| Some of the amazing architecture which compares to some of the best we have seen n the bigger cities.. |
 |
| Glenn's Granada Journal's 06-13-02 Thursday and our last day in Granada. The plan is to rail our way to Madrid on Friday. The only items to see that remained on our Granada list were the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real). We had passed by them more than once each day but had not stopped in to see the sight. We didn't think this would take long so we started the day off a little slow (relaxing in bed while we either read our books or worked on journals). We finally got rolling around noon but first we had some little chores that we wanted to accomplish first. Our first task was to reserve our seats on Friday's train to Madrid. There were only 2 choices per day and we didn't want to find out (like we did in Barcelona) that all of the seats had been sold for days on end. The train station was our first destination. On the way to the train station we ran across a street market which are always fun to enjoy. We walked around a very basic market with everyone selling about the same 3 things, jewelry, clothes, and handbags. Erin bought herself some beautiful earrings and even bartered the man down from 5 Euro's to 3 Euro's for the pair. She's learning!!! O.K. Now the train station. We sat with information trying to obtain as much information about the remaining trains that we plan to take on our journey back to Milano. We have to be back in Milano by the 25th and we would hate not to be able to get there because we didn't plan properly. The gentleman was very helpful with as much information as the computer would provide. He could not provide much in the way of depart and arrival times as all of this information changes on the 16th of June (I assume based on the beginning of Summer). We did have some ideas on how to get back from Spain to Milano including what stops to take and how long it would take, but no specific times. Oh well, this will do for now. We will be in Madrid after the 16th and will readdress the issue then. We did reserve our seats for the train in the morning for Madrid. We stopped for lunch upon departing the train station as Erin had seen a Menu of the Day for only 5,40 Euro's. Lunch included a big helping of macaroni, chicken, french fries, salad, wine or beer, bread, and desert. We were full after this meal and even took our desserts (fruit) with us. We returned to our room to drop a few things off and by now it was almost 3:00 pm. We were hoping to hear from Chris and Stephanie (our friends from Georgia) and sure enough they had left a message to meet them at the Alhambra at 3:00 pm. To say the least we missed them as it was 3:00 pm now and the Alhambra was a good walk away. We were sorry to have missed them. From here we quickly stopped into the internet cafe to check for emails from Chris and Stephanie. Sure enough their email said the same thing. We replied with a thanks but definitely next time. We still hadn't been to the Cathedral or Royal Chapel yet but they would re-open around 4:00 pm and be open until 7:00 pm. Chores came first, including the post office. We had been carrying around with us postcards from Barcelona and Sevilla that we had written but not mailed yet. We found the post office, purchased stamps, and finally mailed the postcards. Yeah!!! Next stop, the information booth. Our map of the city that we had gotten on our first day in town was fine but the writing on the back was French and we couldn't read it. We returned to see if they had one in English. Much to our surprise they did not. Oh well!! Our next stop was the used bookstore. We had 3 books that we had read that we wanted to trade for other used books and we had been carrying them around for a few weeks. The store was closed until 5:30 pm and it was only 4:30 pm. We would return after we visited the Cathedral and Chapel. The visit to the Cathedral and Chapel were enjoyable and spectacular in their own way but we have seen many a Cathedral and Chapel over the past 3 months and were not as impressed as if this had been my first. There is still an amazing amount of history in each Cathedral and Chapel that we see, including the lead coffins of Ferdinando and Isabel. After the visits we returned to the used bookstore and traded in our 3 books for 2 "new" used books. We were happy to have something new to read for the coming weeks and the plane ride home. We did a little shopping before ending up at the internet cafe to download photos to add to the website. Erin worked on the photos for a few hours while I returned to the room to work on journals. I left the room around 9:30 pm to meet Erin at the internet cafe where we would head on to dinner. We actually met each other along the street between the two places. We stopped back at the room to drop a few things off and quickly headed back out for dinner. We found a quaint little diner around the corner that had the menu of the day for 5 Euro's. We each were still full from lunch but managed to enjoy some Paella along with a second course and bread, wine, and dessert. We were definitely full now and returned to the room where we read and finally went to sleep around midnight. We had to get to bed earlier than usual as tomorrow was our travel day to Madrid and the train left at 7:55 am. |