt down on the steps and emptied my purse and poured out the rest of the water. I looked up and there was a cat on the brick rail next to the stairs RIGHT next to me. It wanted to be petted. I gave it a scratch on the head but I was distracted. It proceeded to come stand in my lap. I petted it more and it SCRATCHED me but still stood in my lap. EXCUSE ME?! Go AWAY if you don't like me! It made me miss Steve and Megan. They growl and squirm and cry but they never draw blood. More often than not, though, they're just lovable and loving. I did what I could about my purse and then carried on.





I peered into someone's house...





...and then into a convent.






Then I came to a square with signs that said "Ojo de Granada" or something, which I figured meant eye of Granada. I assumed that meant VIEW POINT. The square was LOADED with cats. One of them hissed at me. YIKES! I was honestly afraid of it and its posse.







On the other side of the square WAS an AMAZING view of the city. It was a different angle, far from the Alhambra. It was a great view of the city's red rooves and a mountain in the distance. The stormy clouds were neat too!! You could see the cathedral. I'm always amazed how HUGE cathedrals are in comparison to the rest of the city.




I went left instead of right down the hill on the tiny road with the bus. Turns out that was ALSO has an amazing view of the city! The sun was coming through the clouds in beams down onto the city and the mountains beyond.
There was a man admiring it who commented that we were on the same itinerary. I thought, Umm I don't have an itinerary. Have I even seen you before? I realized he had been at the church view point and at the convent. He was from Switzerland, "between jobs." I wasn't as talkative as I could have been.








On the walk down, I saw some neat graffitti, some chatty hobos, and an Arabic souvenir market. I also went through the shopping alleys again. For some reason, I was feeling the urge to BUY something!





I had dinner at Burger King just because I'd seen it and it was easy. I was hungry and tired. It's a lot of work to accidentally hike all over a hill! Then I went in search of a supermarcado to get some drinks and snacks for my night in the hotel. I came to Corte Ingles. It's a GIANT department store. They had them in Barcelona too. The one there had a grocery section so I went in to check it out. I got a chapstick and then made my way to the supermarket bit. I browsed around for a while looking for good candy and soda and juice for the morning to go with my Valencia convenience-store Magdelanas. I then went to the top floor to look at what they were advertizing from Sud Africa out of curriosity. For all of their signs, they didn't give you ANY direction at the top. There were sporting goods so I assumed it's something to do with the world cup there this year. I looked at the FC Barca gear. They had some nice backpacks, gym bags, and track jackets. Dad? Interested?
Then on my way back to the ground floor, I saw the Sfera department. I'd eyed a leather jacket they had in Barcelona and thought maybe they'd have some other good stuff. I kept looking at things and then putting them back. After a while, I decided I'd better just try some stuff on. I got an ARMLOAD and headed for the dressing room. Another woman was waiting. We waited and waited as people came in and out but never left the dressing room. The other woman and I complained without a commmon language. SHe went to look in another department and then motioned me over. We'd become friends!
I tried on this leather-looking jacket. I was BASICALLY in love with it, but I couldn't decide if it REALLY fit well enough. I asked about the return policy but didn't know if they said I couldn't return it if I changed my mind or that they didn't understand. I left it behind but thought about it all night.

I had also fallen in love with a sheer top with a tuxedo sort of ruffle. I commited to that. It was adorable!!
I got a taxi home. It was too cold to try to figure out the buses.
Here I am in my purchases of the day.

I chatted with friends and called home from the comfort of my new bed (there's a mirror facing it so I admired myself in my new things whenever I looked up, I admit!). I like this hotel. I feel at home here. My stuff's exploded around like it IS my home. It's bigger than my Korean apartment!! I like Granada. I thought I'd consider living here at first, but I think it's different to live and visit a place. I was just about over Barcelona when I left. Although I managed a year in Boryeong, tiny town!
It was an excellent night. I looked at the map, the place I walked was called Albaycin. It's the old Moslem quarter. Also, I saw El Banuelo, the baths, on the way. I'm going to go there and to the cathedral another day. I could wander the old Moorish area again-- that's what my book calls Albaicin.
My computer said it needed to be charged so I plugged it in. When I did, several puffs of smoke came out of the various vents around the lightbulb in the light next to the bed. OH dear! It smelled of smoke. I knew a straightener could blow a fuse due to the currencies, but I didn't know my computer could destroy a lightbulb! I turned the switch off for the light. I'm NOT giving up my computer!
Then I went to bed, not nearly as scared as I was in Korea in hotels alone. Hopefully I'm growing up...