Eloise

As you say, the parador in Granada is notoriously booked a year in advance. If it appeals to you, though, you might do as I did: have lunch there. As I recall, I enjoyed the meal and the dining room looked out on a garden.

Also within the Alhambra precincts is a very much more modest establishment called the Hotel America. I had one dinner there; it was only so-so, but it was quite inexpensive and served in a small courtyard full of plants. I don't know if they're open for lunch or only for dinner.

111op

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Lunch will have to be a late lunch as my timed entry for the palace is at 12:30 (all the morning times were taken when I booked online).

By the way, is there an exit in the Alhambra grounds that lead to the Albaicin? I can't make out the maps very well. On the maps I've seen, one approaches the grounds from the right, starting from Plaza Nueva. But the Albaicin is to the left of the Alhambra. Is it necessary to back track or can you descend from the other side of the grounds?

I don't know if this makes any sense....

Eloise

I'm relying on memory here, but as I recall, the Albaicin is on a completely different hill from the Alhambra and on the other side of`"beautiful downtown Granada." I can't imagine there being any way to get from the one to the other without going down from the Alhambra, through the lower "downtown" area of Granada, and up the other hill. The Mirador de San Nicolas is, as I recall, in the Albaicin, which is why you get the terrific view from it.

flanneruk

110op:

Common sense says sunset in Granada today must be around 1950 CET. That's what the web sites all seem to agree on. And it gets about 90 seconds earlier every day.

Your hotel - quite literally - is living in the past. Allowing time to get to the lookout point, you'll need to be in Granada no laster than 7.30

111op

I think that I should be fine, if the flight gets in on time. It's a big if, but worth the risk.

The flight gets in at 5:15. I don't expect the car transfer to take more than 2 hours. Of course it's all cutting it very close.

Anyway, if I don't make it, at least I'll have a story to tell.

Why is it "common sense" to know that the sunset in Granada is around 8pm? Are you able to do this all mentally using longitudes and latitudes and astronomical calculations? I think you've a great facility, flanner, and it's the sort of thing I've always wanted to do as a child. In any case, it doesn't hurt for me to ask the hotel, so I asked.

Thanks, Eloise, for the pointers on Granada geography.

Should be all set now, I hope.

111op

By the way, flanner, if you read the first posting in this thread, I mentioned that I've done the web searches you presumably did. Unfortunately I seem to lack the common sense that the Brits seem to have.

111op

I'm in Seville now. It's quite late (we went to La Carboneria, mentioned in Maribel's guides and a bunch of other guide books, for half an hour of flamenco). We're staying in La Casa del Maestro, which gives free internet access, so that's great.

I wanted to report back quickly regarding what happened to the cab ride. The flight arrived on time. The cab driver showed up. Everything went smoothly. We got into the cab around 5:30 and were in Plaza Neuva by around 7. We then set off almost immediately for the Miradour de San Nicolas in a cab. Unfortunately, as Sue predicted, it was a bit overcast, but there was some sun. It set around 7:50, as predicted by a couple of web sites. We stayed a little past that until the Alhambra complex was gradually lit up.

Today we went to the Alhambra as planned (visited the Royal Chapel prior), had lunch at the Parador de San Francisco (thanks Eloise) and took the 4:30 bus for Seville.

Two more days -- Seville tomorrow, then Cordoba and Madrid the day after.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

toni

We're planning on staying at La Casa del Maestro next June. I would appreciate it if you could give me all the goss on the hotel when you have a minute. Thanks.

flanneruk

111op:

First I certainly wasn't trying to make you feel small.

But there were some very simple principles at work here.

In late Sept, sunset everywhere in the world is at 6pm God's time. Granada is a bit west of Greenwich, but is on the Central European time zone - which is roughly matches God's time in Berlin. 6pm God's time in Granada is a bit before before 6pm GMT (since it IS a bit west), which would be a bit before 7pm CET, except that it's still Summer Time, so it's actually a bit before 8 pm CET, summer version.

Any time of the year other than late March or late Sept the trick doesn't work: as you say, longitude comes into play then as well as latitude. And the trick's difficult if you're talking about places any real distance from the Greenwich meridian.

But there is of course another common-sense principle: never take what a hotel says on trust.

kaudrey

111op,

Well, I guess you've already made up your mind about the transfer, but I was going to say that, IMO, rushing to get there by sunset isn't really necessary. It was pretty, but the sun actually sets to the right of the Alhambra (if looking from the Mirador), so it wasn't what I expected - I guess I was expecting the sun to fade behind the Alhambra and the mountains, and it doesn't.

I have much prefered the sunsets in Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and even Key West.

Also, for planning: If you leave Granada the next day, you'll be pretty rushed if you want to see more than just the Alhambra, unless you take the last bus to Sevilla on what you called "Day 1". If you go to Alhambra first thing in the morning, you could spend the afternoon walking around the Albacian and then head to Sevilla. It's a little rushed, but it's sort of what I did, and it was fine.

I love Sevilla, so I wouldn't cut a night out of there if you can avoid it.

Karen

kaudrey

Oh - I didn't see that last post - you are already in Sevilla.

Never mind!
Karen

111op

Thanks flanneruk for clarifying.

toni -- re Casa del Maestro. It has a nice review in Maribel's files, as you probably know. It turns out to be the most expensive hotel I picked for this trip at 110 Euros (taxes extra, I think). I'm not really sure if it's truly worth the extra money for me, honestly. My first choice would have been Amadeus based on price considerations and based on reviews I saw, but when I called, it was completely booked.

Casa is pretty charming, but I don't think that the extra charm is worth the money for me. One problem you may have to bear in mind is a potential noise problem. The room doors are pretty heavy, and guests get in late at night by entering a code at the door (the desk is unattended after 11). We just got in, and it's 2am. Potentially we could be waking people up, and I think that there're guest rooms on the ground floor.

I like the net access a lot, of course! The rooms have individual remotes for air-conditioning, which I suspect would be very nice in June. Our room is pretty small, but we're not picky so it's ok.

I agree with you, Karen, that the Granada sunset is overrated. I was a little disappointed that the skies were a bit overcast, but I'm glad that we pushed to make it anyway. Getting the extra night in Seville was good. Actually my mom and I were wondering if the position of the sun had something to do with the seasons. In the sunset we saw, the sun was actually almost blocked by a building near the Miradouro, way over to the right of the Alhambra, so we don't really see it at all. Perhaps it's closer to the Alhambra during certain times of the year? If I remember your trip report correctly I think that you made the trip in February.

We're on the last day of the trip. We leave for Madrid (with a brief stop in Cordoba en route) later in the day. We had another very long day today.

111op

By the way, I can offer my thoughs on the Seville restaurants we tried. We went to Bar Modesto the first night. It's mentioned everywhere, and Maribel mentions it too in her files. It's quite good.

Tonight we went to Salvador Rojo. We had the menu degustacion. I forget the exact price -- a little over 40 Euros, I think. The final bill came to be a little under 100 (we didn't have wine). A fairly interesting dinner. Recommendable if you're willing to spend the money. I really liked the fact that we were able to walk in at 10:45 without reservations -- things seem so much more relaxed here (compared to Paris or New York or London, for example). Hard to say if it's really worth the money, as personally I find that most of these restaurants are really overrated. I go just out of curiosity and for the experience.

111op

More on Casa -- a really annoying checkout experience. The desk was unattended at 8:30. So someone who was unfamiliar with the checkout process had to swipe my card a few times. Anyway, I missed my the train at 9, so I decided to hang out at the hotel to have a quick breakfast.

I guess I should have known, but I wasn't expecting 8:30 to be considered early for the Sevillans.