Travelogue
Weather yesterday: much cooler than the previous week (high about 10°C), but gorgeous blue skies with puffy white clouds, bright sunshine, with intermittent rain showers.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shalmestere was concerned that she was "coming down with something", and was in all kinds of hurt after a day or two of hill-climbing in Toledo, so we took it easy yesterday, avoiding anything that involved lots of climbing. Fortunately, much of the tourist area in Granada is stretched out along the street along the river, which is about 20 m from our hotel, so not much hill-climbing was necessary. (The river is also about 10m straight down, in a gorge that doesn't invite pedestrian traffic).
In the US, the word "river" implies "navigable": if you couldn't put a cargo or multi-passenger boat into it, you wouldn't call it a "river" but rather a "creek", "brook", "stream", or "branch". And most old cities are built on one or more rivers. In Europe, most old cities are likewise built on rivers, but many of them are only a few meters wide. A "river" serves as a source of fresh water; transportation, if you get it, is a bonus. Toledo is tucked into the sharp bend of a small-but-navigable river; the old part of the much larger Granada is built on two hills on either side of a river that I'm sure I could cross with a running broad jump. Except that the gorge isn't wide enough to make the running approach. And in Madrid, the current capital and the biggest city in the country, I gather there is a Río Manzanares that (according to photos on Google Maps) is at least 10m wide, but we never came across it.
Anyway, we bought some yummy empanadas for breakfast, walked a few hundred meters west to the Alcaicería, the Moorish shopping district (rebuilt in the 19th century for tourists after being destroyed by fire), bought some sweets, bought some souvenirs and 1/12-scale miniatures, didn't stand in line to get into the 16th-century Royal Chapel where Ferdinand, Isabella, Philip, and Juana were buried, bought some more sweets, visited the one remaining Moorish caravanserai in the city (with its 14th-century carved-limestone gate), returned to the hotel and took a siesta (not that it's hot out, but we were tired).
Then got up and walked a few hundred meters east, visited the Museo Arqueológico (which is in mid-renovation, so admission is free), tried to visit two Arabic baths (one is functioning again as a bath/spa, and we decided not to spend the time and money on that, while the one that's just an archaeological site was closed), bought some more sweets, sat on benches overlooking the river and underlooking the Alhambra across the river, and returned to the hotel.
I heard drums and trumpets outside and guessed there was another Semana Santa procession going on, so I ran downstairs to see. A brass band was just finishing up on the front steps of the nearest church, when another brass band marched up the street and stopped. I saw a guy walk by in what looked like a KKK pointy-hooded costume, only purple for Lent, followed by several choirboys also in purple (at least one carrying a pointy hat). There was much milling around as though waiting for something. Then the latter brass band started playing again and marched back down the street towards the downtown business district whence they had come.
By this timeshalmestere had come outside to see what was to be seen, and we walked a hundred meters to an Italian restaurant where we had some delicious spaghetti carbonara, then returned to the hotel, read and did DuoLingo Spanish exercises for a while, and went to bed.
Today we're scheduled to pick up a rental car that we'll use to visit the next several cities and towns. Not sure how close I can get to the hotel with a private car: the hotel itself is on a callito with steps, while the cobblestoned riverbank "road" is variously 2-4 m wide and full of pedestrians.
shalmestere was concerned that she was "coming down with something", and was in all kinds of hurt after a day or two of hill-climbing in Toledo, so we took it easy yesterday, avoiding anything that involved lots of climbing. Fortunately, much of the tourist area in Granada is stretched out along the street along the river, which is about 20 m from our hotel, so not much hill-climbing was necessary. (The river is also about 10m straight down, in a gorge that doesn't invite pedestrian traffic).In the US, the word "river" implies "navigable": if you couldn't put a cargo or multi-passenger boat into it, you wouldn't call it a "river" but rather a "creek", "brook", "stream", or "branch". And most old cities are built on one or more rivers. In Europe, most old cities are likewise built on rivers, but many of them are only a few meters wide. A "river" serves as a source of fresh water; transportation, if you get it, is a bonus. Toledo is tucked into the sharp bend of a small-but-navigable river; the old part of the much larger Granada is built on two hills on either side of a river that I'm sure I could cross with a running broad jump. Except that the gorge isn't wide enough to make the running approach. And in Madrid, the current capital and the biggest city in the country, I gather there is a Río Manzanares that (according to photos on Google Maps) is at least 10m wide, but we never came across it.
Anyway, we bought some yummy empanadas for breakfast, walked a few hundred meters west to the Alcaicería, the Moorish shopping district (rebuilt in the 19th century for tourists after being destroyed by fire), bought some sweets, bought some souvenirs and 1/12-scale miniatures, didn't stand in line to get into the 16th-century Royal Chapel where Ferdinand, Isabella, Philip, and Juana were buried, bought some more sweets, visited the one remaining Moorish caravanserai in the city (with its 14th-century carved-limestone gate), returned to the hotel and took a siesta (not that it's hot out, but we were tired).
Then got up and walked a few hundred meters east, visited the Museo Arqueológico (which is in mid-renovation, so admission is free), tried to visit two Arabic baths (one is functioning again as a bath/spa, and we decided not to spend the time and money on that, while the one that's just an archaeological site was closed), bought some more sweets, sat on benches overlooking the river and underlooking the Alhambra across the river, and returned to the hotel.
I heard drums and trumpets outside and guessed there was another Semana Santa procession going on, so I ran downstairs to see. A brass band was just finishing up on the front steps of the nearest church, when another brass band marched up the street and stopped. I saw a guy walk by in what looked like a KKK pointy-hooded costume, only purple for Lent, followed by several choirboys also in purple (at least one carrying a pointy hat). There was much milling around as though waiting for something. Then the latter brass band started playing again and marched back down the street towards the downtown business district whence they had come.
By this time
shalmestere had come outside to see what was to be seen, and we walked a hundred meters to an Italian restaurant where we had some delicious spaghetti carbonara, then returned to the hotel, read and did DuoLingo Spanish exercises for a while, and went to bed.Today we're scheduled to pick up a rental car that we'll use to visit the next several cities and towns. Not sure how close I can get to the hotel with a private car: the hotel itself is on a callito with steps, while the cobblestoned riverbank "road" is variously 2-4 m wide and full of pedestrians.