Our time in Córdoba had sadly drawn to a close, but no fear, we were off to bigger things: specifically, Granada. We spent our final morning packing, with pastries again for breakfast. Then it was off to the train station, because we got to take another high-speed train, which I was again excited for. We again got to admire the beautiful landscape of southern Spain. The castle we saw this time was the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río, though the more exciting sight was that of Archidona. First off, you know, so picturesque, the white buildings spilling down the hillside. But then you look it up on Wikipedia and find out the site has been settled since Paleolithic times and wowsers, talk about history. Bonkers. Another note is that in addition to the olive trees we saw on the way to Córdoba, we also saw a number of orange groves which was cool. Upon our arrival in Granada I was delighted to see that there as well the trend of orange trees continued, despite the city symbol being the pomegranate. Just can’t keep a good fruit tree down.

After dropping off our bags at the hotel we went off to wander Granada and man it was gorgeous. All the little streets and ancient history. Our hotel was right on the Darro so we were in the thick of it as soon as we walked out the door. We had gotten lunch but were still up for dessert so after getting our bearings a bit the next place we visited was the Teteria del Bañuelo which my super amazing wife rated as the best experience she had then had on the vacation. It is run by a lovely I assume Turkish woman, and besides having a gorgeous balcony with a view of the Alhambra, it also had a wonderfully friendly big ole café cat that was napping in the sun when we arrived but who soon enough swung by for some scritches. The tables had tile and the sun was shining and the excellent tea was served in cute little Turkish teapots and little Turkish teacups and the chocolate baklava and a “bird nest” dessert was to die for and it was great. Highly recommend.

The first real touristy place we visited in Granada was the Archeology Museum. It was small but with an admission price of a whopping 3€ it would have been a bargain at twice the price. The small size was actually an advantage for me; the archeological museum in Madrid was big and so full of stuff but I didn’t know what was going on so it was hard to keep track of it all. Meanwhile this was smaller and easier to understand. Plus according to the handy museum map, it was one of the first to be founded in Spain, having originated in 1842 as an Antiques office before getting a Royal Order in 1879. Neat! The building it is in is from 1539, or the façade is anyway. The sign near the door says it was built by Hernando de Zafra’s grandson, it is called the Casa de Castril, and is “decorated in a Plateresque style with an allegory that represents the lord of the house as a Christian hero hoping his victory over death.” Neat I guess.

I just said the archeological museum was small but boy does it pack a punch. They had some really cool stuff! There were perfectly preserved 7000-year-old woven grass sandals, which is crazy! Amazing stuff sticks around that long! Some dude or lady from 7000 years ago wove some grass together so their feet wouldn’t hurt so bad and here and unfathomable amount of time later we get to admire their work! Even older were some 1.5-million-year-old humanoid remains. Also extremely cool was a stone mold for bronze casting, and I had never seen that sort of thing before. And, of course, my absolute favorite (though actually I am still blown away by the sandals, I am a simple man that likes old things) was an astrolabe! Here’s another Google Arts & Culture thing of their collections so you aren’t limited to my silly pictures, very worth a perusal.

Despite how great it was the museum was still rather small so, still fortified from our tea and desserts, our first partial day in Granada was still far from over despite being very full already. Our next destination was the Capilla Real! Look man I was really bad this trip at figuring out what was going on with Spanish royalty. There I was back in Córdoba, rather stunned to discover that I was in Isabella and Ferdinand’s old pad, and now here I was in Granada, stunned to discover that the two of them were like a couple blocks from where we were staying! They were staying there permanently of course, because they are dead. Still very cool to see! No pictures again, sorry, you’ll have to go yourself. You walk in and see their big ornate crypt topper (I dunno it’s on top of the crypt) that is statues of them inside a big ornate chapel, and then you can descend a little staircase to see the sarcophagi themselves. You got Isabella and Ferdinand down there of course, but you also have Juana la Loca, which is a mean name, and Philip the Handsome, which is a PR job if I ever saw one and I really oughta hire that same PR guy frankly, and then finally poor little Miguel da Paz. Very cool to see and then as a breather you get to walk through a little museum of some religious iconography and if I recall correctly some monarchial paraphernalia, before exiting through the gift shop. That was a nice little surprise because most museums we had been to didn’t have gift shops and so I had no chance of getting a lapel pin, but the chapel had both a gift shop and a lapel pin for sale.

Okay with the royal visit out of the way, now our first day in Granada was winding down. After the chapel we poked our head into the madrassa across the street but there wasn’t much to see, and then wandered into more gift shops where we got some Turkish delight. What the guidebooks tell you about Granada is that it is the rare place in Spain where the bars still give you free tapas, so we were off to experience that. The place we chose was the Bodega Castañeda, I think. One thing I have really enjoyed about Spain is that you can just order a category of stuff. At bars I could just order a beer and receive a beer, no further discussion on brand or type or whatever required. At the train station coffee place I just ordered a “coffee” and the only question the lady had was if I wanted milk. Despite having enjoyed that, it was my super amazing wife learned the lesson better than I did; this bar we were at was known for its vermouth and when it came time to order I was paralyzed about what vermouth to order but she just asked for “vermouth” and lo and behold vermouth appeared! And tapas! It was great! Astounding and excellent. Vermouth in hand I then proceeded to bore my super amazing wife with my various thoughts on the economics of free tapas, like: How do you choose was tapas to serve? Do you try to avoid losing money on every drink or do you occasionally put out a fancy tapas so people feel like they are gambling and might order more drinks? If you wanted to forego free tapas, like as a bar if you wanted to stop giving out the tapas, do the other bars condemn you to keep you in line? I wonder.

But anyway that pretty much capped off our night and then all we had to do was head back to the hotel to rest up for the next day’s big adventure.