We decided to go for a walk in the nearby gardens Carmen de los Mártires. It’s free to enter and is a beautiful garden on your way down the hill into town. It has a 19th century palace in grounds which combine different styles of garden design, sculptures, a maze, various water features, peacocks and beautiful planting.
As this was our last day in Granada after our whistle-stop tour we decided to focus on tasting some typical dishes and having a stroll around the centre. We started this culinary adventure in one of several Ysla cake shops, where they have been serving the typical sweet cakes, piononos, since 1897. The cake was created in 1854 in homage to the Pope Pius IX (hence the name Pionono from the Italian)
As we were in the centre but had limited time to spare we visited the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) where the catholic monarchs are buried. No photos were allowed during this visit – that was a huge challenge for Dave! We decided that our brains needed a rest, so we opted for the children’s version of the audio guide. That was just the right amount of information. 🤣 Isabella 1 of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, when married, united the crowns of Castile and Aragon. When they defeated the moors and conquered Granada in 1492, it marked the end of the Reconquista, a unified Spain and the start of the Spanish empire. It was also they who sent Columbus on his historic voyage in the same year. The visit was definitely worthwhile and you could feel the weight of history there. There was even a Botticelli in the art exhibition ‘Oración en el Huerto’ (Prayer of the garden. 1498).
There were loads of shops and stalls in the area, including a central craft market approached via several narrow alleys. I needed new shoes so looked in a Pikolinos and a Camper shop, hoping to get them cheaper than at home, but to no avail!! We then headed off to the restaurant that we’d chosen for lunch, Mesón Alegría (happiness inn – the name appealed!! 😃)
We definitely achieved our goal of trying various specialities from Granada – after starters of Toreznos (bacon rasher scratchings) and padrón peppers, we moved on to the main event, which for me was Remojón granadino and for Dave was Tortilla de Sacromonte. Mine was a salad of oranges, onion, salt cod, boiled eggs, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives. Dave’s was an omelette with lamb brains, peas and broad beans!!! There’s nothing like trying something new. 🤣 We both thoroughly enjoyed it and took away our first Spanish doggy bag as the portion size had been enormous. That was dinner later!
After lunch we walked via the Chikito restaurant (formerly La Alameda) which Lorca used to frequent with other members of the famous literary group ‘El Rinconcillo’ between 1915 and 1929. Members of this group included the most well-known intellectuals of the time such as Manuel de Falla and Andrés Segovia. (Classical guitarist) There is now a life-size statue of Lorca sitting at one of the tables inside. The restaurant is now quite high-end, which is why we decided not to eat in there. 😃
It felt like we had only scraped the surface of Granada, but we headed off as planned to our next camping stop, Camping Granada, only to find that there was no grey water disposal point, so we turned around and went elsewhere as we were keen to empty the tank. We then found a small place which had a rather sketchy feel to it, which we didn’t fancy! We could see that it would be really convenient, however, if you wanted to get the tram in and out of the city as it was very close to the tram stop. We finally settled (or so we thought!) on an Eco campsite located in a vineyard south of Granada. We approached this along a convoluted route only to find it shut and no response on the phone number given. Things were not going to plan!!!
We had popped in to Mercadona en route to the eco site to stock up with provisions for the next few days, so decided to head further afield and went south to the coast.
We ended up in a gorgeous small site with fabulous views near the town of Almuñécar. Camping Tropical.
Moral of the story: ring in advance if you can and check the facilities carefully!
….. and more on the subject of Popes!!! We’d just settled into our pitch and a news alert popped up on Dave’s phone confirming that a new pope had been chosen. Right away all the bells were ringing across the valley – we think the bell-ringers must have been waiting in the nearest bar for two days ready to leap into action!!! It felt very atmospheric and we will definitely remember the moment when Pope Leo XIV was elected.
We decided to walk down into the town and went along the beach and a gorgeous promenade. Along the latter, there were lots of beautiful mosaic benches designed by a local artist, D José Cabrera Alaminos in 2015. They showed local scenes and sealife. After another steep walk back, we’d done the most walking of any day of the trip so were ready for a good night’s sleep.
