Granada: A walk around town and Saint Germain

After a much needed nap, we decided to take a walk around Granada before heading to our dinner location. We took off in a random direction to the end of Calle Animas finding that it was a shortcut to Calle Cuchilleros and Catolicos.

And ended up in this pretty little square; named Plaza del Padre Suarez.

Lovely colors.....

Right across the street from the square is the Casa de los Tiros, which is now a museum. I loved the coat of arms above the door. A sword stands poised over a heart with the inscription "El corazón manda" (the heart is in command).

There's a restaurant at the end of the plaza, we impulsively made reservations for dinner the next night.....I thought we might want something other than tapas by then.

The Missus saw some stairs leading in the direction of the Alhambra....of course we had to head up those stairs.

We loved the arteries that lead down along the way and the views of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the background.

I thought we had seen enough, but the Missus was determined to make it to the top.

At the end of the trail was what looked like a fortress....this is the Hotel Alhambra.

Heading back down we meandered through the streets of the Realejo neighborhood, taking time to stop and admire the Iglesia de Santo Domingo.

We ended up on Carrera de la Virgen and really enjoyed walking around. At the end of the street is Plaza de Humilladera and nice green space. For some reason, I really love this photo.

And the Fuente de las Granadas.

Notice the pomegranates? You'll see them everywhere in Granada, as it is the official symbol of the city. In fact, the pomegranate is called "granada" is Spanish....makes sense, huh?

There seems to be so many fountains in Granada. This one, on Plaza del Campilo is named Fuente de las Batallas - the Fountain of the Battles.

According to this post, this is where folks in Granada celebrate their soccer victories.

There was a reason why we were down in this area and killing time. We had reservations for dinner at a shop named La Oliva. The owner holds special dinners a few times a week. Multi-course dinners that feature the local olive oil and wine, with typical local dishes. I'd made arrangements a few months ahead of time for one of these dinners. Unfortunately the owner had taken ill so dinner was cancelled.

So it was time for plan B. We took our time making our way back up Calle Catolicos, a major shopping street....then cutting through Bib Rambla and the back of the Cathedral, then back up Gran Via until we turned down a side street to a wine bar named Saint Germain.

The place had a rather extensive listing of over 30 wines by the glass.....all from Spain in addition to Cava and beer.

We loved the atmosphere....we both ended up with our favorite wine...

The Missus ended up enjoying the house Blanco Seco, while I really liked the Encaste, a nice red, I believe a Cabernet from Ronda.

And of course, there was a free tapa with every glass. We really enjoyed what this place put out. First off, a wonderful olive oil-cheese-onion tostada, with nice oregano flavor, the bread so crisp.

Then a remarkable arroz-verde, rice with cheese and mushroom that was a pure joy to eat. Everything in balance, savory-salty-earthy, the rice cooked perfectly. This was perhaps the Missus's favorite single dish in Granada.

By this time, the Missus had discovered the joy of wondering what tapa would come out with Her next glass of wine. We were disappointed when it was a rather simple salad.

And rather surprised when something that looked just like a Mexican Flauta arrived. This was delicious by the way; the creamy, savory cheese-béchamel filling was very good.

I loved the fried fava beans too. I asked and was told this is a "canelone", a Spanish version of cannelloni and a specialty of Catalan, which was thought to be brought to Spain in the 19th century. You learn something new everyday.

By this time the place was filling up.

We had intended on ordering some food, but ended up stuffed on tapas. Our bill? 20 euros....which put us at less than forty bucks for lunch and dinner, crazy. By this time the place was full....on this evening full of locals and college students. We'd end up coming here on every evening while in town.....there would be a combination of locals and folks from the hotel up the street. We never had the same tapa twice......it became sort of a game for the Missus.....the let's see what we get kind of thing. I can't say I didn't enjoy playing along.

Saint Germain
Calle Postigo Velutti 4
Granada, Spain

Comments

[kat]

what a beautiful city!

[Kirk]

It was a fun day Kat!

[Ed (from Yuma)]

tapas omakaze. Love it. Nice find.

[Kirk]

If you think this is neat; wait until you see what we had in Ronda Ed!