Hasta Luego, Granada

 

It is with mixed feelings and much sadness that we say, ''Hasta luego" to our good friends in Granada. We had a year of Living the Dream, much of it due to the wonderful people who became a part of our lives. Here are some of the people and places that contributed to our experience. Unfortunately, we don´t have any fotos of our special landlady, Priscilla, and her 94 year old mother, nor of a few other special people from our neighborhood.

Hold the cursor over the picture for a description. Click on the pictures for a larger version.

 

Knock and the door will be open... With Elena, a wonderful massage therapist and a good friend, we shared a year full, including the deaths of two of her grandparents, their move into an apt., Semana Santa, all our adventures, their trip to Japan, the bombings in Madrid, la Boda Real and La Real Boda, her wedding to Luis, also a friend who wasn´t around when the foto was taken. La Fuente de la Batalla was always one of our favorite sites to visit. Hatim, the bartender at Omkalthum's always has a warm welcoming smile, not to mention great Morrocan tapas.
Las cigueñas, storks, are very common throughout central Spain.  They build their huge nests on top of churches, chimneys, or in high trees. Two of the best waiters in Granada.  Always pleasant and efficient.  On Sunday mornings we would visit them for... Churros y chocolate, nice & thick.  m-m-m-m, with fresh squeezed OJ on the side. M-M-M-M.  What a way to start the week. It wouldn't be Spain without Bullfights!
María Jesus and Jesus own our breakfast bar.  Jesus makes great tostadas and María Jesus makes the best café con leche in all of Spain.  Like us, they have 2 daughters, María Jesus & Alejandra, only 20 years younger than ours. Even though his name is Jesus, sometimes he can be a devil. We miss the daily dodging of vehicles on the narrow brick street around our house.  You also have to watch out for "squirters", loose bricks that squirt dirty water up your leg if you inadvertently step on them. Marga and her mom and brother, Gerardo, made our daily newspaper purchase something we always looked forward to.
¿Is there any place on earth more awesome than the Alhambra? From the beginning Alberto and Alé have always been so very kind to us.  I always felt like royalty when we went for pizza.  Alberto has a little boy and Alé is expecting his any day.  Alé, a Muslim, always put his right hand over his heart & leaned forward slightly to greet us.  That gesture just warmed me inside. ¿What is southern Spain in the summer without Girasoles? Gaby was one of the first people we met last summer.  We met on the bus to Guejar Sierra.  She had come back from Argentina to care for her dying sister and take care of her estate.  She and her cousin, Encarnita, took us in & shared the pueblo of Guejar with us.  We saw her throughout the year.
José Luís became our first friend in Granada.  He runs the Nagavaweb downtown.  He put up with us from the beginning and saw us through getting our phone and internet access. ¿Doesn´t it say in the Bible to build your house upon a rock?  In Spain they certainly did. Lune, with a smile to warm any heart is from Senagal and is very talanted.  He and his friend, Patrick, from Ghana, were always very kind to us when we trekked up the hill to the Sacramonte, the Centro de Interpretación at the Barranco de los Negros. View of Granada from the Albaicin or from the Alhambra.
Mathew and Ana at POEs, one of our favorite bars.  They came on vacation from England and stayed. Victor, our neighborhood Barrendero, worked at keeping the street swept and the dog doo picked up.  He was always kind to us. Nancy with Ana, the Sevillanas dance and castenet instructor.    It´s a lot tougher than it looks. La Alhambra, without compare.  A view I could NEVER tire of.