Day 16 - Granada

Gelati: 1, Beer: 1, Tapas: 0

You know how I said earlier that I thought this hotel felt lifeless?  I take it back.  Last night, just after I'd fallen asleep, the couple with the room next to mine mistakenly came into my room instead of theirs.  How their room keycard could open my door just as easily as the door to their own room is something I would like to know.   There is a desk in my room on the wall at right angles to the door and the door just clears it.  After the invasion I put my suitcase in the gap between door and desk so I can't get any more surprise visitors.  Mind you, if there is a fire I'll get burnt to a crisp since the doorway is blocked.

Woke late after the adventures of the night and just spent the morning pottering around.  I actually spent a little time in the cathedral attending mass just so I had somewhere indoors to sit.  It was bitterly cold this morning (around 10C) as it had been clear skies all night and then cloud rolled in at dawn so it took a good while for the day to warm up.   It finally got to around 22C by lunchtime.

One of the things I came across today was a convent that sells pastries to the public.   It seems to be a cloistered order as you never actually get to see one of the nuns.  Instead, you ring a bell and speak to someone over an intercom.  There is a hatch in the wall with a rotating plate which you can see half of at any one time.   You give your order over the intercom and put your money on the plate.  You then turns this so the nun can collect the money.  She puts your pastries on the plate and turns it around again for you to collect.  At no point do you actually see each other.  Extremely odd.

I lunched at some random tourist trap place.  OK food again.  I had the salmorejo, which came with all the trimmings this time (chopped hardboiled egg and jamon on top) and a decent amount of garlic inside it.  Very good.  Main was pan fried pork fillet with a pepper sauce and pan fried sliced potato (nicely crispy).  Dessert was custard with a layer of chocolate at the bottom.  This meal was washed down with a beer and followed by coffee.  After stuffing myself with all this I tottered back to my hotel for a siesta (after barricading the door).

After my siesta I had my latest arab bath.  Again, they made you wear little plastic booties over you outdoor shoes but didn't require to wear shoes in the bath area itself.  Instead, they required you to shower first and also after spending any time in the steam room.  The set up wasn't quite as atmospheric as the one in Seville, but they did have traditional star shaped holes in the ceilings.  However, unlike in a traditional bath, these weren't open to the sky.  Instead, they were just openings for lights but it was a nice touch.

All of the baths were in different rooms.  No swimming from one to another.  The warm bath was also smaller, but the hot larger (but more shallow).  Here the process was shower->warm bath (36C)->hot bath (40C)->cold bath (16C!)->steam room, then lather, rinse, repeat.  I did it all 3 times but made sure I allowed time for lounging on the hot stones drinking tea between circuits 1 and 2.

Between circuits 2 and 3 I had a 'traditional' kessa massage.   I've put traditional in quotes because I've never heard of it outside this chain of hammans.  It started with me lying on my back.  Hot water was poured over me then I was washed all over with a grainy soap.  I was then covered in a thick layer of bubbles before being firmly scrubbed.  More water was poured over me before I turned over and had the whole process repeated on the back of my body.  Once this was done, a scaling hot towel was draped over me and some minor pummelling followed.  I was then left for a few minutes to relax and that was it.  After all this, what was left of my skin felt wonderfully soft and smooth.

More gentle pottering followed before dinner and back to my room to pack (and barricade the door).  I have to confess that after all that food at lunch dinner was a chocolate pastry (rather like a pain au chocolate) and a gelati (raspberry and passionfruit).

Off to Cordoba tomorrow.  If there are seats left on the fast bus it will take 2 1/2 hours.  Otherwise it is nearly 4 on the slow one.  I tried buying tickets online but the site didn't like any of my credit cards.  There seems to be about 8 seats left on the fast bus so it should be OK but wish me luck.