Dobleve

Eating your way through tapa bars in Granada is one way to really experience what life is like in this town. Hit it right and you’ll find the locals laughing, smiling, and really loving life. You’ll be pleasantly sated yourself and all for less than a dinner out in the US or even a movie ticket in some places. Although we will recommend some specific places in Granada (just ask us!), we do so mostly for those who may not find any of the good spots otherwise. Our real tapa recommendations are these:

• Respect the Spanish schedule. Afternoon tapas are served generally from 2-4 and at night tapas are generally served from 9-12. (Anything served outside these times is most likely touristy schlock.)
• Get out of the touristy areas. Walk up side streets and explore. Look for bars with lots of people in them and choose those.
• Free tapas are only served (during the above mentioned hours) and when you order beer, wine or something like soda (Fanta, Nestea, Coca Cola). Tapas are not served with cocktails or coffee.
• Be adventurous and keep an open mind. If you get off the beaten track you will be served all kinds of tapas that look nothing like manchego cheese, jamon or olives – the absolute staples of tourist tapas. We have tried all kinds of new things and combinations of foods we’ve never seen and we love it. What’s the worst that can happen??
• Don’t be intimidated. Learn how to order your drink, and that’s all you’ll really need. For example, if you like a small beer and a tapa, order a caña – “cahn-yah”. A larger beer – tuvo (too-boh). For a glass of red wine order vino tinto (bee-noh teen-toh), for a glass of white – vino blanco (bee-noh blahn-coh), or, order anything like Fanta, Coca Cola, Agua con gas, etc. and the rest will happen naturally.
• Tapas are automatically served when you order your drink and will follow a first, second, third, (etc.) pattern. So if you order one drink watch for the server to bring you (or hand over the bar) a plate of first tapas or “primeras”. Order another drink and soon you’ll be served a different tapa or the “Segunda” and this will last for as many drinks as you order although, most likely, you’ll be full or have hopped on to the next bar after two or three drinks and tapas. (There are just so many tapa bars and so little time!)

Enjoy!!

A few weeks ago wandering around the neighborhoods of Oporto, Portugal we came upon a store selling all manner of religious paraphernalia and artifacts.  Among other things, wax feet and heads were for sale.  While we recognized much of what was for sale there I couldn’t figure out At All what you do with the wax figures.  Were they unique to Portuguese culture or Catholicism?  Do the figures represent specific people or saints?  And, above all, what do you do with them? 

We often get questions about traveling to Granada, España so thought we’d just put the information down in one place for anyone who’s interested. Here are some things we’d like to pass along…

Getting Here (Granada or Andalucía)

When flying to Andalucía from the US check flights/prices into Malaga, Madrid and Granada. Traveling from the West Coast of the US we generally make a stop somewhere on the East (US) Coast and fly directly into Madrid and then fly on to Granada, or, from the East (US) Coast into Malaga and drive or take the bus to Granada. Check flights also through Paris (Charles De Gaulle) if you’re flying from the West (US) Coast. Generally we avoid Heathrow like the Plague because of endless problems with lost luggage and stressful/almost unattainable connection times in that unending airport. For international flights consider arriving in one destination and leaving from another. We do this almost every time we travel because it’s about the same price as arriving and leaving from the same city and gives you more options for cities you might want to visit.

Traveling in Spain

Once you have arrived in Spain you will be able to easily travel around by train and autobus. We recommend never ever renting a car (unless you like navigating one-way narrow cobblestone streets with maps you cannot read and roads which you cannot enter with all the other drivers honking at you…) Renting cars in Spain to drive from one place to another is far more expensive than any other form of travel. And, on the highways there is little to really enjoy between towns that you couldn’t see from a train or bus window.

Always check domestic flights for traveling within Spain (also if you want to fly to/from another EU country) because they are quite often cheaper than the train. Try Ryanair, Iberia, Spanair and Vueling.

Side Trips from Granada

There many who would say you cannot come all the way to Granada and miss either Sevilla or Cordoba because these three are the trifecta of Andalucían culture and history, the longest lasting representation of the history of the Moors and the Catholics (and arguably Visigoths) in this part of the World. It’s hard to disagree with this. If you are coming to Granada, consider traveling also to Sevilla and seeing the Cathedral, the Real Alcazar and Barrio Triana (just a few of our favorites)…. We also like Cordoba – (especially this hostal, the hammam (Arab Baths), and of course the Mezquita). If you are Granada for a bit longer, depending on the time of year, we like to travel either up to the Sierra Nevada (in the Winter) and to the Virgen de las Nieves or to Salobreña or another Mediterranean destination in the Spring and Summer.

Other Travel to Granada Tips

• Notify your credit card company that you will be traveling abroad – we’ve had ours shut off too many times to count.
• Traveler’s checks can be more trouble than they are worth. If you have a major bank card in the US you should be able to withdraw cash in Spain. Travel with small bills – Euros. In Granada it’s difficult to pay with anything other than cash and you’d have to spend like Midas on food and drink to ever climb far above 40€ for two people in one shot. (Although for a 40€ tab you’d most likely be able to use a credit card.)
• Take advantage of the free included tapas with drinks in Granada and know how they work. You’ll get a free tapa with every drink order of soda/pop, beer and wine. (As opposed to coffee drinks or cocktails which are not served with tapas). Timing is ever important – tapas are served only from about 2ish- 4ish in the afternoon and 9ish to 12ish at night.
• Always be mindful of the Spanish schedule and go out to breakfast, lunch or dinner at the same time as the rest of the city. Breakfast is coffee and pastry or toast – anytime up to 12pm. Lunch usually starts about 2:30pm – 3pm – there is only one seating so do not expect to get there either early or late and be able to eat lunch. Dinner is usually about 10pm and often only one seating however some restaurants have an 8:30pm and a 10:30pm seating. The 8:30pm can often be like a ghost town but if you are going to a show, it’s a good way to still get some dinner because afterwards no restaurants will be serving dinner. (If you are able to find food outside of the usual Spanish schedule it will most likely be touristy schlock so try to get on the Spanish schedule if you can.) Finally, it’s best to allow for up to 2 hours for eating either lunch or dinner. And of course, we always recommend drinking a bottle of wine with your meal…
• Although Granada is casual among Spanish cities, travelers here might feel most comfortable with button down shirts in restaurants and never, if we’re being honest, shorts. Bring layers whenever you travel to Granada and if you’re friends of ours, heed any up to date weather reports because we’ve had guests mightily surprised by both the cold and the heat. Generally it’s mild here, but do ask, just in case!
• Ask us for our favorite tapa bar recommendations and we’ll send you the link to our map. We protect these somewhat as they are far more special than many of the ones listed in any of the English language travel books and we simply don’t want them to get overrun!

My grandfather Leo kept up a one-sided correspondence with various American presidents throughout his lifetime and today I found this telegram he had sent May 29, 1962.

If you cannot read the copy: it is addressed to “President J.F. Kennedy” and in it he wrote:

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. WITH THE NEW FRONTIER HAVING CREATED A MASSACRE WHICH MAKES CUSTERS LAST STAND LOOK LIKE A SCOUT JAMBOREE I HOPE YOU’RE ENJOYING YOUR BIRTHDAY AND GIFTS. CONTACT ME IN 1964.

LEO WALKER

There really was nobody quite like my grandad…

We traveled to Egypt just after Christmas this year. It would likely take a lifetime to really absorb and learn from everything we saw and experienced while there but the first thing we noticed coming in to Cairo from the airport was the sheer size of the city – 22 million people live there and we were immediately overwhelmed by the crowding, pollution and noise. But, in the end we loved Egypt and in no particular order, here are some of the things we found most interesting…

The cab driver who delighted that we were from “Amereeka, country number one!!” but kept saying “George Bush, Crazy!!” while wildly gesticulating (something) – with both hands – as we bolted down the highway at 120km/h. (This was one of our tamer and saner taxi rides). The grin on a little girl’s face – Habibah – as she rattled off every English word she knew after introducing herself while passing us on the street. The constant refrain from people everywhere: “you are welcome in Egypt”… The 3 lane highways continually being taken to six lanes with seeming absolute disregard for safety… (There were almost no lane markers anywhere but even if there had been the custom is clearly to travel forward along whatever path doesn’t currently have a car in it so that cars are jammed wheel well to wheel well in every inch of space and everybody’s honking at everybody else)… Pedestrians crossing six lanes of traffic when and where they wanted to… (The best advice our guide book gave us was to look for a local when we wanted to cross the street and follow them — because to the untrained crosser it looked as if pedestrians simply alighted from the curb completely irrespective of the hundreds of cars hurtling by. This advice may have literally saved our lives and after just a day or so there we were hurtling ourselves into traffic with the best of them)… Hundreds upon hundreds of old beat up black and white taxis that run on compressed natural gas… Seeing reverent faces, praying faces, in public, all the time… Hauntingly beautiful a capella songs blasted along the beach in the early morning hours… The sound of Camel feet padding on the sand in the endless silence on the trek up Mt. Sinai…

There were places and entire days where we never once saw an Arab woman… Our Bedouin guide who travels by camel and lives without running water or electricity kept text messaging and talking on his cell phone on the trek up Mt. Sinai. (Brian wanted to call his mom from the top and tell her there was someone who wanted to talk to her but thought the others assembled there might not find that funny). People got on and off the buses (in Major Traffic) without the buses even stopping or even slowing down much. Countless times there was suddenly a man jumping out of the (moving) bus next to us and darting in front of our taxi or someone else running though traffic trying to jump on to the moving bus… There were ubiquitous metal detectors (especially on the Sinai Peninsula) – presumably in place after bombings in the last few years – that sat idly as people walked right around them. There are prayer mats everywhere – including one we saw big enough to fit 40 men, at the car wash… There are calls to prayer broadcast throughout every part of every city all day long… And finally, we could never have understood the breathtaking size and accomplishment of the pyramids without having stood next to them. Photos here.