August 31, Ronda to Granada

Today we drove from Ronda to Granada, but our first stop was at La Cueva de la Pileta which is along with being a magnificent very large cave about two kilometers deep with some large rooms, has writing and paintings on it ranging from 30,000 to 4,000 years ago. We waited about 45 minutes for enough people to get there to do the tour and met some very interesting people from all over the world. The majority of the people we have met and talked to were from other countries and there haven’t been that many from the USA.

With a guide we wound our way through carrying lanterns and being careful of the slippery floors looking at the old pictures that were explained to us first in Spanish then English. There were red ones that had some horses, bulls, goats and then what might have been people, and then the black images that remained were much more lines rather than shapes and many tallying the number of moons to keep track of their lunar calendar.

Lunch in Ronda was tapas at a recommended place where we only saw locals and no tourist that was another delicious meal. There was no menu where we were sitting so we walked up to the case, pointed to what looked good and that’s what we got. After that we drove the most direct route to Granada and I was able to take a nap in the car.

The rental car was returned to the airport a little out of town and we took a taxi in, which was really good because we wouldn’t have enjoyed driving into the city. It was a very nice hotel, but more in the business area and not in the main pretty part of the city. After resting a while we took the bus into the part of town with more restaurants.

Walking down one street toward Plaza Nueva that is just full of restaurants, we passed one that had a lot of different meats hanging from the ceiling that looked good and was recommended in our guide book so we decided to eat there. A great choice. We ordered a gold meat sampler, another small plate of their specialty meat and Dad got a steak. This area is known for its hams and meats so it is very good that we finally got to try it and all of them were very flavorful and tasty even though we had no idea what we were eating

Unfortunately we had to rush out at the end of the meal to get back to our hotel so they could pick us up just before ten for a flamenco show we had reservations for. Different areas have different styles of flamenco so we wanted to see what it was like here. The bus was there to pick us up, but full, so they put us back in our taxi and paid for it to take us there. On the way the driver told us that it was the same one Michelle Obama went to when she was here.

It was very different. It was in a small long arched room with chairs on both sides and a few rows of chairs at the end. It was a lot more dressed up and felt more touristy and like a show. They even told a little story about a wedding in one of the dances. The one in Sevilla was a lot more just technique and an older style of music. I didn’t like it as much at first because there wasn’t that much technique or complicated footwork or dancing, but as the show progressed it did get more complicated and the acts at the end I enjoyed a lot. It had some solos and was a mix of both those and two people dancing together either two girls or a guy and a girl.

For the very last dance they started bringing people from the audience up to dance with them. Almost all of the people there were from a giant Asian tourist group and it was really funny to watch the lady bring up the older men from the group who really got into it, but funnier to watch the people form their group almost falling on the floor from laughing so hard. They brought up a lot of people and I was one of the ones chosen at the very end (Dad took a video) but didn’t really know how to do it so was doing a combination of flamenco hands with salsa footwork.

Post show they put everyone on the two busses and took us for a little walking tour of the Moorish quarter up to the best view of the Alhambra. It was nighttime and all the buildings were lit up and a great thing to see.