Granada PM – Spanish Wedding Crashers
So, as I type this we’re going 153 km/h on the train … cool. But
back to yesterday …. So Mark M and I ended up at this crazy little
cafe for lunch. It was all locals … the cutest kids playing with each
other, big families eating a 2-3 hour Saturday lunch from 3 to 5 pm.
There were screaming kids, some guy playing accordion, and … oddly
enough, everyone did shots (!) after their meal.
Ronmiel, or “honey rum” shots … the stuff is good. We need to find
it at home. (Or maybe it’s the new flavor that 267 needs to make?)
Anyway, from there we walked Granada, just kind of getting lost and
ending up at some random “S. XVI” (Siglo 16, or 16th century) church
here and there. I think we stumbled across 3 churches that were 500
years old, and so “insignificant” as to not even rank a mention in the
guidebook. Amazing.
We finally ended up at “El Catedral,” the main church of the town.
There were tons of people outside, dressed up in their fanciest — and
most incredibly bright — clothing, including a ton of formal-dress
military uniforms. We’d inadvertently crashed a Spanish Wedding.
We waited outside the church as more and more people flooded into
the square there. Finally, the couple came out and everyone threw rice
and rose petals at the beautiful bride and groom. It was one of those
really cool moments that we couldn’t have created if we’d wanted to. We
saw a very small, discrete opening to the Catedral and though … hey,
why not see what’s in there?
Fortunately we did … it was a GINORMOUS church … maybe 160 to
180 feet high inside, with literally acres of covered indoor space with
old-master artwork on every wall, nook and cranny. The pipe organs
(there were 2) alone were probably 40 feet wide by 60 feet tall. I was
-dying- to hear the music dramatically echo through the place. It was
so huge inside that there is absolutely no way to control the
temperature. The lady in the gift shop said that those little trinkets
that are 1/2 oil and 1/2 water … with a little scene inside … the
water in the trinkets FREEZES inside the gift shop in the winter!
Back to the hotel, quick nap, then off to dinner at 10 pm. El Huerto
de Juan Rana (John Frog?!? What kind of name is that?!?) is situated in
the most perfect location, overlooking the night-lit Alhambra, with
great service and, unfortunately, just mediocre food.We had maybe 8
different dishes, all brought separately, so it took an agonizing 3
hours to finish. By 1 am I almost couldn’t stay awake anymore. However
…. I was soon to be awakened by our taxi ride home ….