Al Andaluz, March 29, Granada
An inadvertent adventure…
We rose early and headed to the Sevilla train station. We were early so we stopped in one of the very busy cafés for café con leche and tostado con tomate, my new favorite breakfast. The station was crowded but interesting to people watch, another of my favorites. As our tickets were checked at the gate, the woman warned David, “dos trans, tuyo está cuatro.” He thanked her and we headed to the security check. A train pulled in and David found the car. I noticed it said Málaga on the sign. He said it probably went there after it went to Granada. Neither of us thought about how that was a bit out of the way. We got on the train, found our seats, and the train left Sevilla. We had been on the train about 20 minutes when David noticed the electric sign at the end of the car gave the time to Málaga. He consulted his phone and realized we’d gotten on the wrong train.
He did some fast checking and decided we would get off at Antquera/Santa Ana, then catch a train to Granada. That sounded like a better solution than riding all the way to Málaga, then catching another train to Granada. Staying on the wrong train ran the risk of being in someone else’s assigned seats. Our Spanish is not good enough to explain that. So, he bought the tickets online and we got off at the Santa Ana station.
This station was obviously recently built, and it was empty. We sat there for over an hour waiting for the train to Granada. There was no café, but they did have a door marked for the café. There were three people working in a very large office who never asked if we needed help. One train came through but didn’t stop. We had a bag of Spanish potato chips from the vending machine. (That is another thing I will miss about Spain. Their potato chips are less salty and less greasy than American ones.) Staying awake was easy. The very large empty room was cold. I have to admit, the pictures I have are from their Google Map description. You can look them up for the photographer’s names. Just ask for the map of Antquera Santa Ana, Spain.
We caught the train to Granada and enjoyed a ride through mountainous country with fog and light rain highlighting the beauty of the countryside. We were only a couple of hours past our planned arrival. There was still lots of daylight left to look around.
We checked into our rooms at La casa de la Trinidad and went out looking for some supper. The reservations David had made were long past, so we walked around the Plaza de la Trinidad and decided to try a place on the corner, El Rincón De Lorca. They were packed but had one small table near the door with two chairs. We said that was fine and spent the next couple of hours enjoying the show. They had a large dining room deeper into the building and it was possibly a family-run business. A gentleman in his late sixties was tending bar and the dishwasher for the wine glasses was under the bar. This meant the bar was constantly getting filled up with dirty glasses. Another middle-aged man who greatly resembled the bartender, took our order. and recommended we get less. He said the dishes David ordered were pretty big and three of them would be a lot. We thanked him and followed his suggestion. He was right. The servings were large, and the food was good. Nothing fancy, but good Spanish café food. The waiters dashed in and out of the bar filling drink orders and waiting on customers. It was organized chaos. We returned the evening before we left for another glass of vermouth wine. It was just about the same. It seems the building behind and beside them is a long stay hotel and many of the café’s customers were senior citizens who lived there. If you are ever in Granada, check them out, El Rincón De Lorca.
We returned to the hotel to get ready for a busy day tomorrow.
