November 9th – Reserving tickets for the Alhambra

On the 26^th we’re taking the train down to down to Granada for a couple days to see the Alhambra then we’re going over to Seville for a few days there as well.  So today we went over to the library where we can get good internet connections.  When we got there we found out that today is another Feria day for Madrid and the library was on holiday hours, so we were there 30 minutes early.  We decided to walk through the neighborhood to kill time and come back a few minutes before things opened.   When we headed back about 10 minutes before opening there was a line of at least 100 people lined up to get in!  I was floored, we could have been in the first 5 people when we first showed up but had no idea that it would fill up like that.  I described in an earlier post how people ‘camp’ at the desks; they bring in their papers, books, pencils, computers, etc. and grab a spot then just leave whenever they want , leaving the stuff not worth stealing at the desk to hold their places.  I guess when you’re living in a very small place having a place to work must be at a great premium.   Anyway we got spots and I was able to make our reservations for the Alhambra.   Later in the day I went to a couple of historic Madrid bar/restaurants, for canas (small draft beers) and tapas, that have been in business since the late 1800’s and have hosted many celebrated Spanish writers, poets, and intellectuals.  One, Casa Alberto has been in business since 1827 and is in the building in which Cervantes lived when he wrote the second part of Don Quixote.  El Parnasillo hosted such painters as Ribera, Madrazo in the mid-1800's and was a place where actors could get hired for the teatros in the area.  What I learned will not perhaps surprise anybody the canas were more expensive and the tapas would be laughed at in A Conchina.