1701hrs, on board the Talgo 297 to Madrid Atocha
despite the apparent laidback nature you see in this country, you’d never guess how punctual the trains are. i guess this is my last entry for this whirlwind five-city vacation. i guess it was no mean feat to do such a thing, then again, there are people who have achieved much more – like doing hoek van holland-amsterdam-antwerpen-oostende in less than 24 hours (i wonder who that may be).
we checked out this morning and decided to have one last walkabout in granada. had a gorgeous brekkie of the usual (i’m saving churros for later tonight at san gines) near plaza bib-rambla. we headed for albaicÃn again. i know – it seems we never get enough of that part of the city. but since this is our last day before our flight back to london tomorrow, we were gonna do some souvenir-hunting. albaicÃn does have an uncanny similarity to the alhambra. there were fountains and wells of the clearest water. there were even rectangular pools which were mini versions of the ones we saw in the patios of the palacios nazaries. another curiousity is the central drains that we saw on the pebbled alleyways.
we finally got to cuesta de gomérez, which is the road that leads uphill to the alhambra. along it are souvenir shops aplenty, some of them with the usual postcards and t-shirts, whereas others are actual workshops of craftsmen. the two crafts you get to see were flamenco guitar-making and the nasrid-styled wood inlays made into objects as varied from coasters to coffee-tables. we nipped into the workshop of one francisco manuel diaz, who was ever so friendly (it wasn’t until i got back to the UK that i found out that his teacher made guitars for the likes of andrés segovia! -ed.). he actually offered me a guitar to play with but after seeing the skill he possessed, i quickly pointed to ninie, saying that it is she that really played and not me.
after buying enough souvenirs (i wish i could’ve bought a guitar) that we could fit into our rucksacks, it was lunch alfresco at plaza nueva. ok, both of us had kebabs in england but to actually savour beef (as opposed to kambing) and the crispiest chicken kebab shreds with pilau rice was simply gastronomically out of this world.
looks like we’ll be arriving in madrid around 11pm. anuar has bought us tix to catch superman returns (el regreso – but we are catching the versión original with spanish subs. hehe.). i wonder if i have enough strength to go to chocolaterÃa san gines after that!
eh, melayu.
sebenarnya, lawatan pertama saya ke granada kira2 7,8 tahun yg lalu ada perstiwa pahit. lepas satu hari pusing al-hambra, kami turun ke bandar… jalan2. dah penat, masuk McD. dok rileks, makan minum. then, tiba2.. tersedar… rucksack yg diletak di lantai tepi kerusi dah lesap. mak oiii… panik sakan. saya terus lari ke backlane, cari kot2 si bedebah ke situ, hampa takde. jumpa polis tepi jalan, bagitahu dia… suruhnya kita ke balai, ishh. cari balai polis satu hal, buat report satu hal… dah lebih sejam dari time mula2 sedar beg dah lesap.
mak oiii, macam2 ada dlm beg tu: my wife’s wallet, kunci rumah, kunci kereta, my notebook, etc.
selesai buat report polis, terus balik hotel (sebelah al-hambra tu je), dah malam. call credit card centre to cancel all cards. mak oiiii… sibedebah dah spent 3,000 quid on the card! shopping sakan. call my parent for help, macam biasa. esoknya pagi2 dah naik bas to madrid… nothing came from malaya.
half way to madrid, on the motorway… words came from malaya:
“orang laki berkulit gelap tu dah dok perati sejak mula2 masuk lagi. dia ni bukan pelawat, tapi someone yg dah biasa dengan tempat tu (mungkin pekerja, pencuci, etc). dia ambik wallet sahaja, brg2 lain masih ada dlm beg”.
i wanted to take a bus back to granada upon reaching madrid, but mama said, “tak pe lah, kita doa2 semua selamat je. jauh nak patah balik”.
bila landed at stansted, i had to take a coach home whilst the rest waited at the airport, to get my car spare key. went back to fetch them. came back and changed all door locks at home.
what a total nightmare it was…. kenangan di granada.
ouch. i am sorry to hear that. that is why bila makan (tak kira di negara mana) my bag is celah my kaki and i never put things yg valuable in it (semuanya strapped on my person – pakai all those secret traveller wallets!). i also read in your blog that you have a friend who lives in the alpujarras valley. cool!
kudo
aku nak pergilah south of spain next yr. baru aku text Anuar semlm…
coolness! but anuar’s not in spain anymore. 🙁
kudo
yup…i know…i meant texting him here in KL…too bad he isnt there anymore…no more backup espanol tranlator!