Tryp Albayzin Granada

Granada is a pretty crazy city, a mix of part Morocco, part Andalucia, part Jewish, toss in some tourists, tapas, and trendy shops and you´ve got a good city. When we arrived, we were fourtunate that our awesome hostel served dinner. Spanish meat (so yes, it was pig), cooked in a huge Paella-type pan with rice and some homemade sangria, and we thought we would never have to leave the hostel! (They had free breakfast and internet too). But, the ...

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... ay), the royal gardens. They are huge and full of little ponds, winding hedge-lined paths and beautiful views out over the Alhambra and the city of Granada. I could see why it would have been good to be the king. To my slight disappointment, the Patio of Lions was not all it was cracked up to be because the Lions have been removed for restoration, but oh well. I guess I will just have to go back to Granada some other time.

As we were leaving the Alhambra, several girls, (what is ...

... those 2 monarchs and their kids have their sarcophagi. One was Phillip the Handsome (!) who is responsible for naming the “Phillipines”. Ya learn something every day. One invasion, French soldiers dumped all 5 of the sarcophagi into a nearby creek; bones all over everywhere, lost for good. Don’t let anyone tell you the remains of Isabel or Ferdinand are inside a box somewhere; they aren ...

... wine.  It was a great place to hangout.  Gypies are quite prevalent in Granada, and they are some scraggly looking people.  Additionally mullets are hot right now in Spain.  There were a lot of disgusting mullets floating around the city.  But even the Gypsies are rocking mullets, except they just shave the majority of their dread locks and leave just a few strands hanging off the back of their scalp.  Needless to say it's a pretty good look. Finally we abandoned our post and ...

... things. Dinner followed class in the typical buffet manner, of course accompanied by profiteroles and Chocolate Mousse. Ah, on to the night's activities. We had heard about these 'Chupiterias' (shot bars) that were pretty close to our residencia. We decided roll out with the majority of our American crew and some of the Dutch crowd once again. Once again, the bar could be described as a hole-in-the-wall ...

... meet my team for the first time. If you have never had tapas, do yourself a favor and get a group together and go to the nearest Spanish restaurant and enjoy a selection of Tapas! Tapas originated in Granada and consist of hot and cold plate appetizers. The most amazing part of the tapas experience is that when you buy a drink here in Granada, the tapas come free automatically ...

... hotnesses and 1 freezing cold one), then got a massage. After carrying a backpack around for weeks, it was bliss. Headed back out into the searing 44 degree heat and chilled in my hostel, chatting to the barman to get tips on what to do and see. When the temperature cooled down a bit, I walked up to St Nicholas's balcony, the best place to watch the sun set on the Alhambra - the amazing turkish palace/castle which I'll be checking out tomorrow morning ...

... people and generally relaxing (which has been awesome!) Since I have limited us to one hill climb a day when the sun is up, we spend mornings down in town then have lunch and trek back up. After spending the next 6 hours recovering with fans and sangria (hey anyplace where booze is cheaper than water is ok by me....just kidding mum!) At night we have been sampling all the tapas bars and the tapas is free when you buy a drink so we have been having three drinks and three ...

... go to bed until they open shop again after about 6pm. I noticed that it is only dumb tourists such as myself who are walking around outside during siesta time. Driving on the highways here is a free for all. I´ve never driven on the German Autobahns but I´d venture to say it is similar here. The speed limit is just a suggestion. You can go as fast as you want! And people do! I´ve driven up to a max of ...