Leslie is introduced to La Alhambra

Sometimes you´re awake for two hours at night with jet lag, and then have to get up early. This morning was one of those times, but it was ok because I was getting up early to be a tourist, not to go to work. In general I find that not going to work makes my mornings better.

Being a hardy traveler, as I am, I decided to skip the bus ride to my destination and walk it. The guide noted the trip as a ¨20 minute hike¨. They weren´t kidding about that hike part. For those of you who´ve ´climbed a mountain´ in China, this was very similar. The path was paved with bumpy stones and kept to a steady incline for all twenty minutes. Despite the crisp, cool morning and low humidity, I was ¨glistening¨ right through my clothes by the time I reached the summit.

I should have known better: when one visits a fortress, one should anticipate climbing a mountain.

And a fortress was precisely where I was bound. Today was my La Alhambra visit. LA is an old Moorish fortress and palace that dates back to the 13th century. It was the final stronghold of Muslim rule before the Christians recaptured Europe. In short, it was a really athletic visit (no need for excersize for me today!) with fantastic views of the city and what I can only imagine would have been a really interesting and informative audio tour.

So THAT´s a story there. I had intended to shell out the 3 euros for the audio tour, but at the ticket place they didn´t ask me or have signs. I assumed that I could get one at the palace interance. (sidenote: when traveling abroad, one should never assume anything. Bad idea)

Because so many people visit LA each day, you´re given a ticket with an entry time (in my case, 8;30am) You´re allowed to enter the palaces between your assigned time and the thirty minutes following. After that, the scary guards won´t let you in, and you´ll have to buy another ticket and try again, if there are more tickets to be had. By the time I got to the palace entrance, realized that no one was renting audio guides, found an English speaking guest with a guide and found out that I should have rented it at the ticket place, I didn´t have time to go back and still get into the palace before 9am. Saddness. So I was stuck with my ignorance. That was really disappointing to me, but the trip was still worth the price of admission, even if I didn´t know what I was looking at. :)

In other news, I bought a purse. On the surface that may seem uneventful, but remember Good Reader, I bought it in a foreign country. So here´s what happened...

On day one of the trip I realized that I need a purse so as to look less like a tourist with a backpack, and to be able to keep a better eye on my goodies in a high-pickpocket area. So yesterday morning I looked at a couple of shops. I found some that I liked, and the nice owner informed me that my choice was 8 euros. That´s a little less than $10, which was definately more than the purse was worth. So, dusting off my bargaining skills from another epoc of life, I suggested perhaps he would take 5 euros (in hopes of eventually landing at 6.50). The owner politely replied that that wouldn´t be ok, then he said some stuff really fast in Spanish which I think involved him making a living and I know involved a lot more that I couldn´t understand. There was no mention of a price drop, which made me wonder if I wasn´t supposed to bargain here. Feeling a little bit embarrassed but not totally convinced that he wasn´t just being stingy, I thanked him, smiled and walked on. Slowly, of course, in case he was bluffing and wanted to call me back, having ´seen the error of his ways´. But he didn´t.

I kept going and checked his price with another stand or two (they all sell the same stuff) and sure enough, 8 euros seemed to be the going rate. So after my siesta (have I mentioned how much I respect a culture with a strong siesta-worldview?) I traipsed back down, determined to bite the proverbial bullet and pay the 8 euros.

As I approach the stand I think to myself, is this a new sales guy? That could be good or bad. So I ask him the price and he tells me it´s 12 euros. Funny how the price went up 50% in a couple hours. I checked the bag, but it was not any higher quality than when I had left it. So I said to the guy, I was here earlier today, and the man told me this is 8 euros. No, no, no! No, this bag is 12 euros, very beautiful, blah, blah, blah.

At this point I´ve let go of any remaining hint of shame at attempting to bargain in a possible non-bargaining situation. Fortunately, about this time the original sales guy walks up, backs up my story and tells his ambitious business partner to give it to me for 8. I smile triumphantly (even though I still know I´m overpaying) and walk away with my new purse. I anticipate having to re-stitch something before I make it back to the States.