Hotel Macia Plaza Granada

... shortly after 4pm and caught a taxi to the hotel. Lucky for us, by Novemeber it is off season here in Spain and thus we were able to get a great, cheap rate on a great little hostel near the Alhambra. I am so used to staying in hostels with 6 to 8 other people in a room that it was nice to travel and have a private room with nice facilities. For only $15 euro a night per person, we were able to stay at a place somewhat equivalent to a nicer "Days Inn" or a low star ...

19 Nov
After a 6 hour drive, (we´ve now covered around 1,600miles since leaving Bmth ) we enter Granada just b4 dark. Granada is the gateway to the Sierra Nevada, and our intention is to stay 2nights, mainly so we can spend one day in the Alhambra. We pitch our tent just b4 dark, the campsite conveniently located 5km outside Granada. We immediately notice a sharp (can see our breath!) drop in temperature, so after a camp meal and a couple of ...

... so many people on the roads and I don't know if I will ever get back to Granada again anytime soon so I felt like I needed to take the opportunity to see more the city. I walked down one of the roads that had the cool street lights, encountered more Americans, and went to an area with a little different vibe. More modern apartment buildings and spread out a little bit. When I got to the hotel I watched some of the cable TV. That was an experience.

... and roasted peppers. I should mention that Granada is famous for having free tapas, so if you are poor you might as well save your money for a few drinks because each one gets you a free plate of food. We sipped our wine, chomped on our food and listened to the live flamenco performance occuring down the stairs.
The next bar was more of a social bar, designed like some place youd see in texas with cowboy hats, wooden stools and bull horns over the bar ...

... unEuropean or because there is a sense of mystery about a people who lived in Spain for such a period of time and then were ejected by force of arms. They left behind physical evidence such as these buildings and gardens but also much of their culture which was incorporated into the Spanish culture. We near the end of our tour. Tomorrow we return to Madrid , visiting Toledo on the way. One night in Madrid and we all go our various ways. I go on to Rome.

After a long time away from the Blog, I am finally sitting down writing this retrospectively, trying to remember all the things and feelings that I had running inside of me in March 2008. Fresh off the boat, I detoured via Berlin and headed to Malaga in the south of Spain, where I rented a car to go to Granada in the hope of catching the last of the year's snow. I had made up my mind to use the time to practice my spanish, and not loose the little bit i did ...

... Someone must know; it was the historical period, after all. We had mostly overcast skies, with periods of sun. Had a brief bit of sunlight in the Arab baths, so that we had the streams of light entering through the windows. That part of the palace is interesting as well, because it is less restored. I would like to see photographs from the period prior to restoration: the Europeans had such a picturesque view of things that they tended to make ruins ...

... arrange visas for Tibet, if all had settled after the Olympic Games. As it is, things have settled so much, that we are going to be able to get our visas as a group in Nepal. So there was no need to hang around in Madrid, and we hot-footed it out of there. We stayed at a fantastic place in Granada in the Albaicin, an area of narrow cobblestone passages. We had our first tea and coffee making facilities ...

... point- they also still fight with Toradors riding horses. They SEDATE the horses so they won't be too freaked out by the bulls. So, riddle me this- if you're a horse and you're about to get into a ring with a very irate bull, do you want to be sober or stoned? It's not like the bull's been drinking too... The Toradors, I must say, are the hottest men in Spain. Rich, good looking and, hopefully, alive. Spain's most famous Torador made a bundle, was set to retire at the age of 30 and ...

... under construction and covered in graffitti. Good thing the office of tourism put that on the map. There were several other confused tourists in the neighborhood doing the same thing. My favorite site was definitely La Alhambra, which is an ancient Moorish palace and fortress. The fortress part was kind of lame, but it had a nice view of the Sierra Nevadas. The palace was fabulously breath-taking. Every room was more beautiful than the ...