GRANADA--A FEW OTHER NOTES

I'm sure there are more sights to see in Granada than I was able to manage.  I was there for a week, but left my apartment only two days due to a miserable cold and that pounding headache that came with it.  I especially don't like to sightsee with a faucet nose!

On one of these two days, I headed for the downtown area where I visited the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel next door.  

The Cathedral is immense.  It's set back from a main street and surrounded by other buildings, so you can't get a good photo.  I snitched this aerial view from the Internet to give you an idea of its size.

Construction of the cathedral began in the early 1500's and it was finished 181 years later!

It is another architectural wonder.

The gilding of this side chapel is over the top.  It probably took 181 years to pay for all this opulence.

This Pieta in different shades of brown marble is beautiful and moving.

The dome is quite spectacular with its generous amount of gilding.

When my nomadic life is over and I'm having a boring day, I will have to count the number of cathedrals, churches, bapistries and temples I've visited.

Next door to the cathedral is Capilla Real, the Royal Chapel, where Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand are buried.  Pictures were not allowed inside, so again, I can only share what I saw courtesy of the Internet.  There were two marble tombs with carved images of this royal pair.  Here is one.

Behind the tombs is this altar, which I think I can safely say has regal bearing.

The royal pair's coffins rest pretty humbly in the crypt below the chapel.

There was a pretty plaza behind the cathedral.

I couldn't figure out what this building is.  It looks like a cathedral, but the signage on my city map says it's an educational institution.

This beautiful palace now houses government offices.

Oh, here's something I especially like about Granada.  You get a free tapa with every drink you order, even with water!  This is apparently a city-wide practice.  Imagine that..there is almost a free lunch.  Before I had this delicious dish of patatas con mojo, I was given a free piece of bruschetta (not sure of the Spanish equivalent) with a ratatouille like topping.  At another tapas bar, I was given a small serving of paella.

I swear I didn't eat all these potatoes.