Granada: A Moorish Town

All pictures from Generalife Gardens and its views unless otherwise noted






Granada the city with Alahambra to the left. View of Generalife Gardens

The Alahambra and the Sierra Mountain range behind it. It is strange to be sweating next to palm trees and see snow covered mountains at the same time. This is taken from the Arab distric where my hostel was located. Sorry there are not more pictures the camera died.... it was a sad moment or in the words of Paco "que pena".


I woke up and went to the bus station, which was about a 30 min walk. I got on the bus and watched these lovers say bye. It was cute. During the bus ride I slept till my neck hurt and woke up driving through the wine region of Southern Spain. A beautiful ride. I arrived to Granada in another beautiful day. The directions to the hostel were very vague but I found it. It is called Oasis and is pretty cool. It is in the center of town in the Arabic neighborhood. There were ping-pong tables, comfortable seating, and outdoor areas as well, and the rooms are kind of small but whatever it gets me out. I met a roommate from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida named Robert. We walked around the city and had some sangria in some plaza with music nearby the hostel. He was kind of a bore but it was a good time. That night I went on a Tapas Tour in the city with a bunch of people from the hostel. We basically would order a 2 euro beer or 2.50 euro wine and you get free tapas with it. Best deal ever. I met these really funny guys from Australia. I think I fell in love with the Australian way of life. Everything they say is funny and they have a knack for life in general. One of the guys was an ex AFL player. He was a monster. AFL is considered the most brutal of all sports in the world. But he was also the nicest person. We also met up with some random people including some French and some twins one studying in Barcelona and one from Granada. We hit up some bars after our tapas tour (we were already feeling the buzz) and the Australians think all the American’s are weak. So I had to “man up” and they were impressed I could take shots without chasers. We must have a really bad rep haha. We also went to Granada 10 right by our Hostel, which is the largest club in Granada. There were about only ten people in it. But we had a blast taking it over. It looked like an old theater too! We got to the hostel late and continued the party till late at night.

The next day I woke up late strolled to the Alhambra up a huge hill in hot weather. I walked around and found where to pick up my tickets. The Alhambra is this amazing Arabic looking Palace grounds with amazing gardens. I started in the Generalife Gardens. Absolutely amazing views with well manicured gardens, which have not been changed in 600 years. They also had the largest roses I have ever seen and they smelled amazing. I am not one to get excited about flowers but these were truly something to behold. Clearly I went picture happy and you are not going to believe this. 5 mins into my time being there my camera’s battery died. I wanted to cry. I now know my camera is a stud on 3 bars, a sixth man on 2 bars, and JV benchwarmer on 1 bar. Oh well. I can’t win them all. I walked down back to the hostel so hungry and sick of being a tourist. I stopped by a bar and made friends with the bar tender. He said he was playing the Chelsea vs. Barca game that night. Afterwards, I went back to the hostel and took a Spanish class offered by the hostel with a teacher and a lady from Italy. We spoke similar amounts of Spanish so it was a nice hour of just Spanish. Then I took a shower and got ready. Becky Manning was sooo nice and she met me at the hostel and actually bought a room there, because she lives 30 mins outside the city where she teaches English for 12 hrs. a week for 700 Euros a month. And gives private tutor lessons. The South of Spain is sooo cheap too, so she is doing well and completely fluent in Spanish (so jealous). We went and saw the Barca game at the bar. We were lucky enough to snag seats. We had some beer and tapas. The game was awesome too! Some amazing goals, bad calls, and Barca won with a goal in extra time to tie the game 1-1. But since the goal was an away goal they won the series. Now Barca plays Manchester United on May 27 in Rome! The bar went crazy, it was a good time. Then Becky and I went to a hookah bar and got some Apple shisha (I think that is what it is called) and some tea. The tea was amazing the hookah was okay. Becky and I swapped stories all night about our travels, Spain, life, and CK. This week was great to see both Annie and Becky it made me realize how much I miss CK and back home. That night I was jacked up on Caffeine and Nicotine and it was hard to sleep.

I awoke the next morning checked out. Took the bus to the Airport and flew home. to Barna. When we landed they welcomed us only in Catalan and English. That was the first time that happened to me which I found very interesting. I came back did some emails, washed some clothes, updated my blog, went for a run, and caught up with Paco. Tomorrow Starts my Beer Tour!!!