March 6

The breakfast buffet was out of this world; I had some toast with strawberry jam, a big glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, and an espresso. Our reservation for La Alhambra wasn’t until 3:00 so we took our time getting ready.

We were pretty disoriented when we left the hotel; we had no idea where exactly in the city we were. We ended up hopping on the first metro bus we saw and it ended up being the right bus we needed. We got up to the top of the mountain at around 12:30. I should have probably planned better but I found out that we were unable to enter the grounds of the palace until 2:00 for afternoon reservations. There was a small restaurant right near the entrance that we went to and had a glass of wine, some bread, olives and French fries. Pretty good snack if you ask me.

La Alhambra is the last Moorish palace in Spain; it is truly a work of art. I don’t know how many acres it sits on but there are so many elaborate gardens and walls. At 3:00 we were allowed to enter the actual Palace. While we were waiting in line, I commented how crappy the weather was and we both agreed that it could be a lot worse. Not one second after I said that, it started raining. We both just laughed to each other. The palace was amazing. Every wall was hand carved with such elaborate designs; it was crazy to think that people had constructed everything by hand.

We took the bus back down the mountain and hung out in the hotel until around dinnertime. We decided just to wander near our hotel and find a restaurant. We went into an Italian/Spanish restaurant that had been open for 25 years called Pepinos. We had an excellent dinner over a bottle of wine from Segovia, Spain. I had the restaurant’s special pasta called Esphaguetti Pepino; it had a white creamy sauce with shrimp and chucks of ham. It was very good but didn’t sit very well in my stomach. Laura had a four cheese pizza that I had a bite of, it was delicious.

After we left, we stopped at a Jazz café and had a coffee. It was very relaxing. We decided to stop at one more place for a beer. We stopped in a small place called La Casa de Enrique, about a block away from out hotel. It was busy when we first got there and we just talked with each other. One by one, more and more people left until it was just Laura and I, and the two workers.

Enrique, the owner started talking to me about a famous Cuban singer named Salvio Rodriguez that had just left. Laura and I ended up staying at the bar with them for another hour and a half. Laura was picking up on bits and pieces of our conversation and I also tried to translate some for her as well. The bar had been open since the 1880’s and had been owned by Enrique’s family since 1911.

Laura asked Enrique to take a picture; he was floored with the quality of Laura’s camera and kept telling her how great quality the picture was. He brought out his camera and showed it to us, then Manolo (the 22 year old that worked for him) brought out his camera and showed us pictures of his wife that he just married in July. Right before they closed, Enrique took us behind the bar to a room that he said only special guests and friends get to go, it was a very small room with a bar and some tables. We had a great time and said that we would definitely be back on Monday to see them.

We walked back to the hotel, very excited about our new experience and new friends we had just met.