We overslept this morning. The people in the room above were scraping chairs and having showers at 1am. Honestly, this hotel appears to have zero sound proofing!
Today we are walking back down to the city to take advantage of all the free sightseeing that the lady in one of the monuments told me about yesterday! What skin flints we arebut why pay if you dont have to?
We have started our day at El Banuelo, a Roman style bath house. We enter a house with a courtyard, then through to the three bathrooms behind. First the cold room, followed by the warm. All have moorish skylights representing the moon and stars. A third room, which we can only see from behind a barred gate, has a pretty blue and white tiled floor. The baths are said to date back to the 11th century although some doubts have been raised that they could be from the later Nasrid era.
Next we head to the convent but the doors appear to be firmly closed, so onwards to the Casa Horno de Oro (House of the Golden Oven). Our fairly ancient guide book states that since most of the traditional
homes in Granada have been bought up by private individuals, its pretty impossible to see any of them now. It seems the Spanish authorities have decided to buy a few of them back as this is one such example.
Ian located the entrance, which is up a steep narrow side street. We enter into an open courtyard with central pool. At either end are pillared arches with carved embellishments. Small rooms are positioned all around the sides wit( a tiled rectangular walkway. There is no sign of an oven, golden or otherwise. Upstairs we are able to walk around the entire galleried landing and admire an ornate wooden painted ceiling.
On our way out the lady at the ticket desk (who is not selling tickets today), tells us that we should return to the convent as it closes at 1pm. She explains that the entrance is at the rear of the building. We were just on our way to the Casas del Chapiz and she says theres enough time to see that firstotherwise we will end up zig zagging all over the city! Oh and whilst we are at it she circles another place on our map that
We are now climbing a steep hill in the baking hot sun. The palace entrance is at the top! We arrive sweating but the inner sanctuary is cool. The palace has a similar look about it as the houseexcept it is bigger and has more storeysan open courtyard with central pool and stairs leading up to trio galleried landings on first and second levels.
Here we are not allowed on the landings but they have another surprise in store. A pathway leads us out into a a garden with another large rectangular pool and tall cypress trees providing shade. from here we reach the formal garden of neatly trimmed hedges. And to our side, the most spectacular views of the Alhambra. theres a bit of a breeze today and the flags are fluttering on the tower.
Time is ticking in so we head to the convent, the Casa de Zafra. It takes a while to locate the entrance as its well hidden. Similar in style to the houses with courtyard, pool and landings, we are beginning to think weve seen it, done
Phew, this sightseeing is hard work! Its tempting to go for a drink but the next place also closes at one. Ian thinks he knows where it is, nit far from where we catch our bus so we head off in that direction. Sadly we cannot find it and concede defeat. Though we do stumble across an interesting archway and a fresco painted church on the way.
Its definitely time for a drink! I spot a cafe that actually has free tablesa rarity in this town! Once inside, Ian susses out whyits a vegan place. Oh well never mind, we will just get a drink. I decide upon their homemade lemonade. It arrives in a hip jam jar with a glass straw. Ian has been more conventional - his arrives in a can with a proper glass. Anyway both taste very nice, and just what we needed. Our drinks also arrive with a tapas dishnoodles with al dente veg. It tastes very nice.
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