Day 27 - July 25th

  Granada, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Friday, July 25, 2008

So I thought staying out until 3 am wouldn't be so horrible because Friday was el Dia de San Sabastian (or something like that) - basically it's a National Holiday in Spain - so nothing's open.  So, we decided that we would head to Granada at the south of Spain instead.  Our train left at 11am so we had to wake up anyway - ugh, it was horrible!
 
At least the train ride was about 4 hours so we got some rest on the way there.  I wish I could have slept the entire 4 hours but I wasn't so lucky - I was awoken by the growls of my tummy wishing and begging for some food.  I decided that I would take a walk over to the cafeteria on the train to see what they had to offer me.  I got a croissant and some chips ahoy cookies.  Decent, at least it was filling.  There were no bocadillos - why?  We realized that the cafeteria was filled with a ton of guys on a bachelor party.  It was so early in the morning and they were already drunk - crazy!  The ones that weren't drunk were nice...but, hey, it was a bachelor party!

The bachelor party

 
When we finally arrived we took a taxi ride up the mountain to our hotel - yes, it was up a ridiculous hill and the taxi driver got lost getting us up there - hotels.com isn't that accurate with distances, apparently - but the hotel did have a great view! 
 
After we left the hotel we took a trip around town, looking at various landmarks, eating in a local restaurant, eating some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted (Passion Fruit ice cream)

The best ice cream ever!

and then taking the local bus up to the view of the Alhambra.  We didn't get tickets to get inside the Alhambra, they were sold out, so we had to resort to looking at it from a distance.

Sitting over the ledge

Alhambra at Sunset

The view

 
While we were up there looking at the view from the Alhambra we were greeted by, or should I say annoyed by, this hippie 57-year old man that was just...funny!  ...that's all I can say.  He was absolutely crazy!  I just wanted to see the Alhambra at Sunset.  And that we did - it changes to this almost reddish color at sunset, it's great! 
 
After that we made it to this little Moroccan-type village, met some Moroccan people - funny, the Moroccans in Granada didn't fall for me saying that I was of Moroccan-decent...the Moroccans in Morocco did!  LOL.  So we hung out with some people that we met there, went to another Hootkah bar, had some good chit-chats with a Moroccan and then headed out.
 
I went in to this local store to buy a Fanta (I was thirsty) and as I was trying my best to communicate to the guy taking my money, this guy behind me started laughing.  He said, you're American, aren't you?  I said, ouch, was my Spanish that bad?  He said, "NO, I could just tell."  Anyway, he was this guy that was from San Francisco himself that was visiting his Sister and Brother-in-law in Granada.  He invited us with his Brother-in-Law and all of his Spanish friends to go bar-hopping with them.  And that we did, bags and all!  It was so funny - we really were tourists...sneakers and plastic bags filled with souvenirs, they took us into the clubs and we had a fabulous time!  

The guys we met

Bag ladies at the club

 

With the gents

It was fun trying to communicate with his friends who didn't speak English, one of them was finishing his last year of med school to be a Plastic Surgeon...he told us to call in a few years in case we needed a lift...I told him my booty needed a lift right now...he said NO, my butt was perfect!  Yayyy!  Okay, whatever, at least it was perfect to him! 
 
They were so sad that we met them that night and that we didn't have any more time for them to take us around in Granada the next day - they said there was a whole lot more that they could have shown us.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  We had to get back to study for exams...L.
 
Back to the hotel we went...4 people, 2 twin beds...this was going to be fun!