Back in the town centre, and using our map to guide us to monuments of interest, we found that the Ethnographic Museum was closed. A large building with a belén (nativity scene diorama) in it looked interesting but it was home to the military and even its belén was closed to the public. At least we got to admire the enormous belén on the ledge above the jewellery shop in which the three kings were presenting their gifts. This created the psychological inference that the public had better rush into the jewellery shop and purchase their gifts for the season, and Keith pointed out that the Rolex ad beside the belén was even making a suggestion of what would be appropriate.We broke our string of ‘non entry’ bad luck by being able to go to look at the Corral del Carbon (coal yard), which was a fourteenth century merchants’ inn around a courtyard, currently used as government offices and undergoing renovations. It has a beautiful horseshoe arched Islamic façade, but unfortunately the government run craft shop we hoped to see was not open.
Walking over to the other side of town we discovered that the Basilica of St John was shut.
Further along we stepped through an arch of something not closed – it was the old cloisters of St John, but is now a hospital specialising in venereal diseases and AIDS. There were religious paintings on the walls all around the cloisters, and we walked about carrying our backpacks looking very touristy as we examined them. Meanwhile doctors in green shower cap like head dresses and white outfits walked in and out of doors and obviously ill patients looked at us dubiously. I hadn’t even registered that it was a hospital, so absorbed was I in the art works, and strangely I didn’t immediately think that the characters in this ‘monastery’ were out of context. Eventually I noticed that the doors had labels like ‘X-rays’ and then I couldn’t leave quickly enough. 
Next in my plan for the day was a visit to the monastery of San Jeronimo, and while we had time to admire its cloisters and courtyard, the church itself was closing for the siesta break.This non-day continued with even the statue of the Captain of the Catholic Monarch’s army that I imagined would grace the square named after him not existing. We stopped there to eat a snack on a sunny seat, and enjoyed watching teen culture once school was out. Truly there is nothing new under the sun and all the ploys for gaining attention and spending time with certain boys or girls seem to be pretty much universal in western countries. The sun moved, or really, of course, the earth did, and once we were in shadow it was cold and we had to start walking again.
Our final attempt at redeeming this day of monument visiting was to walk down to the Federico Garcia Lorca Park which commemorates the poet. He would have hated it – it is the most regulated park in the world in terms of straight lines and imprisoned plants. Only joggers used it in the time we were there. His house nearby, the Huerta de Saint Vincent, is where he spent many summers writing, surrounded by what used to be orchards. We would have liked to visit but, being Monday, it was closed. Oh dear – at least the supermarket was open but it is a bit sad to think that we were excited about that.
The computer was not ready when Keith first went over, causing us some anxiety, but later we were able to pick it up. We are now the proud owners of a computer that has all its messages and options in Spanish. I must press ‘apajar equipo’ now and give up on this day.
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