There is this palace in Granada, Spain called the Alhambra. It’s a bucket list place. Everybody is supposed to go there. It’s like the Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat or the Louvre. How could one possibly travel across Southern Spain and miss it?

We tried, I swear. But like those other mega-tourist attractions, the Alhambra has a complex process of entry with multiple websites and exclusive tickets and tour packages and language-specific guides and Disney-like fast passes, etc. Everything was sold out months in advance. We had just been biking in Portugal and had no idea that we’d reach Granada. So anyway, we ended up doing something far better (IMO), which I’ll post next.

The photo above is from the public area of the Alhambra where they send the scruffy ill-prepared foreigners like ourselves. I assume it’s a pine cone, but I didn’t have a guide to tell me.