Meeting the Moors

  Granada, Spain
Saturday, December 9, 2006

Isn't it funny how things stick in your brain. When I was 11, my sister bought a brand new album. London Calling by the Clash. There was a song called Spanish Bombs and there were words like Andalucia and Granada, but it didn't mean a thing to me back then.

Read on

Back in April 2005, I was having a look over the Travelpod site and I noticed an article about writing stories using a PDA. It was written by this Pom called Scott. I got in touch with him and he gave me the low down on it and some prices. It sounded very interesting, so I went running home to Lucy and told her. She thought about it, and then said that as we are already carrying more electrical equipment than the average household, I was not to buy one. After a couple of months, Lucy realised it was a schoolboy error, and a couple of months down the road, we had a PDA and keyboard delivered to us and we have not looked back. However, whilst on the road, Scott use to send me mails, including one wishing me well when I was in hospital with Hep E, and another when I accepted the role back at BT. I was beginning to worry, especially when he contacted me on MSN. Was he gay? Surely he had to be !!! But then again, I am an attractive man !!! Eventually, I convinced him to get Skype. He told me of his plans to fly to Spain, and as he is a Mummy's boy (aren't we all), he was off to visit his oldies. A plan was formulated, cheap flights to Grananda were procured, and a meeting was arranged. This was my chance to see if he really was batting for the other side, plus Lucy and I would finally get to see the Alhambra. The Moorish palace which is the jewel of Granada.

After the enjoyable flight, for once, we were not going to be tight wads, we were going to catch a cab into the city and meet up with Scott. We went outside, there were no cabs, so we jumped on a bus that would take us in. An hour later, we arrived. It's funny meeting someone for the first time. Yeah, we have MSN'd and Skyped, but this was new. He was waiting on the corner, looking like a male whore. He had a crowd around him, fighting for his

Granada 001 First Beers

Granada 002 Scott & Lucy

services, but once he saw us, he threw away the chance for a quick buck, and he took us to the
Hostel. We dumped our bags, and went off looking for a bar. We found one quite quickly and settled down into a routine. He had finally received his dream. Drinking Estrella, with an Ostrayan !!! Amazingly, in Granada, everytime you order a beer, you are given tapas. It is very different to other parts of Spain that we have been to. Normally, you have to buy whatever you want, and the Jew part of me was loving it !!! We moved along through different bars, and then I introduced Scott to Rioja. As he is your typical Midlands type of guy, he had no idea. The wine was cheap. 9 Euros in a bar. Imagine that in Aus or Pommie land. It flowed down, and then we were kicked out.

Granada 003 Rioja

Onto another bar, where we were again kicked out until the only place left was an Irish pub. In we went, and more beers were flowing. A guy named Raul came over, his English was good, and he was a Mexican. When I asked what his status was, he said he was there illegally !!! My first ever real Illegal Mexican immigrant !!! We were once again kicked out, and upon spilling out onto the street, I looked at my clock, and it showed 06:30. Fuck me, I haven't stayed up this late since ???

Two hours sleep. Fucking two hours of sleep. I had the mother fucker of all hangovers. We needed to be up to get breakfast, and I needed something in me. I struggled up, and I managed to keep my food down. We hit the streets. It was so different in the daylight. A few cups of coffee later, I decided to lead the merry band of hungover tourists on a walking tour. Above us loomed the Alhambra, but that would be tomorrow. All around were elements of the old Islamic times. We were walking through little alleyways, and then we eventually arrived at the top of the hill where we went to see the Colegiata del Salvador. A 16th century Church which had been built on top of where the main Mosque use to be. All that is left is the courtyard. We walked out to it, and it did not feel like we were in Spain, more like the Middle East !!! Back in the Church, it was lovely inside, and then we stepped back into the real world. Just over, was a plaza, with a few restaurants. We asked for coffee, but all they had was beer. Hair of the dog. It went down well. We were given tapas as usual, but we were proper hungry. We ordered a shitload more food and beers of course.

Granada 024 Lucy Eating Pimientos

After a while, we moved off into the alleys. We walked through the old wall, and ended up at Mirador San Nicolas. It had great views of the Alhambra and the snow covered Sierra Nevadas. All around, people were selling stuff, and the smell of hash was in the air. People were smoking it like there was no tomorrow !!! Back walking again, we came across an area that was inhabited by Moroccan tea houses. There were shops selling stuff, mainly from India, at largely inflated prices. There were a few items from Morocco as well, quite amusing to see so far away from home. The tour had finished and it was getting late. I did contemplate having a snooze, but we decided that beers was a better idea. Off to the first bar, a quickie was thrown down, and then the bar shut. All the bars were closing, but there was one left, one that we had been in the previous night. For every beer that you buy, you are given a tapas. We decided that we would do the Roll of Honour.1st beer was a ham and cheese bagel. 2nd, a stewy meat roll. 3rd, a tortilla in a roll. 4th, shish kebabs.

Granada 032 David & Scott

5th, cerrano jamon roll. We had another round, and then moved onto bigger and better things. It was Rioja time !!! The first one went down really well, but we were kicked out so we found another bar. A couple more bottles later, we had to crash. It was now 02:00. We had to be up at 07:00 as we had to get into the Alhambra

Getting up again, wasn't the easiet but we had to get up to the Alhambra as all tickets for the Nasrid Palace are timed. Ours was for 08:30 until 09:00. We climbed a steep hill. around a bend, through a huge gate, and we were in the grounds. We couldn't see the ticket office, so we asked a cleaner and he said it was down. Back out we went, the three of us in different directions. Eventually, I found the ticket office, rang the others and told them to get their asses up the hill. They ran as we were now within the zone of the opening time. Once in the Palace, it was amazing. The tilework was like the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The architecture was a mixture of this and various other Mosques we had seen in Iran. They were so impressive.

Granada 049 Reflection, Alhambra

We walked around, taking it in, looking at fountains, then were shown the door because our time was running out. We walked out into the gardens and around various other little summer Palaces that were there. The state of repair that these were in were not as good as what we had just seen. Still it was good to imagine what it would have been like 500 years ago. A couple hundred years later, a newer Palace, the Palace of Carlos V was built. Inside it was circular and a couple of museums installed. Scott and I thought that the eyecandy was more interesting to look at !!! The last bit of the Alhambra, was the tower and walls. Behind us was a great view of the snow filled Sierra Nevadas. Looking down onto Granada, all I could think was, what the fuck am I doing living in London, I should be living here !!! And with that, our tour was over.

Back in town, we visited a Moroccan Tea House. I asked for black tea but received mint tea. Upon my first sip, memories of Morocco came flooding back and how much I hate mint tea !!! Fucker !!! We walked back up into the old part and found a plaza in the sun where we had more beers and lunch. The food and scenery were excellent. We finished up and walked back into the centre and into our hostel. It was getting pretty late, and Scott being the Mummy's boy that he is, was being picked up and taken home. We said our goodbyes, and we grabbed our bags. We found a bus and made our way back to the airport. Not long after, sadly, once again, we resumed our boring London life !!!

Granada had been great. I am still kicking myself that we didn't go in 1998. It was also good to finally meet a guy that I have kind of known via the net for a while. He was exactly how I imagined him to be. A typical Pom with the normal toilet humour. Luckily for me, he wasn't gay, well, I think he wasn't, otherwise he put on a good show, I still remain a virgin where it counts !!! Hopefully, we will meet again in the future, but as with every traveller we meet, we will remain in contact. So, if you are in NZ, or Aus in the future, and you want to go out and have a really good laugh and get shitfaced, I can recommend Scott

 
One other thing, Scott assures me he is not gay, but then again, these are his words

Granada 074 David, Alhambra

Granada 075 Lucy, Alhambra

Granada 076 Alhambra