Spain, Day Three--the day the Spaniards show their true colors (and I'm not talking about red and yellow)

As I sit here in our beautiful apartment in Granada, I feel overwhelming gratitude for how far we have come over the last 20 years.  When we came here when we were in the military, we didn't have much money, and we didn't have many resources (the internet was VERY new, and it wasn't a source for travel advice).  Now, the possibilities are really only limited by any lack of determination on my part (which isn't much).  20 years ago, we blew in and out of here quickly because all six of us were crammed into a hotel room and just didn't have the cash to stay too long.  Now, we can stay here as long as we like and know what there is to see.  It's really wonderful.

We packed up our stuff in Madrid this morning, and it was a bit of a relief to get out of the tiniest AirBnb that could hold all nine of us.  It worked, but it was tight.  It was convenient though to be in the middle of downtown Madrid.  We dragged our luggage about a half a mile to the parking garage and took off for church (which happened to be in the building across the street from the temple).  While the talks were top tier (according to Glo), not one single person talked to us at church today.  It was very weird and very unwelcoming.

We then headed back into the city to eat at a pizzeria I had found online, Grosso Nepalitano.  It happened to be the sister restaurant to a gluten-free pizza place, so the plan was for Trevor to pick up his pizza and bring it to our restaurant to eat.  However, we were met with very rude women who informed us that they would not allow Trevor to bring it in.  And this was after Trevor and Hannah walked the 15 minutes to the other pizza joint to pick up his pizza.  No worries--Trevor actually had a great time walking around and just sitting in the sunshine.  I will admit that the food was DELICIOUS, and it was difficult to be angry at the rude servers when we were chowing down.  In fact, my Quattro formagii pizza was a god-send to eat for the next two days as leftovers.  And the gelato that came with our meal? Even more delicious.

We then headed to Toledo.  Try as I might, I couldn't find a time for us to visit Toledo when the good, quality shops were open.  So the plan was to just park and walk into the town, spend a few minutes there, and then be on our way to Granada.  We were on our way to the Cathedral, but in true Kennedy fashion, everyone got distracted window shopping.  Glo and I ended up buying inexpensive Damascene bracelets which I love to wear daily.

 

And like I read and was told by others, really the best part of Toledo is the view from the highway.  I couldn't get over how much like Fez it was, both within the city and from a viewpoint.

Three and a half hours later, we arrived in Granada.  The drive here was really beautiful.  Miles and miles of olive trees.  And mountains, some snow-covered! We even passed through La Mancha and saw windmills everywhere.  

Our place is a pretty fancy apartment where our cars use an elevator to reach the parking garage! Unfortunately, we had run-in with a man on the street who was super rude to us (for no reason) whom John ran into in the garage as well.  Turns out, John tried to ask him to move his kids' bikes so we wouldn't hit them pulling into the parking spot, but when he ignored John, John moved them maybe six inches.  The guy blew up in John's face, and they ended up in a shouting match.  When Hannah got out of the car to try and calm things down, he started shouting at her too.  But when he started to insult her in English, she called him out and told him that she wasn't gonna listen to him in English.  Both were visibly shaken, and the housing agent who was showing me around told me that this kind of behavior isn't unusual.  People around here don't like tourists, and they assume we will be loud partiers.

Anyway, we're glad to have a couple of days to spread out in the apartment and relax in a different kind of way.