Granada, Spain

NB:  Intended to publish this 2 nights ago but thought "Oh I'll wait til morning and it give it one final proofread.  Woke up the next day and over half of it disappeared so I had to re-create it.  Never fun and I hate the waste of effort that I put into it.  This is not the first time I've had blog issues and I do try to ensure I am constantly saving and that the internet is connected! Sometimes the internet disconnects and so much work is lost.  Argh!  In any event, here is my little ditty about Granada, Spain.  Also, not proofread... will do that eventually but I hate the thought of losing it again!


The bus from Cordoba to Granada cost 11 Euros.  I ask for a window seat and am seated at the back of the bus, second from the last row, but I get a window seat and no one is seated beside me. Otherwise, the bus is fairly full.  It pulls into three small towns along the way to pick up and drop off passengers.  Actually more people get on than off.  Now, the only empty seats are the one beside me and three seats in the back row.  An English couple get on in a small town and sit behind me.  As soon as she walks past me I can smell the stench of her perfume.  WHY do people wear perfume in public places? WHY?  I cover my mouth with a cloth and breathe through that until we reach Granada, but by then the migraine has definitely set in!  When the bus reaches Granada and we are getting off the bus I contemplate saying something to her but know I won't use the politically correct tone so choose to keep my thoughts to myself.

The scenery was nice.  I didn't know what all the rows of trees were but we pass an olive oil factory and I clue in that it must be olive groves.

It fascinates me to see these huge "castles" in small towns

(Mostly) White Villages of Andalucia

Yet another "castle" up on a hill

We arrive in Granada two hours after departing Cordoba.  It's been a nice ride and I enjoyed the scenery.  I pull my suitcase from the bottom of the bus.  Here in Spain, the passengers are responsible for loading and unloading their luggage from the under carriage.  I exit the bus station and get in a waiting cab.  I have all of my accommodation reservations printed out so I just need to show the address to the cabbie and for only 6 Euros I am driven to my hostel.

My first impression of this hostel isn't great.  It doesn't have that homey vibe of Yeah Barcelona.  I'm checked in and go up to my room.  It's an ultra-modern hostel utilizing the minimalist concept through and through.  Long story short, this ends up being the worst hostel of my trip thus far (and hopefully it is indeed the worst).   I am given the bottom bunk I requested.  No under-the-bed lockers so I keep my suitcase standing up beside my bed and lock my laptop and purse in the tiniest locker ever created.  The lockers are stacked atop one another and my locker is on the bottom closest to the floor, the combination lock numbers so small that I have to use my flashlight to see them.

The bathroom is a disgusting piece of work.  Gross!  With every shower the entire floor floods.  You would think you were in Thailand where "wet showers" are the norm.  The toilet is mounted too close to the wall so your right hip literally touches the wall.  Gross!  There are 4 hooks (for a 6-bed dorm) that are all mounted on a strip that is about 10" in length so everyone's towel and clothes drapes on top the other stuff on the hooks.  I'm the last person to check in so I don't even get a hook - the four hooks are all spoken for.  There are, however, hangers in this hostel so I hang my towel on a hanger and hook it to the bunk above me.  That works out well for me as I can't stand other people's towels and clothes touching my towel.  There's no shelf in the bed area to put my glasses but there is a reading light and a plug in for my phone.

I introduce myself to the two young women on the top bunks.  Maria from Shanghai is speaking fluent Spanish to Kate from Spain.  Maria has no accent whatsoever.  I ask her, "how many languages do you speak", and she replies "only three" (Chinese, English, and Spanish).  She attends New York University (in China, I presume), as she tells me NYU has six campuses around the world.  She is on her way to do a semester in Barcelona.

I walk the neighbourhood and stop into the nearest Tapas bar I see.  Granada has a reputation for free tapas when you order a drink.  I don't care about getting them for free, I just want to eat.  The waitress tells me what they don't have on the menu.  I order meatballs and potatoes with ham and cheese and, of course, a tinto de verano.   It's siesta time and they are bringing the outside table and chairs inside.  I pay my bill and head back to the hostel to do some blogging. Here in Spain, people really care about their appearance.  Men and women and children are always dressed very nicely, not slovenly North American type of clothing for them.  This it the first trip where I have packed dresses knowing that it's the norm here to not wear in the evening the shorts/capris and tank top you wore out during the day.

Later in the evening I go for a walk but stick to the main street.  These narrow dark roads with graffiti adorned steel shuttered windows give me a slight uneasy feeling.  It's about 8:30 PM and the street is jam-packed with people dressed up, probably going out for dinner.

Later on I return to my room and meet Diane in the top bunk above my bed.  Diane is from Long Beach, California.  She is in Granada until June 2019 teaching ESL (English and a Second Language).  She is fluent in Spanish and is out every day looking for a shared apartment to rent.  Granada is a University town so apparently it's quite easy to find a shared apartment for about $200/month.  Now I don't know if that is US dollars or Euros.  Over the course of my stay here in Granada, Diane is the person I connect with most easily.  The rest of the roomies are unfriendly sorts so other than introducing myself to each of them I don't have any conversation with them.  When I was in Barcelona, I overheard some hostel chatter about how unfriendly some hostels can be and how Yeah Barcelona wasn't that way at all.  From my experience thus far, that is so very true.  I think it's because Yeah Barcelona puts in a lot of effort to bring people together through meals and activities as well as the layout of the hostel.

At bedtime, Corinne from Italy (by way of Rwanda - she came to Italy 20 years ago as a refugee) shows up and gives me the inside scoop on the Alhambra.  I have a timed entrance ticket for 2:30 tomorrow.  She tells me that she spent eight hours there and that I need to take food because they only have vending machines in the park and they're located only at the entrance.

Tickets for the Alhambra are a hot commodity.  If you haven't pre-purchased your ticket several weeks ago you are not going, plain and simple!  Tickets go on sale three months in advance of the date you want to go.  I bought my ticket about six weeks before I left home and of the three days I chose, two were completely sold out and the earliest time slot on the day they did have tickets was at 2:30 PM in the hottest part of the day.  Beggars can't be choosers.

When I awake I need to use the bathroom so badly but someone is in there and is dawdling with the whole skincare routine thing.  OMG!  This hostel thing has been an eye-opening experience as to all the crap that women pack with them... I am talking facial masks, glue on nails, etc... I kid you not!  I really need to use the facilities so I get dressed and go down  to the lounge to use the common area bathroom. I might as well stay down here and have a coffee until all the bathroom hoopla upstairs is done with.  I learned very quickly that I take my day's shower in the afternoon before dinner, and after the bathroom as been freshly cleaned because heaven forbid you're the 6th person in line for the shower with 5 people showering before you.  Gross!

I order a coffee and see an older woman sitting alone.  I ask to join her.  Chris is from Colorado, an ESL teacher, spending a few days in Spain on either side of trips to England and Scotland to tend to family obligations.  We have a nice long conversation and I get lots of tips from her.  She tells me to go to the tourist info booth for a good map.  The map the hostel hands out is simply a map showing where the advertisers are located and it doesn't have all the street names on it.  She also gives me a tip about going to the Albaicin area of Granada.

I head back up to the room and most everyone has left for the day.  I get my stuff together so that I don't have to return to the hostel.  I head towards the Cathedral and sit down at an outdoor cafe for some breakfast.  I order a coffee and torta.  The torta was the worst I have eaten in Spain.  I couldn't even finish it.  I did enjoy the tomatoes though.  I ate them the way that Ana had shown me, poured a bit of olive oil on the bread, tomatoes on top and then salt and pepper.  So tasty.  I am missing vegetables.  Aubergine (eggplant) is very popular here but I hate eggplant.  Other than that, red peppers may get served as a veggie on occasion but other than that vegetables are few and far between on any menu.

Dirty dogs charged me 1 Euro for the bread which I didn't ask for.
A friend told me that you have to watch that bars don't simply drop tapas in front of you to make you think they'e complementary but at the end they charge you for them.

I always give some coins to street performers if I take a photo of them.

The Cathedral (because I'll mention it a lot)

I find the tourist info building fairly easily.  Got there just in the nick of time as once I got my map there was a horde of tourists behind me waiting their turn.

I'm wandering a little bit and see a hamon shop where a guy is buying about six sandwiches and they're all being wrapped individually in foil.  I go into the shop and ask for a hamon and cheese baguette.  He says it's 2.50 Euros for hamon and 4 Euros if I want cheese.  I go for the whole enchilada and get a large hamon and cheese.  He wraps it in foil and puts it in a paper bag.  The cheese is nice and thick and well worth the extra charge.

I find my way to the fountain where I will catch the bus that will take me to the Alhambra.

Every town I've been in has so many fountains. 
Makes me realize how few of them we have in Vancouver.

It's a small commuter type bus (the same kind as we have in the suburbs of Vancouver), and I guess that's because the roads are so narrow that larger city buses would never make it up there.  1.40 Euros and I'm dropped off right at the entrance gate.  I think I get there at about 11:00.  I immediately set out exploring.  I figure I've got three hours before I should try to find the area where I'm supposed to be lined up by 2:15.

The best way to tell you about the Alhambra is just to post the wiki page for it:  The Alhambra

Overlooking Granada with the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background

It's now almost 2:00 and I know the meeting spot is a 10 minute walk from the entrance gate.  I'd better make my way there.

Keep in mind that all the photos that follow are all hand-carved stone just like this.

Even the windows are hand-carved stone

The arches are hand-carved stone

People wearing backpacks were made to wear them on the front of their body so as to not scratch the pillars

Looking up into the domed ceiling - all of it hand-carved stone

Add caption

Guessing they didn't plan their itinerary very well.  Came all this way to take a nap.

It's already 6:00 PM and I'm ready to go.  The Alhambra is very, very large and when comparing notes with Chris back at the hostel I suspect I missed some parts of the Alhambra.  It's really hard to know.  I did do the self-guided audio tour but in all honesty I didn't have an easy time of it.  Some of the descriptions didn't seem to be matching up with where I was at, at the time.

I catch the bus back into town.  It seems to take the tiniest roads possible and how it fits between the buildings has me shaking my head.  In only about 10 minutes or so we are back at the fountain where the bus empties out.

I cut through the back of the Cathedral and I spot a wedding about to take place.  This is the largest wedding I've seen so far in Spain.  This is the third or fourth wedding (or at least where I've seen the bride and groom), but the bride and groom have always been alone - not even a bridal party with them.  This was a Friday evening and this couple seemed to have their closest family members witness their marriage.  I suspect the marriage ceremony and the reception are two very distinct days.  I haven't yet figured out why there is no bridal party or why it seems to be such an intimate affair with so few attendees.

.

 I know this is a wedding but Spaniards really know how to dress for every occasion.  They are always very nicely dressed, women almost always in dresses.  Rare to see a woman in pants. Same goes for little girls - always in dresses.

I go back to the hostel, get cleaned up, sit in the common area and work on my laptop for a few hours before I go out for dinner.

In the morning, I drink two delicious Americanos in the hostel.  Chris joins me and we chat for a good hour or more.  I decide that I want something healthy for breakfast so I google and find a juice bar not too far away.  I do find it with my trusty Google maps.  As luck would have it, the juice bar is right on the way that I need to go to reach the Albaicin area of Granada that Chris had told me about upon our first chit-chat.

The hostel recommended that I take the bus up to Albaicin but Chris said she walked up there so I'm going to walk up there.  It's a lovely walk, up hill the entire way.

Up hill all the way. 
This is the actual roads that cars travel on and pedestrians walk on.  No sidewalks here.

I passed through the Old Jewish Quarter

This bakery was very much lined up.  Not on a main street so it must be very good.

Made out of ceramic or some other material.  Looks so nice on the white wall.

Up here on the hills overlooking Granada, I pass through all kinds of areas:  the Old Jewish Quarter, a Farmer's Market, an area full of down-and-outters that appear they have smoked and drank their lives away, lots of street musicians, the Arabic part of town and just regular old Granada.  So very interesting that just the turn of a street feels like you've entered into another completely different culture.

Of course, despite the map in hand, I get lost.  Twice I had to ask people to point out on the map where it is that I am.  I was soooo way off course, almost on the outer edges of Albaicin when I wanted to be in the centre of it.

(For some reason at this moment, I can't insert the video directly as it says I have no internet when I clearly to have internet.  Links will have to do for now).

Beautiful neighbourhoods of Granada


The one thing I am sure of, I've walked up hill all the way so if I start walking down hill it will eventually take me back down into Granada.

Walking up the mountain into the Albaicin area of Granada


 I come to a point where I really have no clue where I am or what it is I am supposed to be seeing so I just follow the hordes of tourists who appear to actually know where they are headed.  My plan worked.  So cool.  I find a street party on what appears to be the very top of the mountain.

Street Party

The coolest part is that I have walked up the mountain so high that the I am in direct sight of the Alhambra across the valley.  So very cool.  I had no clue that I would be able to see it from up here.

The Alhambra

Yes, cars drive this road too.

Sierra Nevada mountains which they ski on in the winter.
 It takes about 90 minutes to get there from Granada

Enjoying a tasty Tinto de Verano up on the mountain top

The Algerian part of the Albaicin area of Granada

I walk back down the hill towards the city and it feels like it takes only about 10 minutes and I'm back at the Cathedral.  The plaza is busy as are all plazas in this city. I enjoyed this musician and bought his CD.  I chuckled at the kids playing soccer in the midst of it all and everyone just takes all the goings-on in stride.

The Plaza is the place where it all happens


These types of baby buggies seem all the rage in Spain.  They're really beautiful.  Oh so very many babies in Spain - babies everywhere and twins ... I've seen so very many sets of twins.  It appears to me that having three children seems to be the norm.

I go back to the Hostel and get cleaned up for dinner.  No clue what I want to eat tonight so I wander back in the direction of the Cathedral.  The Plaza is jam-packed.  Foolishly I don't google the place I end up eating at.  I sit inside because the large patio is full of people.  I take this as a good sign - it wasn't.  For 17 Euros I had some spaghetti which arrived skimpy with the sauce, a very well done chicken leg with back attached and about 15 french fries.  What a rip off and it didn't even taste all that great.  Oh well, live and learn.

The Cathedral at night

I'm ready to leave Granada.  Two full days here was sufficient.  I am taking the noon bus to Malaga so I haul my suitcase up the block to the main street, hop on the #31 bus which, for 1.40 Euro, takes me to the bus station in less than 30 minutes.

11.57 Euros (about $18 Cdn) to travel down the road about 2 hours