It was a little warmer in Granada on Monday than on Sunday, but it was still pretty cool when we went out for breakfast. You may have wondered why, if we stay in an Airbnb apartment with a kitchen, we don’t make our own breakfasts. We sometimes wonder that too.
We went to Carmela’s Restaurant, which I have written about before. On the walk there Patricia and I both noticed that many of the people on the streets were walking with more “purpose” than the people did on the weekend. We decided that many of the people were going to work or school on a Monday morning. At Carmela’s we ordered breakfast—and I can do it all in Spanish most of the time—and I told the waitress that we wanted the tarta zanahoria (carrot cake) for desert. It is really good and one piece is large enough to share. She came back in a few minutes and told me there was no cake and did we want to try a “pionono**” which are sold all over town and which we had never tried. I decided “yes” for us. It is really a shame I did not have my camera ready when Patricia, after enjoying her breakfast, took her first bite: her face made it clear that not only did she not like it, she disliked it. I thought it was pretty funny until I took my first bite. All I will say is that it will never be a favorite of mine. When the waitress came back she laughed and asked me if Patricia did not like it. I said no, she did not. The waitress said “Tell her I promise tarta zanahoria tomorrow.” I’d like to go back, but tomorrow morning we will be on our way to Madrid.
We were in no hurry today, so I made the mistake of walking down a street lined with fashion stores. Patricia found one with dresses she liked in the window and several hours later emerged with two new dresses. I’m only kidding about the two hours; it wasn’t much more than half an hour.
More wandering…
Near the Plaza Bib-Rambla, with its famous Fuente de los Gigantes (Fountain of the Giants), we found a shop that sold flamenco CDs called Festival Discos. We had been looking for a CD by El Cabrero, whom we heard in Jerez and this seemed like a likely place. We were happy to find one. I thought I could escape for a few euros. But the owner Francisco (like el Papa (the Pope), he told me) had some other CDs he thought we would like. We spent a delightful half hour talking with him about flamenco, and how cante and guitar were different in Granada, and how there was a strong Arabic influence and all sorts of music-related things. Our conversation was in a mix of Spanish and English. His English was pretty good but I am pleased to report that some of our conversation about flamenco was done in Spanish so we could get the terminology right. Well, he had some music by local, traditional singers that we had to listen to-exclusive to his shop, of course. We ended up with several more CDs.
We learned that he is the manager/agent for a flamenco show and he is always looking for places they can perform. When he found out that I do some work with the National Institute of Flamenco in Albuquerque he was happy to promise that he would send me background on his artists and their show.
From Festival Discos (“The Oldest Music Store in Granada”) we visited the Cathedral of Granada.
We have been there before. When I first go in I think “this place has little of interest. I will be done quickly.” But the more I look around, the more I marvel. The building was begun in 1518 is is mostly in the Spanish Renaissance style. It has a number of interesting features, not the least of which are two very large arrays of organ pipes. As is usual, there are several chapels, some richly decorated, around the perimeter. The cupola over the main altar seems to be very high but I could not find any dimensions.
As I wrote, we have been to the Cathedral before. That means I probably took many of the same pictures on this visit. But this time, I also used the camera on my Samsung phone. It has a neat feature that does what look like panoramic pictures in a single shot. With this feature I can capture, in pretty good detail, more of a scene that my other cameras can.
This afternoon we had to devote time to packing up because we will have to leave early tomorrow morning. Getting our bags down the main stairs seems almost as daunting as getting them up the stairs. But this was a very good location for us despite the stairs.
**Piononos are small pastries traditional in Santa Fe, a small town adjacent to the city of Granada, Spain. A pionono has two parts: a thin layer of pastry rolled into a cylinder, drenched with different kinds of syrup which give the pionono a sweet and pleasant texture, and crowned with toasted cream. It is typically eaten in one or two bites. [Wikipedia]