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Torrox to Granada It rains all night, and rains all day, pausing at supper time but then drizzling. Hmmm. This puts Lenore in a bad mood. It also puts Ralph on his backside, for the surfaces of the lanes in Torrox become very slippery and he falls on the way to the car park... We drive to Granada, via Motril, through the rain (a two hour journey). The coast, which becomes less over-developed east of Nerja, is shrouded in mist, the mountains in cloud. This way we approach Granada through commercial suburbs and ugly housing that spreads to the south on the plain. We drive into the centre and find ourselves a room at the Hotel Molinos, which is, according to the Guiness Book of Records, the world's narrowest hotel. It is wide enough for us anyway, though the bath is rather on the short side. After parking the car in the hotel's somewhat alarming car park, which involves climbing a steep pavement and squeezing through a narrow entrance into the subterranean bowels of a building around the corner, we walk into town. Granada, despite the rain, is a splendid city, though the pavements, like those of Torrox, become treacherous after rain, and Ralph has to watch his step all day (especially the stretches of marble or large pebbles). We head westwards to Place Nueva and then north along Carrera del Darro. Turning left up one of the narrow lanes we explore some of the maze, heading generally southwards until we reach, I think, Tina Babole, beside which was an old charcoal oven (I think), the rain making it smalle of soot. From here we drop down Calderea Nueva and back to Place Nueva. After a rest stop in a cafe we head back to the Hotel to rest and dry out until 15:30, when we hit the streets again. This time we start amongst the streets to the south west of Nueva, and then work our way round in an oval, ending up at xxxx, at the top of the old town. Descending once again, we potter around doing a little window shopping, before going to the Archaeological Museum. This was a disappointment as the second floor wasn't open because of a staff shortage, and if it is anything like the first floor it should have been very interesting. Black mark folks! Finally we go in search of vegan food. We dine at xxxx, on hummus and vegetable couscous. The waiter enjoys teasing us because of our lack of Spanish and our incomprehension of most of what he says. We even resort to French at one stage. We end the evening with a pleasant drink in the friendly and hospitable Bar Chorilo, almost next to the hotel, where they are putting up Christmas decorations and generally enjoying themselves, sometimes in voluble French. During the night it rains heavily.Water drips loudly outside from gutterless roofs. At one point there is a thunderous crash and a rattle of broken ceramic — either tiles have slid from a roof or a potted plant has fallen into the street. Also, in our bathroom there is a device that sprays smelly stuff into the room. It makes a loud click at random intervals. This keeps Ralph awake... |
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