Travel day. No game.
We are up and it’s already 415am. It’s too early for travel, isn’t it, Ed?
Despite the early hour all were ready at 5am to go to the Barcelona airport. Great airport but way to damn big. Very difficult to get around. And, in the end, I judge by airline flown. So this airport is judged by Vueling Airlines/Buslines. They are almost a complete failure on the ground. The cabin crews suck too. I hate them. Don’t fly Vueling Air. It’s so funny, we go thru security, line up at the gate, walk down the gangway and…get on a bus. Really. Every time. They then bus us to the airplane. Today they kept us on the bus at the plane for ten minutes. Why? Who knows? They DO NOT share any info on what they are doing. All delays are a mystery. I have been on 4 flights with them, all have had delays from 15 mins to over an hour. Last one into Barcelona, hour fifteen delay, caused cancellation of my hotel. Vueling does not care. They are pieces of crap. All of them.
So I am sitting on the plane now. In my reassigned seat. I was able to check in online, first time, Go Vueling! They assigned seats and gave me mobile boarding passes. Wow. How 20th century of them. Then I get kicked to the curb at the gate and get a new seat. It’s a mystery.
We ate breakfast in the airport. The coffee was weak and not hot. First time for bad coffee on the trip. Plus croissants. The kids got breakfast sandwiches which appeared to be not very good. And the comments were negative. Everyone’s a critic. I can’t count on Vueling to serve anything during the flight. Once they even skipped serving a few rows. Including mine. They suck.
I am now not listening to the safety announcement. It’s pointless. I read the safety card and memorized the escape routes and door operations. I’m good.
So Vueling had a cart for food and drink. ALL items must be purchased. No freebies. They did not offer me anything, just skipped asking. Assholes. I would have purchased a cup of coffee. I hate Vueling.
Well, it happened. We took off from the airport on time. And landed on time. We may have to update Vuelings motto. Right now it’s “Vueling: When you absolutely, positively have to be there sooner or later.” Though I like it. Baggage was timely as well. I am floored.
We picked up a cab from the queue and were off to Granada. It’s about 10 miles from the airport. €32 in taxi speak.
We got to the hotel. We thought. Took a few minutes to ID the front door. Turned out to be a doorway in the alley. That was only half the battle. I called th desk cuz door is locked. Within 30 secs the guy onnhe line identifies me and noted I had a reservation. 9 1/2 mins later he buzzed me in. Wtf? Well, he firsat asked me where I was and I answered. We discussed that for 30 secs.
Then he asked me to walk to the cafe on the corner and go inside, which I did. Then wan to opposite corner to he cafe and go in. Th nbwalk back to the door. At which point I yelled at him to come open th door. He said an associate would come down. F…ing amazing. Gal came and opened the door. Inside, the front desk I a hallway. Nice hallway. Gal was rude. But she warmed up as she checked us in. And, the rooms at the Siloe Plaza are damn amazing. They are apartments and well appointed they be. All the way around. They left a free and good bottle of red wine for us. Great view out the back. Two rooms full AC. Fridge, washer, beds for four, couch. Table and four chairs next to the kitchen. Love it.
We unpacked and relaxed for awhile. Then went out for breakfast #2. Hey, up at 4am and it’s 1030. It’s time. The food was passable, not excellent. Great coffee again.
We are staying on the edge of the old city. So after breakfast we walked thru the oldest part of Granada. Some parts are over a thousand years old. And look it. The fun part for me is to try and figure out what it was like even a few years ago let alone one thousand. Prob looked much the same. We wandered for a couple hours. We headed back to the hotel for watering.
We have booked a tour of the Alhambra with a guide. 3 hours long. After our quick break we headed up the hill to the Alhambra. Our hotel is a 10 min walk. Well I shoulda read my ticket. We were sposed to meet in town. Oops. So we walked back to town, near our hotel, to meet the group and walk back to where we were. Look Ed, more pointless walking.
So for the next 3 hours we walked and climbed thru the Alhambra and associated palaces and battlements and watchtowers while our not very good tour guide droned on and on. I did really enjoy it. I was here 44 years ago, no guide, so no memory of a lot of it. This memory shld stick.
At 630, tour over, we headed down the same hill. Went to hotel to relax. Most restaurants here don’t seem to be pandering to tourists. They open 8 to 830 for dinner. So we gonna wait a few and go eat. In the meantime, Spanish TV. With NCIS on in espanol. Entertains.
Night out on the town in Granada! Not very exciting. I think Granada qualifies as a small town. It is quiet. The crowds are not so dense as elsewhere.
We had one hell of a time picking where to eat. My lovely children, esp Michael, insist on vetteing each choice through some website or other to determine whether we should eat there. This, today, led to much emotional discussion and gnashing if teeth, no food gnashing. We finally just picked a place. And, it wasn’t very good. We did fill up.
Back to hotel and to bed. We got to get moving in am. Tomorrow we grab a rental car and head to Algeciras to get the ferry and go to Tangiers. It’s very exciting. Well, I’m excited.