Tuesday 9 February 2016

De nada Granada

I've had comments about the somewhat wayward direction this blog is going in. Some say it would appear that the longer this trip goes on, the further the subject matter strays.....moi? Never!

We were sat on yet another bus. At a major stop a bunch of vendors got on, each calling out what goodies they had for sale. We bought some cake and were served up 2 pieces in a little black plastic bag. There was no mention of "excuse fingers" as the bloke fumbled our dirty bank notes and the moist sponge with the same well worn hands. A drinks vendor made his way down the bus. The cans of Super Cola were in a big washing up bowl full of ice that he skilfully balanced on one arm and his shoulder. The bowl also carried a pack of drinking straws. The packet was torn open at the top and as he walked forward the straws dragged along the bus roof and intermingled with the passenger grab rail. Yucko! 

I broke my mind away from how fantastic the human body is at fighting germs and moved my thoughts to our destination of Granada. All I could think about  was the famous metallic tan motor of DI Jack Regan and his side kick DS George Carter racing around nicking criminals. 


Those 2 were so tough, we needed to be more like them! The sight of 2 fully panniered cyclists coming the other direction was just too much to bear. We must dig deep, harden up, face our enemy and get off at the next stop!

I'm not sure what those 2 tough crime fighting hard men would have thought of the bus station at Masaya but it didn't look good to us. 

Time to get out of Dodge and head for Granada but on bicycles..... Phew, this is getting complicated!

We found the road out of town but first needed something to eat.   A little shop selling mainly painting materials plus a few other things that looked like they'd fallen off the back of a lorry (don't even think about mentioning Arthur Dailey) fitted the bill. The owner's enterprising wife knew that her customers would be hungry so it appeared that she'd brought a few bits of food from home and could easily knock us up a couple of quick smorgasbords "No problemo".

19 easy km later we reached Granada and had our easiest find of our hotel to date.  Quick shower and off exploring. It's a nice town but way too touristy for our liking. 

Really?! 


Hardly the most original idea for 'today's special' whilst in a Central American country is it?

There was a pedestrian street with restaurants spilling out onto it which made us feel like we were in Leicester Square, prices were heading that way as well.  We walked to a cafe recommended by Gary and Gill but couldn't stretch to the super expensive beer Gary had raved about, going instead for some tasty, strong mojitos at half the price of Gary's fave tipple.

Which photo d'you prefer? Kate's slightly touched up 'tourist special' or the second one she took with Spot the Dog adding his own signature (you may need to zoom in to find him)


One thing this place is famous for are the old school barbershops. My mop has been getting pretty unruly so when I saw this place I couldn't resist

Kate went off to have a look around a beautiful old crumbling church as the lady barber got busy with a yard broom and garden shears. Now my Spanish still hasn't improved so I resorted to explaining how I wanted it cut by using the same one word and hand actions I do when asking for my eggs to be scrambled at breakfast. Luckily I'd also had the foresight to download this photo from the net, setting a very fair and reasonable target in doing so.

For 3 quid I don't think she did a bad job. Here's me looking the spitting image of Mr Law 

and again, just to 'keep it real'  here I am doing my best Quentin Crisp!

Granada is not by any means a dangerous city but it is definitely  one of the places I've felt a bit nervous. There are so many tourists here that it would be hard for petty crime to not go on. Many of these tourists are pretty green and therefore must make easy targets. I went into 'safe mode', a feeling I haven't really felt much at all on this whole trip.

Speaking of 'safe mode', how about this for a toilet?! And that is where I'll sign off for now


2 comments:

  1. You have to try at least on of the Campo beers from the Garden Cafe before you die so you might as well do it while you're only 5 minutes away. The only microbrew in the whole country as far as I can tell.
    You'll forget completely about the expense in no time. Hey, I'll stick some money in your PayPal account... On me! I'll even include the propita.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool! Send the money to my account tightarse @ PayPal.com !

      Cheers

      Delete