Day 27_Granada to Cordoba

We finally had an easy travel day in a major city move.  The quiet 12 EUR, two hour bus ride from Granada revealed a landscape that must include the world's market on olives.  There were literally MILLIONS of acres of olives, in a grid, over mountains, down valleys, as far as you could see in every direction.  Apparently the trees are not picky about soils as we saw them growing in all conditions.  Happily for this climate, they need no additional water once established.  We often receive a small bowl of olives free of charge at restaurants.  Now I know why.

After settling in to the hostal, I went to a nearby restaurant and had some local ethic fare.  Tapas are small appetizer size meals.  I had two.  Albondigas mozarabes is meatballs in an almond and cinnamon sauce.  There was also a chickpea, carrots and sausage stew.  Both were a mix of Spain and Arabic-influenced dishes.  For breakfast I had had a typical Spanish dish:  toasted bread with pureed fresh tomato and prosciutto.  About 95% of all dishes in Spain seem to contain some sort of pork....they love pig here.

Spanish citizens use about 1/3 of the energy of a typical American.  That's good; however, what that means is that all lights are on sensors and you are often in the dark, including commercial spaces.  My current hostal requires me to find my doorway in a dark hallway, grasping for a dimly lit outlet to unlock the door.  To turn on the electricity in my room, I insert the room key into a wall outlet.  (You never lose your room key.)  When I leave, it's a bit tricky to pull closed the center doorknob and lock the door in a dark hallway.

A couple of other interesting notes.  French and Spanish women wear their wedding rings on the right hand.  I originally thought many people were divorced until I realized they all had their rings on the other hand.  Who decided this tradition anyway?  Also, lotto fever is nuts here.  There are booths of lottery tickets lining streets, at the bus and train stations, even people walking into restaurants in case you want to "win big."  Unfortunately I will never win, as I never play.