Granada

After seven straight days of mixing the new album, I took a break and headed for Granada last Wednesday to visit with Heather and Mateo. I had planned to arrive on Monday, and make us a nice St. Patrick's Day dinner with the corned beef in a can I'd bought during a recent trip to France, but work delayed my trip by two days, so the meal wasn't so timely. Someone smelled like beans on the bus ride to Granada, so I decided to make corned beef tacos. Heather met me when I arrived in town, and we bought cabbage, cheese, tortillas, beans...all the fixin's. Mateo couldn't quite wrap his head around the concept of our improvised Irish-Mexican lunch, but he didn't complain. It was Holy Week, so during lunch, a procession passed on the street below. It was quiet one, without a band, but over the course of the next two days, we would certainly see enough of those. That evening, Mateo took us on a wonderful beer crawl. We started off in Plaza Larga, and ended up in a flamenco bar being serenaded (and harassed) by singers. In between, we stopped off at a couple of interesting places, most notably La Fragua - a bar that lets you choose your tapas. We had some lomo (pork) with alioli, carne en salsa, and ham and tomato. We also went to La Castañeda (one of my favorite places in Granada) for a couple of Calicasas. These are special wine cocktails they make there. I'm not sure what's in them aside from red wine, vermouth, and black pepper (somewhere, I'm sure). They're awfully tasty, though! And strong. The next day, on our way to Ladrillo Dos, we turned a corner and were greeted with two white hoods, rushing down the street to join the rest of their group in the procession. Mateo told us that Ladrillo Dos served the best fish tapas in town, and he wasn't wrong! With every drink we ordered, the waiter brought out the most amazing plates of fried sardines, octopus, swordfish, and cod. We made it through four or five plates before we had to surrender. I'm sure we could have eaten more if we didn't have to order a drink every time we wanted a new plate. After that we went to Abaco (Alamo Del Marques, 5) for tea. It's a trendy little place that serves about twenty different kinds of tea and some nice desserts. It's also one of the only teashops that also serves alcohol. The seating is upstairs, and from the terrace on the third level, there is a great view of the Alhambra and the cathedral. Some chillout time in the tea room, then we headed for the Arab baths at Aljibe (San Miguel Alta, 41). The hottest pools weren't very hot, but the atmosphere was nice. And the 30-minute massage wasn't too shabby, either. After leaving Aljibe, Heather and I headed back to Mateo's place. We had plans of going to bed early so we could make it to the Alhambra before eight a.m. the next morning (that's when they give out tickets to people without reservations).  The way home was blocked by a huge procession (with a band) featuring Jesus and Maria, so we decided to stop off at la Castañeda for more calicasas. We ordered some salmon, trout and ham tapas (all with avocado!), quickly ridding our body of whatever healthy feeling it had after two hours in the baths. Then we continued on our way home. Once again, we were stopped by Maria, so we tried to climb a hill and approach the house from a different street, but the Jesus part of the procession blocked that route. So we went back to Maria and slipped in with the band, slowly creeping our way home. At home we found the 19º certamen Campeón de Campeones de la Jota Navarra on television. Jota is a particular style of Spanish singing, and this contest took place last year in Tafalla. The highlight of the show was Maria Herrera, a young singer with great promise. We stayed up so late watching the competition that our hopes of going to the Alhambra the following morning were dashed. The next day Heather and I headed back to Madrid, but not before sampling some last-minute tapas in Granada. Two beers bought us hugh plates of seafood cocktail and more lomo with alioli. Granada is truly the place for food-lovers. Oh, and the bus back to Madrid stopped near a senior residence called "Concepción". In the plot of land next door, two farmers were grazing their sheep. The End. (Thanks to Heather for the pictures)