Lets go to Granada
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2008
1
9
21
Trip End
Jun 04, 2009
Granada,
Andalusia,
Spain and Canary Islands
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Anyway...here is our story about Granada, Spain. A few weekends ago we decided we needed to get out of town. Denise and I woke up early and went to the bus station to find out what time the buses were leaving to a few different places that we have been wanting to go. Granada worked out the best so we called a friend who was also itching to get out of town and told her to meet us at the station in an hour. In the mean time we returned to our apartment (which is conveniently only 5 minutes away) to pack a few small items and eat some breakfast. I packed my clothes while Denise made sure that we had sandwiches and snacks for the road and all of that stuff that I donīt do well. If it werenīt for my wonderful wife I would be hungry about 90% of the time over here.
After we were all ready, we set off on the two and a half hour bus ride to Granada. We didnīt have a place to stay and really didnīt know much about the town except that it has one of the most famous ancient fortresses in all of Spain called the Alhambra, which dates back to the time when this part of Spain was the Arab capital of the world, in the 8th century! Upon arrival we found a helpful tourist desk which told us which hostel had an opening and what bus we had to take to get there....It was almost too easy.
After dropping our bags off at the dingy but sufficient hostel that was only 15 euros a night, we set out to see the sights of the town. It would take a whole day of writing to explain all of the interesting, weird and really cool things that we saw in Granada, so I will try to do it justice in a one sentence description: Granada is a beautiful, historic town that is influenced heavily by the North African and Arab cultures and is also home to a thriving university which brings with it youth and a lot of hippies who smoke pot on the street and play in hippie bands on the street. If that doesnīt clear it up for you Iīm not sure what will. Saturday night we went to a delicious Kebab (Turkish sandwich) stand for dinner, stopped at an African tea house where you have to sit at miniature tables (the tea was good despite the small chairs and tables) and ended the night at a tapas bar where you basically get a free meal (sandwich and fries) with the purchase of a beer for 2 euros. If you want to know why many bars in southern Spain serve free tapas with beer, just e-mail me and I will tell you the whole story as it was told to me.
On Saturday we could not visit the Alhambra, which sits beautifully on a hill above town, because you have to buy a ticket in advance and then wait for your appointed time to enter. Entries are limited each day so it is important to by the ticket early in the morning. We started out at 7:45 on Sunday and after trekking up a large hill, ended up arriving at about 8:30 or so. We got lucky and had an entry time of 9:00 which was perfect. The Alhambra was freezing this particular morning because Granada is at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and is only a short distance from a ski resort, although there is no snow in town, but the fortress was as advertised...amazing! We made our way through all of the rooms and gardens of this incredible palace with an audio tour headset that was available English and by 2:00 were on our way back town.
The rest of the day we wondered around and then sat down to play some cards (rummy) near a fountain. The Spaniards stopped and watched occasionally, some of them looking intrigued like they had never seen playing cards before. We took off from the bus station at 7 and were home safe and sound by 10!
