Granada, old friends and good eats!!!
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
61
65
Trip End
Dec 08, 2008
Granada,
Andalusia,
Spain and Canary Islands
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Granada is one of those cities that if you walk it, you have seen it. You donīt have to always pay the ridiculous entry fees to see things. The first day was just getting my bareings. It was a great little place to walk, people watch, and take in the atmopsphere of a great Spanish city. A huge, student town, full of young people and a ton of hippies. The real culture of Granada is "BE FREE".
My hostel that I was staying at was a perfect little place to hang out. You quickly find out that the best place to meet people and talk is in the kitchen. Just like at home, where most people will hang around the kitchen at a party, same at the hostels. This hostel had a great roof top terrace that was defianlly utilized. Each room looked over the courtyard which made for just a really nice place to stay.
I took a walking tour the next day. Eric, our tour guide was from Oregon, USA. He moved to Barcelona a year ago and just moved to Granada for a change of scenery. He did walking tours in Barce and now has opened his own company in this little town. A total history buff, it was really cool to support the little guy trying to make a living while traveling. He walked us through the Albaicin, a classic spanish neigborhood. Full of history and life, the locals are out and about and doing their thing. It was really nice to be in an area without all the tourists buying crap for all their friends and family back at home. I on the other hand will not be bring home one t-shirt or any other gawdy looking souvenir, sorry guys!!!
After Eric finsihed his tour he took us to a great little Tapa place. Only visited by the local, none of the waiters knew a word of English. This made it really hard, basically because we had no idea how to order the tapas here and with no English, had no idea how we were going to find out. Out came the guide book and the small amount of phrases that was in it, we got through it. 3 hours of sitting, eating, talking, and drinking made for the best afternoon in the 20 degree sun. A life that canīt be beat!!!!
We headed back down to the hostel and sat and drank a bottle of wine and chilled out on the roof top terrace. Watched the sun set and then made it inside for dinner. I met a couple in Barcelona a couple days prior and they had made it to Granada a day after I arrived. Steve decided he was making Spanish Omlettes for everyone and I wasnīt going to argue. A night of not cooking, I was pretty happy. I am more then happy to pay for groceries, and do the clean up if someone else cooks. I think it is a fair deal. A wicked meal and good conversation and we were done for the night. The next day we had to go see the Palace on the hill.
So really there are two things in Granada that you have to see while you are here. Really only two things. The church, I wasnīt going, I swore to myself I was not going to see it, and the Palace.
Stolen from the Morrish by the Cathlics. A huge one of a kind palace on top of the hill made for a great afternoon. I was a little nervous to go and pay the 12 euros to go see another palace. I was pretty happy just to take in another day of walking the streets. Lucky for me The Alhambra Palace is again, like none other. The Morrish knew how to do things when they built this remarkable building. The details in the architecture is nothing like I have seen yet. Looking like it was done with computer, the intricate tile work on the walls, ceiling and floors were breath taking. Thinking that we were going to be in and out in about an hour, was false hope. 3 hours later and we were still looking at every little detail. The views of Granada were awesome from the towers, no pollution in this city. We toured the Fortress and the Gardens and called it an afternoon. It was time to eat.
We have quickly learned that eating in places in Spain, where no one speaks English is a little tough. We decided to let the waiter bring out what ever he thought would be good. Thank god we did because I donīt know if we could have ordered what he brought us. He put down this plate of food. Well, it wasnīt really a place, it was board with about 10 different types of tapas on it. Seafood, meat, cheese, bacon, veggies, omlettes, stuffed potatoes. NOTHING BUT GOODNESS. Between the 3 of us, we ate every bite and if he brought us another one, we could have eaten that too. I canīt even explain to you how good it was. Another night of socializing and a couple bottles of wine.
That was Granada, pretty uneventful but after Barcelona, I needed a couple days of doing very little. Its funny, Italy has a traveling circuit that most people do, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Venice. Spain is no exception, San sebastain, Barcelona, Granada, and Seville. I wasnīt about to deviate from everyone else, or was I???????????????????
