Granada

Did you think I'd deserted you all? Well I just took a short break while our son Ben was visiting us, and then I had a very hectic week which I will post about maybe tomorrow. For tonight I will just tell you about my lovely day out in the city of Granada. I went there the week before Ben's visit, with my Wednesday sewing group. It was not a serious shopping trip for any of us; just a chance to spend a day in good company, and get a brief feel for city life, which we don't see very often. We were just too early for there to be many Christmas decorations up, but the men were busy getting lights set up on the plaza, and a few shops had decorated their windows. I don't think I am ready to be a grown-up yet; not if it means I stop getting excited by things like Christmas lights anyway! The one departmental store that shows up in most Andalucian cities is Cortes Ingles, and they did have half a floor of decorations for sale (very expensive ones I might add), and at night fall their facade was lit up with bright snowflakes which sparkled and were lovely.

We were blessed with a beautiful day and one of the nice things about Granada is the number of trees lining its streets and filling the plazas. They were all in their autumn colours and looked beautiful with the sun shining through them. In Spanish, 'una granada' is a pomegranate, and you can see big stone pomegranates clustered at the top of this fountain on one of the plazas we passed.

Last Christmas we also had a day in Granada but it was a grey day with a chilly wind blowing down the narrow streets and we were so cold. This year was really warm by comparison, and I didn't need a coat all day, though I did have one with me 'just in case'. In the morning the shops and flats had their sun-shades up still. There were quite a few people around, but no-one was loaded down with bags of shopping. The 'crisis' is certainly evident here just as it is in UK. These guardia looked very relaxed, taking a break in the sunshine. Every time we go to a city we see people trying to earn a few euros by being 'living statues', but some are much better at it than others. They rather fascinate me, probably because I know I could never sit that still for five minutes, let alone hours at a time. We had to smile at one young girl who hadn't quite got the idea. She had the silver paint all over her hands, face and clothes, but she held a single pink rose and every time someone walked passed her she moved and waved at them! The one that amazed us, and everyone else who passed him, was this man. He was painted all over in gold and he appeared to be suspended in mid air, with just a long pole to rest on. I am still not sure how he did it. The pole only had a small base but it must have been very heavily weighted to balance a bar under his arm that carried a tiny platform, and he must have been sitting cross legged on it. But he was so still it was hard to believe there really was a person under all the wraps, except that he did move his head slightly to acknowledge any donations. I think he really earned his money. You can see the look of disbelief on the faces of the two ladies that have stopped for a closer look.

Our little group had a good wander around the shops, and the Moroccan bazaars all round the cathedral, and when most of them closed for siesta time we had lunch and then went to Cortes Ingles because they do stay open all through the afternoon. When we were walking back to the coach we passed the fountain and it was lit up and looked lovely. Granada is a good three hour drive from here, so it was quite a long day, but we had all enjoyed ourselves, and that's what it is all about.