First impressions of an old city in southern Spain…. getting cervezas and tapas in Castenedas, an old Spanish bodega with barrels and legs of ham hanging from the ceiling and old wooden bar and lively atmosphere. That was after walking out of my first Spanish class on a Monday afternoon. Walking up to the Alhambra through the cool atmosphere of the chestnut trees and running water beneath them, to a fountain on top of the Alhambra amongst a symmetrical garden in the late evening light. A cat lapping from the fountain before me, with one eye on intruders. On a sunny day splashing water from the fountain in the Plaza Nueva onto my hot arms and neck, and then sitting feeling refreshed and cool, and watching the bustle of people and faces and lives loiter and pass. Walking down the pass between the Alhambra by myself one evening at 830pm towards the Rio Darro, and looking at the crumbling red rammed earth fortifications from centuries past, and hearing the water tumble downhill, in chorus with my downhill footfalls.
