Madrid

Only You Atocha is a very classy hotel. After a day from hell travelling, it was a pleasure to arrive and to be given a glass of champagne at Reception. I had dinner at the Spanish time of 9.00 pm in the 7th floor restaurant:

From here is a view over the city with the main Atocha train station in the foreground:

I just had a light meal of pasta with mushrooms:


My room had a nice greeting for me when I stepped inside (a personal message on the TV screen):

It took me a while to figure out how to turn it off! My mind and body were in a frazzled state after the journey. Why? Well first of all, I arrived early at the bus station in Jaen intending to have something to eat. Nothing was open: nada! I had a long trip ahead of me. In my backpack was a dry bread roll and a miniature bottle of Tio Pepe sherry, that’s all! But better than nothing.

Finally, I was on the 15.30 bus to Madrid, with a quick change at La Carolina. Here I managed to procure a take-away beer in a plastic glass. I carried it precariously onto the bus. Ahead of me in the aisle, a woman was stowing a heavy bag on the overhead shelf. She couldn’t quite manage it and it fell back onto me and my beer, spilling half of it (but mostly onto her trousers).

At a motorway service stop of 10 minutes, I really wanted and needed an ice cream. The ice cream fridge was locked and I had to join the refreshments queue to get it opened. I suppose this is to prevent theft. I was afraid the bus might leave without me, till I noticed the female driver having a cigarette so I was safe! Now there was only another 270 kms to go. This explains why I was so frazzled.

Jaen and its castle

Castillo de Santa Catalina is on top of a hill overlooking the town in an impressive position with the most amazing view over the surrounding countryside. It is a  stronghold that has been fought over many times over the years. I took a taxi on the circuitous route up there. Pics follow:

There is a Parador next door, where I had a drink and took some more photos:

View of the castle from my room early this morning:

Granada to Jaen

This is not the week to be travelling around Spain. Because of the May Day public holiday in the middle of the week, many Spaniards are taking the whole week off. I discovered that all the trains on Sunday to Madrid were fully booked and so were the buses. I had to change my plans by leaving Jaen on Saturday even though I had paid for two nights accommodation at hotel Infanta Cristina. I also had to book another night at my hotel in Madrid, which was now charging almost double what I had paid before in advance. We live and learn!

Entering a tunnel.

Nearing Jaen.

Near the Alcazaba

I discovered a little red bus that transports people up the hill and back. What’s more there is a walk that can be done outside the walls, with the Alcazaba on one side and the Generalife on the other. This was a nice late afternoon trip:

The last photo shows the gate that connected the two, but it is no longer in use.

I think that’s about as much I can see of the Alhambra, but I did try!

Granada continued

On a bright and sunny morning, it was time to visit the cathedral precinct:

The first thing to be seen was the Capilla Real or Royal Chapel, built for the Catholic Monarchs between 1506 and 1521. There were warning signs everywhere about NO PHOTOS. I’m not sure whether this was to ensure the purchase of guide books, or simply to speed up visitor progress. It is a beautiful building and contains the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella in lead-lined coffins in the vault, as well as their daughter, Juana the Mad, and her husband, Philip the Handsome. The following pics show statues of the Monarchs at prayer:

I studied a unit about this period at uni in London, so I was specially pleased to visit the chapel. There are figures of all four carved in Carrara marble above the vault. Here are two of them:

Ferdinand and Isabella.

I had a quick look at the Cathedral next:

Now free to take photos.

Views of Granada

Yesterday morning’s weather forecast was for several hours of rain. I sheltered in my hotel for a while, but it didn’t want to stop. In the end I put on my Rohan rain jacket and set out to walk up the hill to the Alhambra. My leggings and feet were soon soaked. It took me about half an hour. Water was pouring down the channels on both sides of the road, the abundant green vegetation the only thing enjoying it:

At the top, I had the idea of going into the Parador for a bit, in order to dry out. There were signs saying House Guests Only, but I was too wet to care! I sat on a window seat that had hot air coming from below which was pretty good.

One of the inner courtyards of the Parador.

I had a quick snack in the Parador cafeteria when it opened at 11.30 am. The place was buzzing as everyone was coming out of the rain.

Later that day…

The receptionist advised me to climb up to a lookout with a view of the Alhambra. It’s a favourite spot to see the glow of the sunset on the towers:

Lots of others had the same idea:

This view is across to the Sierra Nevada, with snow on the most distant mountain:




On the way down from the Mirador I found myself in the Albaicin quarter. All the little Arabic shops had opened up, selling goods from Turkey and beyond:

Mounds of Turkish Delight.

Sugared nuts.

Malaga to Granada

When I went to the station the previous day, I was told that they couldn’t guarantee that there would be any trains on 30 April. They didn’t say why. (Was it to do with the fact that 1st May is a big public holiday here?) I was advised to go by bus, so that’s what I did. ALSA were running plenty of buses; they took half an hour longer, had many stops, but were cheaper. My journey was from 12.00 to 2.00 pm. I took a taxi to my hotel, Anacapri. The traffic was heavy at this time of day. I was pretty hungry and soon found a quick bite just round the corner:

Everything is mechanised, but instructions come in many languages.

Hotel Anacapri is surrounded by eateries of every kind. It’s on a pedestrian street but is extremely noisy, with most of the noise coming from other guests talking in the foyer. It does have a beautiful bathroom, with a mirror that lights up at the push of a button on the glass itself:

I woke up this morning to pouring rain: don’t say it has followed me from Malaga! I decided to cheer myself up with a nice breakfast:

The other news is that there are no tickets available for the Alhambra for about 2 weeks. It appears that everyone books well in advance. Oh well, I have seen it before. So, when it stops raining I’ll just walk up there and see it from the outside.