Granada in March Day 9

It's our ninth and last day and we pop out early to visit the Santo Domingo church which we can see from the windows of our apartment but is only open before the church services. On the left below the altar the lifesize carving of the Last Supper and behind it a retablo almost absurdly overloaded with cherubs are memorable for different reasons.

We go out again later and walk to the Alcazar del Genil, a delightful building in the same style as the Nasrid Palaces. It's free to visit and definitely worth the walk for the beautiful yseria and ceiling.

After, we continue to Huerta de San Vicente where there's the summer residence of Federico Garcia Lorca. It's free to visit on Wednesdays but we are somewhat doubtful after reading the reviews on TripAdvisor. Nevertheless, we get a polite welcome and have to wait just ten minutes for a free guided visit. We, and a Spanish couple are the only visitors. The visit is brief and to the point, conducted in very fast Spanish it explains the rooms and what's in them  - there are only four, and the guide then leaves us to our own devices to visit a sort of mini exhibition about other writers. We are out the door in twelve minutes, having enjoyed the house, especially the kitchen with its mini wood stove, but somewhat bemused by the speed of it all. Never mind, we wander back to the centre  and from there up 

to Carmen de los Martires where there's supposed to be an exhibition of historical classical guitars. Supposed to be we discover because the organizer is disconsolately sitting on a bench outside waiting for someone to get the electricity going. Smoke seems to be coming out of the circuitry so it looks like it could be a long job so we head back to the apartment for lunch.

After lunch we decide it's time for a last Pionono and coffee at Puerta Bernina and then head to Plaza Nueva by some back streets. In Plaza Nueva we look in the only touristy shop in the whole of Granada that we hadn't already seen and lo and behold, the perfect bag is waiting, not only that but when I see the price (25euros) and am thinking, 'not at all at expensive' the kind man in the shop reduces it to 20. 

Amazed at my good fortune (the hunt for the perfect bag has been going on some years!), we continue back up towards Sacromonte and since it's a day inclined to perfection find the perfect bench in the sun with a perfect view of the Alhambra. There are two benches and a couple of plastic tables and chairs. The other bench is occupied by a Japanese lady taking a rest and absorbed in her smartphone. The plastic tables and chairs are occupied by some locals who are chatting. So we sit there in the sun, with the perfect view of the Alhamabra listening to the relaxing sound of a language we like and only half understand, just behind us there's an unofficial shop which provides a welcome beer for 1.50euro and we sit and listen and drink and look and time stands still.

We finally drag ourselves away, at 6 o'clock we can visit the gardens of Carmen de la Victoria, another university building. The gardens are delightful and as you may have guessed, the view of the Alhambra is spectacular.

From there we go back up Cuesta del rey Chico, my favourite route up to the Alhambra and back to Carmen de los Martires where the electricty is up and working and the considerably cheered organizer is welcoming people to the exhibition and concert. It's the first time I have listened to live classical guitar music and it's beautiful, but as the sun is now low behind the horizon we creep out to be met by the last darkening glimpses of a sunset of stunning and impossible-to-capture intensity. We wander back home slowly slowly, the last day in Granada, a city which as the British poet Emeline Stuart Wortley felt, I too loved before seeing it and love it even more now I have seen it.