Hello Padraig,

Just stumbled across your thread & hope you enjoy your days in Cordoba & Granada as much as I did 3 years ago.

I found that most places served a complimentary tapas with each drink. Sometimes quite a generous portion.

Looking forward to wandering around in your footsteps. My only regret is that it's a tad far to pop over to Spain for a week from Australia.

Back in our hotel for a little downtime.

The morning programme was to take a ramble, going slightly further from our hotel towards the city centre. We found an open-top bus tour, and decided to get an overview of the city. We got the view, but no commentary, as we failed to get the headphones to deliver anything, even after changing places. When we saw others changing places as well, we figured that the driver had forgotten to turn the system on, so I told him about it. We get the commentary for a short part of our trip.

We had an okay cheap lunch in the city centre. Then sought out a Caixa to print out or Alhambra tickets, which I had booked online a few weeks ago. To the Alhambra, and we presented our tickets. They weren't tickets: they were tickets to exchange for tickets, so we we required to queue in the midday sun in a very slow-moving line to get our real tickets. That messing-about did not do my temper any good.

I'm not going to try describing the Alhambra; I'll just say that it was worth it, and the petty annoyance about getting in was soon forgotten.

I like to take a few pictures when on holidays, but I accept that if I want great pictures of major attraction, it's better to buy postcards or souvenir books. No way was I going to get great pictures that did not include large numbers of strangers trying to take great pictures. And those photo-tourists are bloody annoying: they block doorways and passages, they don't want you to cross the line while they take ages to compose their pictures, and many don't think to acknowledge any courtesy you extend them.

I'm footsore after several hours in the Alhambra, so this evening's ambition is very limited: a nice meal in some place close to the hotel. The energy levels are running a little low for seeking out a flamenco performance tonight.

Cultural observation: Judging from dress and demeanour, teenage girls here seem very interested in teenage boys; teenage boys here seem very interested in football.

So same the world over, eh Padrig?

Much of Spain is even more interested in football than normal these days.

- Two days ago Sevilla won the Europa League after defeating Portuguese Benfica on penalties in the final.

- On Sunday, this years absurd thriller version of the Spanish Primera División is decided in a final match between FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid.

- Granada needs one point on Sunday away against Valladolid to be assured to stay on in the Primera División.

- Next Saturday is the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid in Lisboa. Tells a lot about Spanish domination in international football the last years that two Spanish teams meet in this most prestigious European final. Two teams from the same city is never heard of before.

- And the start of the every four year Football World Cup is only some couple of weeks away (this year in Brazil) for the reigning Spanish World and European champions national team.

And not just among boys! You will probably get more gender-balanced football crowd in Spain than perhaps anywhere else, with lots of families.

My mental image of bygone days is that the womenfolk waited at home for their men to return from excursions to make war, conquer foreign lands, conduct rape and pillage, and other heroic things.

Nowadays they must wait until the football is over.

Team sport is a substitute for war.

Except for baseball.

You should have gone to the covered ticket machine shed a short distance away from the ticket office, preferably the afternoon before your Alhambra visit. There by inserting your card you booked with, you could have printed out the actual ticket with barcode (essential for admission) and bypassed the big queue on the day.

Alec, the printing service provided by the Caixa is supposed to do exactly the same thing! It seems that the catch was that I claimed an age discount to which I am entitled, so they had to put me through the mill in order to verify it. Claim a discount because you are old, and possibly frail, and you are made to stand in full midday sun for 20 minutes.

Padraig - I have read that from others and to just pay the extra euros as it not worth the wait in line... glad you enjoyed the Alhambra as much as I did... you are correct, writing about it just does not do it justice.

Well, when I accompanied a disabled wheelchair person, I did exactly the same. Booked disabled + able person online, printed out at Caixa machine at Alhambra the day before and just scanned the ticket at the barrier and walked in. No verification. May be different for senior (jubilado) ticket.

True, it's only 5 euro less.

I mentioned already the traffic in Granada. One of the first things we saw today was a damaged car being loaded onto a recovery vehicle. What seemed really odd was that the driver, obviously distressed, was still in the driving seat.

Then we had our very own road accident (well, shared with some other people): we were in a crowded bus, and the driver hit the brakes hard, skittling some passengers to the floor. But not hard enough, because he still managed to hit the car that should not have been there. We were disembarked, and invited to wait for the next bus, which was probably already overcrowded. So we walked.

And that was what we did today: a lot of walking. Mostly the old town, which involved walking on cobblestones, on slopes, on steps while avoiding buses and cars and scooters in the narrow streets. My feet are sore, my leg muscles ache a bit, but it was well worth our while.

Lunch today was a real tourist product: a bottle of wine with an assortment of tapas. The wine was an easy-drinking white, suited to a hot day, and the tapas ranged from interesting and tasty to not unacceptable. Not all tourist offerings are bad.

Great reporting. I am following along.

Summer in Ireland is marked by the arrival of hordes of Spanish teenagers sent by their parents to summer schools in order to learn English. Teenagers being what they are, they are more interested in congregating in groups (usually where they constitute an obstruction) and chattering like magpies.

I think they then go home and convince their parents that they have worked hard, and their English is now very good. The self-assigned reputation for fluency remains with them, so when a sign or a brochure or a menu has to be translated into English, they call on Pepe, who spent three weeks in Dublin in 1986, and he puts expressions like "broken eggs" on the menu.

We move on today: midday bus to Cordoba.

We probably failed to justice to Granada, but we greatly enjoyed ourselves here.

The journey to Cordoba was fine: comfortable coach, good roads. It seems that about 98% of Andalucian agriculture is olive production. It seemed strange, to our Irish eyes, to see no livestock on the land.

We are installed in a hotel in the middle of the city, on a road barely wide enough to take one car. The room is fine, and the staff are especially helpful. So far, so good.

Late lunch was tapas. This time, it was very much an "order your tapas and pay" deal; no complementary portions. But when the tapas came, they were more substantial and stylishly prepared and presented than the slice of tomato and cheese that might be provided free in another establishment. Proper food, and a couple of those tapas would (and did) make a reasonable lunch.

As the Patio Festival is about to finish, we got into action straight away, and visited about 10 patios. It proved to be very interesting. It's impressive how cool the patios seem on a day as hot as today. Shade and water have a lot to do with it. And the plants are a gardener's dream (I'm no gardener!). Several patios had caged birds.

We also happened on a religious procession involving mostly children in outfits that might have represented sodalities, with a church statue on its heavy wooden platform being carried by teenage boys, and followed by a band that I wouldn't pay to listen to. The procession paused for a change of bearers for the statue, and one cornet-player saw his opportunity: into a bodega; quick beer thrown back; back in the formation before the procession got moving again.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Last chance for the Patio Festival, so that's the morning programme. Our hotel receptionist booked for us (it's free, but you need to book tickets); he instructed us to take a particular option, as it includes the overall winner this year. More work for my poor sore feet. Perhaps we will get to see the Mezquita and the Alcazar later in the day.

Bookmarking for future reference. Very helpful report -- thanks

bookmarking Ditto above