Woken up by call from home. All fine there, J and L behaving themselves. Yay! We were the only ones down at breakfast cos it was 7am and they had just opened up. After the check out process we left for the ferry terminal at 7.45am. We decided we didn't need a cab but only this time we had an extra bag, so it probably would have made sense. Anyway, we lugged our baggage all the way, got there well ahead of time and finally boarded the ferry at which left at 9.20am.
Not to make the same mistake twice, we grabbed seats in the main cabin to get ahead in line for passport checking. But wouldn't you know it....there was nothing this time!!!! We reached Tarifa port at 12.20pm local time (the ferry ride took 35 minutes but Spain is 2 hours ahead...). By the time we got to Algeciras port it was 1.10 pm and we had just missed the 12.15 train to Granada!!!! The next train was only at 4pm and got to Granada at 8.50pm, so we had a quick lunch at the same restaurant and decided to take the bus which was not only leaving at 2pm but also reaching Granada a good 2 hours earlier at 6pm. The fare was about the same - 19 euros each! The weather was yuk! Rainy and a bit cold but since we were in the bus it didn't matter so much. It was an absolutely beautiful drive all along the Costa Del Sol coast via Marbella and Malaga! The bus was fabulous....very long, spacious, air conditioned with reclining seats! We passed some great scenery and saw olive groves all along the way. We got to Granada a bit early at 5.45pm, took a taxi to the hotel, Casa De La Migueletes, and got there by 6.30pm. Its a beautiful hotel, a 14th century restored building, with a courtyard, wood beams and rafters and handmade wood furniture in all rooms! The room itself was tiny though, but beautifully done.
We left our luggage and went to Calle De Elvira, a well known shopping street. It was a blend of Spanish, Moorish and Arabic shops selling mint teas, lamps, tapestries, rugs, jewellry, brass ware and occasionally Indian kurtas!!! After walking around for more than an hour, we stepped into a restaurantm Cafe La Orientale, from where we could hear the sounds of Spanish guitar. There was a guy in the bar upstairs playing music on the Classic guitar, so we got a table and listened for an hour or so while sipping mint/rose tea! He was excellent! All these guitar playing guys have long hair and R has been saying he wants to learn how to play the Spanish guitar, but for that he will have to grow his hair and the nail on his little thumb long!!!!
After this we browsed shops some more and then had dinner at Samarcanda - hummus, hammara, falafel, red wine and some fab dessert the waiter recommended. Came back to hotel by 10.30pm. Usually this is when we watch some CNN to catch up on all the news, but the Tv wasn't working so the guy at the front desk was nice enought o get us another one, tho by the time it happened it was close to midnight, so we just crashed!!!
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