Seniors in Spain 2018: 7/28/2018-Granada-Alhambra/Charles V's palace, Royal Chapel, Granada Cathedral, Alcaiceria, pool, dinner at El Mercader

This morning at breakfast I notice a card on the table that indicates you can get eggs to order. So I ask for eggs over medium which are done just right. With that I have toast, fruit, juice, and coffee. Richard makes up a breakfast sandwich of meats/cheese/tomato spread, some olives, cucumber, and what appears to be eggplant along with juice and coffee. He has a second sandwich of salmon and cheese and a chocolate pastry. Everything was very good. I've heard back from the owner of the restaurant we are trying to get a reservation for dinner for tonight. She states they have availability and never got any message from our hotel. I show this to our hotel reception staff and they will contact the restaurant and reserve a time for us for tonight.

ALHAMBRA. By 9:30 AM we are back at Alhambra. Enter through the Justice Gate. Through the Wine Gate. This time mainly to see what we missed yesterday. The grounds are free. We see some canon near a tower.
Charles V's Palace. This is a Renaissance Palace that was used for official functions whereas the Palacios Nazaries was used as a royal residence. Circle within a square design. Circular courtyard surrounded by mottled marble columns. Stairs lead to the second floor. Perfect acoustics in the center of the courtyard. Today used for the International Festival of Music and Dance. The Alhambra Museum is located on the ground floor. We decide to take a look as it's free. No pictures allowed. Surviving Moorish art. Green/blue/black pottery, tiles, lion fountains, beautiful carved wooden door. The Fine Arts Museum is located upstairs but we don't see that. We have spent almost 1 1/2 hours here. I think we've spent enough time at Alhambra!

Charles V Palace

Entrance-Charles V Palace

We decide to take the red tourist bus into town for the other sightseeing we want to do. We catch the bus by the main entrance of Alhambra. Cost €1.40 each. C30 is the one we take getting off at Plaza Isabel la Catolica. There is a large statue of Isabel and Christopher Columbus. I love the architecture of Spain and Granada is no exception.

Bus stop

Red C30 bus

Statue of Isabel and Columbus

Royal Chapel/Capilla Real. Granada's top Christian sight. Holds the bodies of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand. Cost €10 for the 2 of us which included audioguides. No pictures or video allowed and there is security to enforce that. This is a funeral chapel and we have to respect that. I'm disappointed. I do get a descriptive pamphlet of the chapel. The chapel is Plateresque Gothic. In the center are the 4 royal tombs. Renaissance style carved in Italy from Carrara marble. Faces are supposed to be accurate. Philip the Fair and Juana the Mad who came after Ferdinand and Isabel lie to the left and higher than Ferdinand and Isabel. Their son Charles merged the Holy Roman Empire (from his father) with the Spanish empire of his mother Juana. From here are stairs that lead down to the actual lead coffins which are plain. The high altar is dedicated to John the Baptist and John the evangelist. Scenes from the Baptist's life are on the left-John beheaded after Salome's dance, baptizing Jesus-and scenes from the Evangelist's life-his martyrdom, on Patmos-are on the right. Flanking are statues of Ferdinand and Isabel kneeling in prayer. Reliefs at the bottom. Treasury-Queen Isabel's silver crown, her scepter, and King Ferdinand's sword. Silver and gold cross. There is the art collection that Queen Isabel amassed. On wood. Carved sculptures of Ferdinand and Isabel. I did buy some postcards. And I searched the internet for some pictures and found a few. It's nice to have these pictures as I use the pictures to remind myself of what I saw. Spent around 1 hour here.

Entrance

High altar-picture from the internet

Picture from the internet

Ferdinand and Isabel-picture from the internet

Philip and Juana-picture from the internet

Lead coffins-picture from the internet

Pamphlet that I was given

Granada Cathedral. One of only 2 Renaissance churches in Spain-other in Cordoba. Built on Gothic foundation. Cost €10 for the 2 of us includes audioguide. Main altar-square niches-paintings. Lots of gold leaf. Side chapels mostly Baroque style. Sacristy-I don't have any pictures so I'm thinking they weren't allowed. Tomb of hometown artist Cano. Exit brings us to the shop. Here I buy some bitter orange hand cream. Cost €6.50. Spent almost 2 hours here.

Ceiling

Stained glass

Main altar

Main chapel

Capilla San Miguel

Sacred Art-no pictures allowed

Bought this bitter orange hand cream in the gift shop

Bell Tower

As seen from Alhambra

Outside near the Cathedral are spice shops as well as tables selling spices. Very interesting and I should have bought some but I didn't. Statue of artist Alonso Cano. Then I'm where I want to be.
Alcaiceria. Arabic market. Original destroyed by fire in 19th c. Lots of shops but not as many as in earlier centuries. Here I'm looking for taracea-wooden inlay boxes-and fajalauza-local painted ceramic items. I enter a shop and find several pretty taracea boxes in all shapes, sizes, colors. I buy 3 of the smaller ones that can be used as a trinket/keys/jewelry box. Cost for the 3 boxes $33.59. Then I stumble upon another shop where I find some ceramic plates that I like. There is a small one that I purchase. Cost $21.00. I'm really happy with my purchases. I'm mindful of weight and size as they have to fly back home with me and need to go in my carry on. It's time to return to the hotel. We walked back towards the Plaza Isabel de Catolica to catch the C30 bus. Cost €1.40 each. Back to our hotel. Reception tells us they have managed to reserve a spot for us at the restaurant we requested. Yay! We are in the pool by 3:30 PM. We spend 2 hours or so just relaxing and cooling off as it's still hot like Cordoba was.

Spices for sale

Statue of Alonso Cano

Alcaiceria

Store where I bought my ceramic plate

Store where I bought my inlay wood boxes

Street toilet!

Bus has dropped us off and is on its way

Pool time-relaxation

Richard is a happy guy because he's having his pool time

Dinner-El Mercader. One of the top rated places in Granada. Great reviews on Trip Advisor. Open Wednesday-Sunday. Specific hours when reservations are taken. Husband-wife team. She cooks and he takes the orders. I think our reservation was for 8:00 PM. Early by Spanish standards but late for us by ours. Welcomed by ... I feel terrible as I did not write his name down and it's not on my receipt. I think his name was Chris. He was so friendly and he thoroughly explained menu items. He was amazing. Even though this place is small he was kept busy with a full house. He had to turn away people who stopped by but had no reservation. This is a really cute place. Cleverly decorated. Shades of purple used in the tablecloths and napkins. They have taken old records and placed their label on them. They are placemats. The front and back covers of the menu are all different with old ad pictures. Wine corks in posts. Very eclectic. Drinks. Richard has beer and I opt for red wine-tinto vino encina ingles 2014. A glass of the wine is poured and the bottle is left at our table. You can pour another glass or not as you want. You can finish the entire bottle. It's up to you and you will be charged by what you drink. We order a salad to share-spinach, bacon, blue cheese, walnuts with a carmelized pear vinaigrette. For entrees we go with grilled salmon with fennel cream, green apple, and basil sauce; tuna tataki with wasabi mayonnaise. Chris brings us something to start-amuse bouche. Creamy cod soup with olive oil and small bits of crunchy ham and spices thrown in. It was fantastic and not a soup I would have ordered as the only seafood soup I've ever had has been clam chowder! Then the dream of a salad. All the ingredients complemented each other and we were told that the dressing was homemade from jam and pears. That dressing was to die for! It was divine. Our entrees were cooked perfectly. My tuna tataki was wrapped in seaweed and on the plate was the wasabi mayonnaise in a separate dish. There were nectarine slices and sweet cherries. Side of rice with bits of peppers was delicious. Everything on my plate was fantastic. My husband's salmon came with broccoli and carrots all sitting on top of the fennel cream. On his plate were side dishes of salt and apple pesto. Can this get any better?? Yes, it can! Dessert-tough choices. I loved every item. Finally I went with the pineapple (my favorite fruit) marinated in ginger and cardamom with bitter almond ice cream. Richard got the chocolate brownie with hot chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Both desserts were to die for and we did taste each other's. This has got to be high on my list of best meals so far on our trip to Spain. I can see why this place is so busy and why reservations are like getting the golden ticket for Willy Wonka! Nuria is an absolute genius in the kitchen. Cost without tip $71.16. For 2 glasses of beer, 1 glass of wine, a salad, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts this was a bargain. I thought the prices were very reasonable for the quality of food we got. The atmosphere is charming and the service was spot on. Great dinner!! We walk back to Plaza Nuevo to catch a taxi back to our hotel.