Life with Andrea

Christmas in Granada, 2006.

Elizabeth was studying this fall in Spain, and that became a sufficient reason for the Gillaspys to take their Christmas vacation in Granada.

I’ll go if I can put my feet in the Mediterranean, says Bob. I’ll go if I can see a castle, says Soren. I’ll go, says Cait - and if you want to see me over Xmas, it can’t be in Vancouver, so that’s a good idea. And I’ll go, says Andrea, if I can visit the Alhambra. So we went. And many of those things came to pass.

Elizabeth met us in Madrid at the airport, and we started for the bus. Along the way in the airport, Soren lost his Pulmacort, and Cait lost her passport. We ignored the pulmacort, but we spent three hours getting Cait set up to retrieve a passport so she could return to the USA. And THEN we went to Granada. After a 6 hour bus ride, and a taxi, and a very short walk, we came upon our apartment in Granada.

10 O’clock at night a beautiful evening, the Alhambra above us, in a land of cobbled stones and roads too narrow for motor traffic. Our apartment building was centered on a courtyard with a fountain and chairs outside. Inside we had 2 bedrooms and a living room with a futon. The kitchen had a refrigerator and cupboards and burners. The bathroom was very interesting - with the first shower Cait flooded the apartment, but we eventually learned how to take a shower and keep the water in the bathroom. Throughout, we had marble floors with heat pipes under them, so it was beautiful and not cold. One bedroom was Arabic, one was French, and the living area was a combination. It was a place we could call home and be comfortable for a week.

Our first day we had no plans, which was good because we were all tired (except Elizabeth). But our landlord had told us that everything would be closed on the 24th and 25th, so Elizabeth and I went to the market before noon, to make sure we would have food and drink for a few days. I wasn’t quite ready, but it turned out to be fun. We bought some oranges and bread and cheese and pomegranate. Pomegranates are the namesake fruit of Granada - they show up on everything. Wandering around the market reminded me of the markets when I lived in France; life seems similar in much of the world. We did a bit more back and forth ing, going to the square (Plaza Nueva, which is a wonderful place), and later Cait, Elizabeth and Soren went shopping.



The next day, the 24th, we went to the Alhambra. Soren had seen pictures of it, and thought visiting a castle would be good. I had seen pictures and read a bit, but none of us were entirely prepared for reality. We hiked up the hill - Caity taking pictures of interesting plants - and got our tickets. While waiting for permission to enter the Nasrid or Moorish palace, we wandered around the palace of Carlos V, which was very cool. It had staircases and marble and limestone. The arrangement was circular, with a plaza in the middle and rooms around the edges. Most of the rooms were closed to us, but we could use our imagination. Until we saw the Nasrid palace, I thought it was great.

But then came the Muslim palace. Ceilings, and woodwork, and carved walls, and painted carvings, and mosaic, and columns, and courtyards. Scheherazade never had it so good. We tried to take pictures, but nothing could capture the elegance of that palace, even 600 years after the Moors left. I had said that I liked ceilings, so Bob and Cait tried to take a few pictures of them. We all loved the reflecting pool in the courtyard of the ambassadors - Soren took a picture of the goldfish, and we tried to get a picture of the pool, but the sun darkened it for us.

Some of the most beautiful rooms were centered around the courtyard of the lions. After a few hours, we tired of seeing beautiful buildings, so we walked through the gardens. The Generalife was the summer palace, used when the Alhambra got too hot for the Sultan: it had lovely gardens and was a bit smaller. So we took some pictures of it as well. I stole an orange from an orange tree. There was one staircase which had water running down the handrails, and a fountain at each landing! They really loved their water.

In the evening, we went to Midnight Mass in the church at the foot of our alley. The church was very empty, much to my surprise. I thought everyone in the world would be there, as Spain is a Catholic country. But Elizabeth told us that not as many people are catholic now as were many years ago when I was last in Europe. The church was full of gold and paintings. We thought it very lush - particularly as it was soo empty. Only Elizabeth understood the sermon. She told us the priest was saying that we should remember Christmas is a religious holiday, not just a chance to party. Doesn’t sound a lot different from the United States. Soren said the service was better because he didn’t understand it. Just boring. However, the church was beautiful.


Christmas Day we went to the Mediterranean. I was surprised the buses were running, but as Christmas is really a 2 week holiday in Spain, little stops completely for the duration. So we took a bus to Almuenecar. The bus went through the Sierra Nevadas of Spain - which stands for Snowy Mountains. We did see snow alongside the road. Anyway, we got to the town, got out, walked a few block, and there was the beach.

The weather was beautiful. Soren splashed Elizabeth, who yelled at him. We rolled up our pants and waded. I had expected it to be cold in December, so I wasn’t prepared - none of us were but Caity. She took advantage of the lovely weather by lying in the sun. The rest of us waded and walked. We strolled the beach, climbed a cliff to find a monument to someone or other, and had a lovely view of the beaches. After a while of walking and wading and considering views, we stopped for lunch. It was about 4 PM.
The Spanish eat a big lunch about 3, and don’t really do anything much for an evening meal. But we at 4 PM were hungry, and we found a restaurant that would feed us reasonably for not too much money. We did close down the joint - and they were very eager to see the last of us, because it was Christmas day and they wanted to go home. So we took the bus back to our own apartment, and that was good.


Granada has caves. We had looked at apartments in the caves for our week’s rental, but decided on our apartment with the courtyard instead (which was great). However, Soren and Cait thought the caves would be cool, because they were in the gypsy neighborhood with flamenco and late bars. So we thought we’d at least visit - and maybe come back for a visit to a bar and watch flamenco. We climbed (and we climbed, and we climbed) up the hill.

We climbed to the interpretive center at Sacramonte, and got to go inside some of the caves. Good thing we hadn’t gotten an apartment. Soren went in the first one and came out unable to breathe! They coat them with lime to be beautiful, and they are, but it is hard to breathe. It was interesting to see the caves - one doorway, and you go back and back and back into more and more rooms. If you couldn’t afford to build a house, you could hack out a cave and live there. There were lots of legends about the area, besides that it’s a gypsy place, including some that say the moors' slaves stayed there and dug for the treasure left behind. We didn’t see any treasure.

But the greatest part of Sacramonte was the view. You could see the valley and the mountains and the Alhambra, all at one go. Here you have Sacramonte on the right, and the Alhambra hill on the left, with Granada spread out between them and into the distance. 

Caity and Elizabeth and Soren went out almost every night, Bob and I only a few times. At night, you go to a bar and have a drink - coffee or tea or wine or beer - and then they serve you hors derves, which is Spain are called tapas. It’s enough for a light meal. Some of the bars have games to play, some have entertainment. Usually, the entertainment is being with your friends. People don’t entertain at home, as homes are private and for the family only. So if you’ve got people you want to be with, you go out. Sometimes, also, you just go out people watching, which is called to “dar un paseo” - to take a walk. If the kids went out, Bob and I would dar un paseo, and sometimes take pictures of the beautiful city.

After we went to Sacramonte, Cait got really sick, so we didn’t go to Cordoba as planned. Instead we reserved a day for the Cathedral and a belen and to visit Elizabeth’s host Lupe. No one but me wanted to go to the Cathedral, but I insisted. And it was spectacular. It wa baroque, and thus different from the gothic cathedrals with which I was familiar. Heavy with gold and regalia. Some of the paintings which adorned the higher reaches of the cathedral were on display in the nave, interrupting the view of the architecture, but bringing the paintings close to see. They look so small up on the walls, but in fact they were about 10 feet high. Throughout there were alcoves filled with gold and statuary.

Bob was impressed with the double organ and the pipes which pointed not only up but out towards the congregation. And there was a belen in the back of the church - near the doorway - so that was good to see. It was the kind of set-up Eric has been trying to give the kids for years, and now we understand what it’s all about.

The next day, Thursday, Cait and I headed off to Madrid, to collect her new passport. We took the bus ride, 6 hours, which had a stop in a little town in central Spain. It was the area called La Mancha, as of Don Quixote fame. A few towns had the prototypical windmill, but most windmills nowadays are the slim steel ones we see in the US for wind energy. Yet, we did see someold fashioned ones on the hillsides. Also, we saw a few cork trees - from Ferdinand the Bull. The Spain of story lingers still. In the little town where we stopped, I took a walk, and observed a few birds, and stores selling oranges (which Cait wanted because she had a cold), but all stores in Spain close from 2-4 PM, so it turned out to be a walk for the sake of walking.

Finally, we got to Madrid. Traveling around the subway in Madrid with 2 carry on bags and a suitcase each is not tons of fun. Doing it at night when you’re not sure where you are going is no more fun. Arguing about which way you’re supposed to go with a headstrong partner is not much fun either. Asking directions is iffy when no one has heard of the place you’re going, and you can’t pronounce the name of the street correctly. In such cases, arrival is an event to be greeted with jubilation, even if it takes an hour. Getting into the hostel, discovering that it costs 20 euros more than you figured and that towels are extra, is a surprise. But all of that was put aside as soon as we stepped into the central courtyard.

If the Alhambra had had it’s paint restored, we would have been there. Courtyard, fountain, stained glass ceiling, it was all there for the people staying in the hostel. Yes, the beds were small and people came and went all night. Yes the showers were tiny. But, the courtyard!

After dinner, a schwarma or doner kebab, much of life felt better. We wandered around a few streets, and found an artisans market. People playing instruments, vendor stalls, art, bars, life being lived fully. It was certainly a wonderful part of Madrid. If I were in my 20s and visiting Madrid, I’d go to Cat’s hostel and wander the area for days. But Cait was sick, so we only wandered until about 11.

The next day, Friday, we got Cait’s passport, checked in at the “real” hotel where Bob and the kids would join us, and went shopping for European jeans. Jeans can be purchased for 200 euros, if one wishes. Those of more limited means would do better to buy elegant clothes - they’re much less expensive. After finding something suitable, Cait returned for a nap, and I made my way to the Biblioteca National de Espana.
In front of the library are large statues of six seated figures: Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and 4 others I’m not familiar with. They look very impressive. I went inside - and was told I could only look in the foyer. Although that was nice, I had been hoping for something like the reading room of the Library of Congress. So I walked up to the door to the real part of the library - and of course I was stopped. I said, in my most apologetic manner, that I was a librariana de les Etados Unidos, and I just wanted to look inside. That guard conferred with the other guards, and they decided to escort me to the reference desk, and leave me there as someone else’s problem.

At the Reference desk, they looked at my card from LCC library, and I begged to see the inside of the library. So they gave me a lecturer card, good for 5 years. Then I went inside the reading room. It was GREAT - names carved around the ceilings. Pictures on the walls, And of course, books and books. Then one of the librarians, apologizing that she couldn’t give me a tour, gave me a tour. She showed me how to get an assigned reading area, showed me the catalogs where I could look up books, explained the process of ordering books for someone to bring to me. Then when I asked how they organized the books, she said it was not permitted for me to go into the stacks. So she took me into the stacks. I asked how the books were arranged - she said by SIZE. And they were - every one on any shelf was the exact same size. I can’t imagine how they keep track of them!

It was a wonderful adventure for a librarian, but in two hours, I had to go back and meet Cait, so we could go to dinner and be ready for Bob and Eliz and Soren. Then we had our evening in Madrid, seeing the Communications Tower spilling its light across the square, looking at the statue of Cibeles, and the Arch of Carlos V. Bob, Soren and I left for the States the next morning.

We left our fabulous hotel with the soft carpet, and climbed into a taxi. On the way there, our taxista told us that there had been an explosion at our terminal. We got there (about 10 AM) to find that the terminal was unavailable - the explosion had been a bomb. So we went to another terminal - these terminals are actually like separate airports - a mile or so apart - linked by a bus. We got into a line (no one knew why) at the 2nd terminal. Luckily, the people behind us spoke English (and Spanish and French and Czech). They tole us that the terminal had been bombed by ETA (Spanish separatists), no one was believed to have been killed, the explosion was in the parking garage. After a few hours in the line, everyone left for another terminal. We stayed in a line there. About once an hour, a message would come over the intercom - terminal 4 is closed, we will keep you informed of further developments. About 3 PM, people left. I went to an information desk to hear a lot of Spanish and some Spanglish, and determined that we were to get to Terminal 4 any way we could, taxi, bus, whatever, arrangements were being made there. We waited in a 2 hour line for a bus to Terminal 4. Then, in Terminal 4, we waited in another 2 hour line to get ticketed. Just when it was our turn, someone said - people for Chicago, come here - so we left that line and went to the end of another line, and waited another 2 hours. By about 8 PM, we were ticketed for a flight the next morning on Lufthansa at 6 AM. So we went to get boarding passes and check our bags. By 9 PM, we had boarding passes, and had discovered we couldn’t check our bags. A tired woman tried to make us reservations for a hotel - but the only one she could find that had a bus back to the airport by 4:30 would cost $200 - and to get there at 10 PM for waking up at 3:30 for $200 didn’t seem right to us. We “slept” in the airport.

We actually did sleep, sort of, for an hour or two in a conference room. But, we were discovered, and told we had to be in the bright lights and noise of the airport. So we played cards and 3 in a row and read till 4 AM, when we got in line for Lufthansa.

Lufthansa is an amazing airline. Not only do they feed you, they give you free wine and free after dinner drinks. They give everyone pillows and blankets. The counter agent spoke 8 languages! She said, once you know one or two, it’s easy to learn more. The only problem with Lufthansa was that the route took us through significant turbulence, requiring Bob and Soren, and half the rest of the plane, to use the airsickness bags. But finally the turbulence ended, and the rest of the ride was smooth and pleasant.

We arrived back in Portland, went through customs, got our car, and came home. To sleep, perchance to dream, of our wonderful and eventful trip to Spain.