4/20–Granada lunch

From Alhambra, we head into central Granada where we will have time for lunch – albeit a late lunch as it is pushing 2 pm by this point.  The bus lets us off on a lovely boulevard, Paseo del Salon, lined with stores and restaurants on one side of the street, and a lovely park area on the other.  Our guide told us there are tons of restaurants and cafes along this street, but she cautioned us to choose one quickly, and not walk the entire length of the street perusing menus, then decide to back track to a particular restaurant.  Because this is the main bus drop off for tours, as more buses arrive, the restaurants will fill up quickly and you run the risk of not finding a table or getting service quickly enough to return to the bus on time.  So noted! 

We confirm our return time, then head off down the street while the guide is still explaining things to the others on the bus.  We are taking her seriously – and for good reason – we do find a great little restaurant serving typical bar food – Al Andalus – and snag one of the few tables left in the shade.  As we sit perusing the menu, the rest of our bus wanders by and before we know it, the place is jam packed. Our fast walking, quick decision strategy has worked for us today!

We order drinks, and get the best snacks along with them – these great roasted potatoes topped with fried eggs.  This would suffice for lunch alone!  But we end up ordering a Granadino baguette to share with pork, lettuce, tomato and cheese, then spend a leisurely hour just hanging out on the sidewalk and watching the world pass us by. 

Back to the bus, we make our way out of Granada, past this awesome carving/bas relief on a concrete wall…

…then on into the countryside for more picturesque views of the farmland, towns and vineyards…

…and, almost 2 hours later, greeted back aboard the Epic with chocolate covered strawberries the size of our fists!  Nice little (or I should say big) treat after our long day, and we make short work of them as we watch the shores of Malaga recede in the distance from our balcony.

One more day at sea, and then onto the land portion of our trip beginning in Barcelona.