Dad and Joe Visit Granada!

On Wednesday, May 11^th, I was up early to catch a bus to the airport to pick up two very special people for a week-long visit: Dad and Joe! After a very long trip across the Atlantic (three planes in total!), Dad and Joe landed in Granada shortly after 9:00 a.m. They were exhausted but happy to finally have reached their final destination. We took the bus back into Granada and made our way to their hotel, Hotel Dauro, located in the center of the city just a few minutes’ walk Puerta Real. As it was only 10:30am, we were hoping to leave their suitcases in the lobby before checking in that afternoon; however, we were told that their room was already ready and thus we were able to drop off everything directly in the room. We grabbed some coffee and toast at one of my favorite breakfast cafés in Granada, Hicari, before walking around the city for an hour. At 1:00pm, Dad and Joey wanted to head back to the hotel to take a nap before going out later that night. They were exhausted because when I showed up at the hotel later that evening at 7:00, they were still asleep! Letting them sleep a little more, I returned to the hotel around 8:00pm. We headed to Calle Navas for the first of many, many tubos (tall glass of beer) and tapas during their visit. Joe immediately stated his love for the free tapas that accompany every drink here in Granada and Dad and I agreed that the States should definitely look into adopting a similar tradition in our bars and restaurants back home. Later that night, around midnight or so, we made our way down to Mae West, one of Granada’s many clubs. Every Wednesday night, Mae West holds a free concert featuring a band that plays cover songs from bands including the Police, Pink Floyd, Sting, Areosmith, Kansas, etc. I usually go a few Wednesday nights a month with a small group of Spanish friends because the band’s excellent and, like I mentioned before, it’s free to get in! So, that night, my friends Maca, Ana and Miguel met the three of us outside the club. Shortly after getting inside, I noticed that I recognized one of the men standing in the group to our left. Actually, I recognized most of the people in the group to our left- they were my coworkers! They were all there to celebrate Javier’s birthday (technology teacher) and were pleasantly surprised to see me. It was great to be able to introduce my Dad and Joe to all my coworkers and while Dad spent most of the night chatting with Javier, Joe and I hung out with Maca, Miguel and Ana. Around 2:00am we called it a night and left the club. Dad and Joe were tired but happy after a good first day in Granada and we made plans to meet the next morning at 11:00am in the lobby.

The next day, Thursday, I picked Dad and Joe up and we headed back over to Hicari for another breakfast of coffee and toast (Dad and Joe, after having spent the better part of last year making fun of me for eating only tostada con tomate every morning for breakfast, quickly found themselves addicted to all the different types of tostadas available for breakfast). A few coffees later, we made our way to the Albaicín, my favorite place for strolling in Granada. The Albaicín is a pretty, yet very hilly and labyrinth-like, neighborhood. We walked along the Albaicín’s narrow streets and past its white buildings to the Mirador de San Nicolas, a lovely plaza that overlooks the Alhambra as well as the entire city of Granada. Next the the Mirador is a small mosque that also has spectacular views of the Alhambra from its gardens. We took lots of photos that morning, putting Dad’s camera to good use. (He still had pictures from the last time he had visited me in Granada on the memory card, and that was over two years ago!) Later that afternoon, we met Ana and Oscar, the other American student living with Ana this spring, in Plaza Bib Rambla for a snack of chocolate con churros, a delicious fried dough treat served with sugar and thick, melted chocolate for dipping. My Dad was excited to see Ana again after so long and we spent an hour or so seated outside under the restaurant’s canopy, enjoying the lovely weather and yummy churros. We said goodbye to Oscar and Ana before walking around the city for a little bit more and ending the day with a few more tapas for dinner at one of my favorite tapas bars in Granada, Bodegas Castañeda. 

Dad and Joe... in Granada!

Views of the Alhambra from the Albaicín.

View of the Alhambra from the mosque in the Albaicín.

An afternoon snack with Ana and Oscar.

Friday morning after breakfast we did a little souvenir shopping throughout the city. That afternoon, we visited the Alhambra. It was my fifth visit to the 13^th century Moorish palace and fortress, but it didn’t fail to impress me yet again. Firstly, the Alhambra’s gardens, especially those in the Generalife (summer palace) were fully in bloom and alive with beautiful colors and flowers. Secondly, I’d never visited the Alhambra in the afternoon before and the views from the Alcazaba’s (military fortress) lookout towers were spectacular at 7:00pm. We spent a good three hours on the Alhambra’s grounds—I think that it was definitely one of Dad and Joe’s favorite things that they saw while in Granada. We made our way back down to Granada where we met up with my good friend Clark for another (surprise!) night of tapas. Clark is a graduate student at the University of Delaware here for the semester teaching a few English courses at the University of Granada. We met through a mutual friend, Miguel, and have been good friends since February. Anyways, like I said, we met up for tapas and six rounds later (I could barely move after having eaten and drunk so much!) we called it a night and went to bed. We needed to get a good night’s sleep because we had big plans for the weekend!

Spices and teas for sale next to the Cathedral.

Souvenir shopping on Calle Candelaria Nueva.

Inside the Alhambra: the Generalife (summer palace/gardens).

Joe and Dad going up the escalera del agua.

Inside the Alhambra: the Palacios Nazaries.

Views from the towers of the Alcazaba (military fortress).

I am madly in love with this city :)

The following morning (Saturday, May 14^th) Dad, Joe and I caught an 11:00am bus to Málaga, another city in Andalucía just about an hour and a half from Granada. When we arrived shortly after noon, we were greeted by Javier (the same coworker whose birthday was being celebrated the previous Wednesday night at the concert in Mae West) and his friend Lola. Javier very nicely offered to host my Dad, Joe and me in Málaga that weekend. His family is from Málaga and so he has an apartment there close to the beach. We spent the afternoon in the city itself, seeing some of the most important sites and streets in the city. Then, we headed to Javier’s apartment to change into our bathing suits to spend the rest of the afternoon on the Mediterranean. We ate tons of seafood for lunch and lounged around the beach, soaking up the sun and 85 degree weather for a few hours. Later that evening, we headed back into Málaga for the city’s “Noche en Blanco” festival. Many museums and exhibits were open late, free of charge, that night for the celebration and we got to see the city’s new Picasso museum art collection. Also that night, we saw a free concert in one of the city’s main squares. The band playing was "Celtas Cortos" a popular Spanish rock group that combines Spanish music with Celtic sounds and influences.  

First view of Málaga, including the city's plaza de toros.

Ruins of a Roman theater.

Málaga's Cathedral.

Joe and Dad enjoying the first of many seafood dishes that weekend!

The concert we saw Saturday night, the Celtas Cortos.

The next day, I woke up around 10:00am and found Lola and Javier already awake, talking and reading in the living room. The three of us had breakfast together as we waited for my Dad and Joe to wake up. I think that jet-lag had finally caught up to them because at 12:30pm I had to go into both of their rooms and wake them up! After they ate, we again headed down to the sea for another afternoon at the beach. Javier and Lola took us to an excellent restaurant right on the water where we were able to sit outside as we ate paella de marisco (seafood paella), a large salad and espetos de sardinas (sardines cooked on skewers over an open flame). After walking off some of lunch along the beach, we returned to Javier’s apartment around 5:30pm where we all showered, packed and prepared to head home. Javier drove us back to Granada and we were back in the city by 8:30 that night. Tired, Dad and Joe went directly to their hotel room whereas I headed to my own apartment to finish up some lesson plans for the week ahead before heading out to a bar to celebrate a friend’s birthday and watch the Sweden-Finland hockey championship game with some of my friends. 

At the beach in Málaga.

Joey on the Mediterranean!

Cooking the sardines.

About to enjoy some paella de marisco!

Joe with the plate of sardines.

Monday morning was grey, cloudy and a little chilly. It didn’t matter all that much, though, because we weren’t planning on walking around the city that day. Instead, we headed to Armilla to my school, IES Alba Longa, where we first met my coworkers in the café across the street from the school for breakfast. Lourdes, my boss, treated us to our coffees and tostadas as we chatted about my year here, the boys visit to Granada, etc. After breakfast, we went to the school where Dad and Joe met my 1 ESO students in our weekly English class. For the first half of the class, my “seventh graders” had to come up with questions in English to ask Dad and Joe. It was great- not only did my students really like meeting “my family,” but it was really nice being able to show Dad and Joe just what I’ve been doing for the past eight months. I finished up the English lesson while Dad and Joey waited in the teachers’ lounge and then we headed back into Granada for the afternoon. We did a little more shopping until 6:00pm, when I left the boys to go tutoring for two hours. After my lessons, we met back up and had a few tapas for dinner. 

Tuesday was another busy day for us. Shortly before 10:00am, we met Clark at the bus station. The four of us spent the day in La Alpujarra, the mountain villages in Granada’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. Our bus arrived in Pampaneira just after noon and after walking around for a bit we stopped at an outdoor café for a coffee. Afterwards, we made the 1km hike uphill to another mountain town called Bubión where we ate a small but delicious lunch of jamón serrano, cured cheese, salad and, of course, more tubos. We spent an hour or so in Bubión before making our way back down to Pampaneira for a little more window-shopping before the bus that would take us back to Granada arrived at 6:15. The day started out cloudy but by the time we arrived in Bubión it was sunny and warm. We had an excellent, relaxing day in the mountains of Granada and got a little exercise in to boot!

Joe, me and Clark.

Pampaneira.

Hiking from Pampaneira to Bubión.

We made it to Bubión!

Enjoying some jamón serrano.

Wednesday was Dad and Joe’s last day here with me in Granada. Having missed so much work already, I went into the school in Armilla for the morning and worked my usual Wednesday schedule of four classes from 9:15am-1:50pm. While I was teaching, Joe and Dad, armed with a well-marked map, spent the morning sight-seeing and shopping around Granada. When I met back up with them that afternoon at 3:30, I was very impressed to hear that not only did they make it from their hotel to Hicari for breakfast, but also that they visited both Granada’s Cathedral and Basilica de San Juan in addition to having done a little souvenir shopping. We spent their last afternoon together, walking through the city despite the drizzling rain. Around 5:00pm, the rains cleared up and we went to a tetería (Moorish tearoom with teas, coffees and sweets) for a cup of tea. After returning to the hotel to prepare their suitcases, we ended the night with a few last tapas. 

In the tetería.

Delicious pakistani tea.

 Thursday morning we were all up early, around 5:30am, so that we could make it to the airport shuttle bus stop for 6:15am. It was sad to see the boys go- it was great having Dad and Joe here with me in Granada and I miss them already!- but it was easier to say goodbye this time around knowing that I’ll see them in just two months, as opposed to the eight months I had gone without seeing them since last September. It was a jam-packed visit, but I had a wonderful week and I hope that they did, too!

As for me, it’s now “back to the usual routine” of teaching and tutoring. This week is my last full week at IES Alba Longa; next week I only work Monday and Thursday. I can’t believe how quickly these past eight months have flown by… it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye to all my students! Okay, break-time at work is over… now I’m off to science class with 1 ESO! ¡Hasta pronto!