At the end of a great road trip around Andalusia (southern Spain) with some brand new friend here from IE, we arrived in our final stop – Granada. This was the capital of Moorish (Muslim) Spain before Ferdinand and Isabella recaptured the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, thus is lavished in beautiful Muslim architecture.
Coming into town, as always, it was quite obvious we were neither Andalusian nor Spanish. We were rather 2 Indians, 1 Italian, and 1 American, lost and turning roundabouts 2 & 3 times regularly to find the right direction. Lucky for us a “tourism official” driving a scooter flagged us down and offered help (note the not so subtle parenthesis in this sentence).
Our main objective in Granada was to see al Alhambra, a massive Moorish fortress/palace built 600+ years ago. Tickets would be sold out for sure, but we were confident that our foreign charm would allow us admission one way or another if we spent time charming the right people. Manuel Torres Fernandez, the “official”, explained to us on the roadside that the Semana Santa festivities in the town would block our route to the hotel. Offering a map and directions Senior Fernandez showed us the alternate route. As a tourism official, he also offered to secure us tickets first thing in the morning (this was only because he worked very closely with the ticket office and they of course retain limited day-of tickets – surely we were ‘special guests’ right?).
So with 60 euros + tip (and his ID and license plate number as assurance) we were free to roam the narrow alleyways and tapas bars of Granada throughout the night with great confidence we would have tickets to al Alhambra in the morning. Sore feet and several rounds of shots later we were hitting our pillows with thoughts of the majestic al Alhambra dancing in our heads.
Well in the morning, waking up late on the wood floor of our apartment, I was sure to be miserable due to the massive hangover that was to follow me throughout the day. However I’ve been training for days like this since my undergraduate at WSU, so up-and-adam I was off to pick-up our tickets from Senior Fernandez… except for one thing – where the hell was Senior Fernandez?!
He was to bring the tickets to the front desk of our hotel. With a look of confusion the clerk confirmed our fears – Senior Fernandez was AWAL. “Police!!!”
Vitorio (my new Italian friend, and quite a passionate person) was NOT about to be swindled. He charged up to the Police on the street and we traveled to the main station to file a report. Ok, this was a cultural experience x100. The Police were quite busy this particular day smoking cigarettes, eating pastries, and reflecting on the Semana Sante events, thus they were left with little bandwidth to fight crime. I can only imagine how competitive their jobs are.
After filing our report and moving on to visit the city with our remaining hours, Vittorio called to inform the police we would be leaving Granada. The response from the police? “Good, we have more important business to attend to”…
To Manuel Torres Fernandez, the “official”, should you be literate enough to read this blog, we will be retuning to Granada some day soon. We am going to find you (because I have your address) and I'll take much more from you than the 60 euros + tip. See you soon Senior :)
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Sucks you got jacked buddy! The last part totally reminded me of the movie Taken with liam Neeson where he says, "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
ReplyDeletethat was tough. reminded me of the crusaders :)
ReplyDeleteEpic, buddy. Looks like you're living it up there. Still thinking of stopping through there during my European Vacation in June. Not exactly sure when, but sometime after my sister's graduation.
ReplyDeleteSalud!