The Cave Hotel of Gaudix

(The kitchen area of the hotel cave. We were provided a breakfast)

(Ted outside the hotel cave)

(The old days. Ahh, overcommercialization of hotel caves.)

So, funny story. You know how sometimes the least exciting times become the most memorable? This is sure to become a story similar to when I booked us a hotel in NYC for the Millenium celebration and the hotel was above a strip club in the seedy neighborhood of Chelsea. The thing is, there were four of us that got to celebrate 2000 in Times Square, but the accommodations...

Well, this wasn't as bad but more unique. By now, our travel plans - tentative as they were - are totally messed up. Mostly because the Alhambra was closed or booked on the day we wanted to travel. So, what would have become a blur through Granada and Seville and then to Bilbao is now a longer excursion in Granada and a hope and a prayer we make the 6:42 am train out of Granada to get to Madrid and then up north to Bilbao. Will we make it to San Sebastian prior to Pamplona? Hope so because I did book that hostel/hotel ahead of time.

So, here was this day's plan. We headed down on train from Madrid to Grenada. Then, we were to take an hour bus ride to Gaudix. Mostly because I noticed what seemed like a cool "hotel in a cave" in the guidebook (which I have since lost). Naturally, we had to and did book it. The thing is, I didn't notice that it was in a town outside of Grenada and not in a neighborhood of Grenada.

So, we go on train from Madrid and to Grenada with the idea of taking a bus to Gaudix. The problem with the scenario is that the buses to Gaudix stopped. So, we took a taxi.

Have you ever taken a taxi 55 kilometers?! We had not gone so far previously. So, the taxi driver spoke little to no english and drove us 45 mins to the hotel... where he quickly got lost in the town. Eventually, we provided him with a cell phone to communicate to the hotel (now at 11pm). He drove us to a church nearby where we were then picked up by a hotel staff member and driven 5 minutes up a hill and to the hotel cave. It was a nice touch that the driver happened to be the inn keeper's very attractive daughter. She grew up in France, but now lived in the hotel cave with her mother. I tried speaking French, but it was clumsy. She was flirty because somehow I made her laugh. Maybe, a little wit works even with language barriers or it was the haircut :) j/k. We're probably the first guys this poor girl has talked to in weeks. The town of Gaudix has about 20,000 people, for instance. Plus, it doesn't hurt that I'm the only blond in town and the tallest person around most parts of this country besides Ted. It was funny that she knew no English and as she continued to communicate to Ted in Spanish, she smiled, looked at and spoke to me the whole time. Given the whole trek to the cave hotel and overall situation, it was funny.

So, we made it to the hotel, carved into the mountain bed rock. It smelled like a cave. Looked kinda like a cave. But mostly, was, well, kinda boring, yet cave-like. (Like the overuse of commas?)

We strolled down the hill to explore the town of Gaudix a little and ended the night at a tapas bar enjoying some Sangria and a variety of hams and cheeses. After crashing, we woke early to head to Granada. Today, we will view the Alhambra, enjoy some night life and try to hit that train at 6:42 am. Oh man! ....