To the Start at Granada.
The gale force winds of the last few days in Conil seemed even stronger when we got up this morning. I had checked my diary for two years ago when we left here for Sevilla to start the Via de la Plata and it was gale force winds bending the trees then as well. I recorded that when we reached Sevilla the wind had dropped considerable, hopefully it will be the same today.
We parked the 'van in the campsite storage area after breakfast and with our rucksacks on our backs we set of on the half hour walk to the bus stop. It was a struggle in the wind and the weight we are carrying though relatively light will take getting used to. There was plenty of time in hand before the bus arrived so had a coffee and a shelter in the nearby cafe.
The bus was on time and it took 2 hours to reach Sevilla. This was quicker than last time as we only had one detour to pick up passengers in Chiclana. Our connection to Granada was at mid-day at the other bus station near the river and quite a walk away. We only had half an hour to get there and didn't think even a taxi would make it in time. We settled on the 4pm bus instead. We had researched all these times and connections when we spent a day here a few weeks ago. One thing we hadn't investigated was whether a bus ran from this terminus where we had arrived at from Conil. Our luck was in and one left from here at 2:30pm which was much better and we didn't have to walk to the other bus station. One other good thing was that the wind had dropped, just like last time.
We sat in the waiting room for the couple of hours until we left for Granada. We had our books, the newspaper and a crossword on the iPad and Kindle so we kept ourselves occupied. We had cold sausages that Moira had fried earlier, some fruit and cool drink for lunch. The time passed fairly quickly.
The bus to Granada left on time and it took 3 hours to get there. It wasn't a particularly exciting trip, all along the motorway but that made it faster and there were no stops. As we approached the city the back drop of the Sierra Nevada mountains were magnificent covered in a thick blanket of snow.
The bus station was well outside the city and although we had a copy of a street map we couldn't find the bus station on it, so didn't know where were on it. There was a sign outside pointing in the direction of the Alhambra Palace which was near the centre so we took that direction. It was a long walk but pleasant and warm in the sunshine despite the snow on the mountains. We eventually found where we were on the map and started to recognise places from our previous stay here last November. We headed for the tourist information office that we knew was near the Cathedral and got a better map of the city centre and directions to the hotel Moira had booked us into. Hostal Veronica was only a short walk away and our room small but big enough for us was en suite, it only cost E30 for the night.
We had got directions to the Convent de Santiago from the tourist office and headed there first hoping to get our Camino credentials stamped. We had checked out the Convent on our previous visit but it was all locked up. The guide book said it only opened in the evening for peregrinos, it was now 7:30m so we might be lucky . We weren't, it was still locked up and we walked round the perimeter but no way to get in. On the way to the Convent we passed a nice restaurant and had our dinner there on the way back. We had the menu del dia and it was quite good. We both had mixed salad to start then I had pork chops while Moira enjoyed some fish.
It was dark and getting cold as we made our way back to the hotel, we should have worn something better than shorts. We had to settle for the hotel stamp on our credentials to prove that we had started the Camino here in Granada. In our room we got good WiFi and were able to listen to some BBC Radio4 programmes before getting to sleep. Neither of us slept very well; the pillow, a long bolster, was very uncomfortable and we ended up chucking it out the bed and it was noisy outside. Not the best start in preparing for a long walk.
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