Granada, Spain

Andalucia, I can understand why you’re called that…because you do a lot of andando.
Haven’t started a post with a pun, so I figured it was a great way to begin. Oh, and andando is walking. We did SO much walking! Andalucia is the most populous and second largest community of Spain.  It consists of eight provinces, Granada being one of them. The region of Andalucia is the only European region with both Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines. This region is known for it’s Arabic influences, rich agriculture, flamenco, and cheap but delicious food.

Granada was such a beautiful city; known for its clear fresh drinkable portable water fountains directly from the Sierra Nevada mountains, lovely Moroccan markets with traditional clothing and leather bags, bars with amazing free tapas with every drink, Gypsy cave houses built right into the side of the mountain, and of course, the Alhambra, palace and fortress complex that is a must see.
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We arrived on Friday afternoon, after taking a Blah Blah Car (again, the best thing in the world) and went straight to the city center, Gran Via. We walked around for a bit before finding our hostel, the Oasis Backpackers Hostel, located right near the Moroccan markets, in the Arabic corner of Granada.
The hostel offered plenty to do! We went on a 3 hour walking tour all over the city, where we saw tons of street art created by a local artist known as El Niño de las Picturas (Raul Ruiz), made with spray paint.  We took a walk all the way up to the Gypsy caves, where people can rent a room complete with electricity, running water, and internet or even the squatters caves, where hippies live rent free.  The tour guide was from Poland and had moved to Granada to study and decided to stay, worked as a chef, and even lived in one of the Gypsy caves!
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The tour guide suggested some popular local bars: Here in Granada, you can get free food with drinks! Like Madrid, but even better kinds. Poe, where you can get a class of wine, or beer, and you can choose from a wide range of tapas, including kebabs, rice and meat mini dishes, and vegetarian stew.  I got a caña, which is a small beer in a wine glass.  The three dishes I got was Pincho de Cerdo y Piña, Galinha de Cocoo y Funji, andPollo en Salsa Thailandes.  After some time, (dinners here in Spain last more than 2 hours)  we went to a dance bar called Tandra.  It had a lovely atmosphere, a sweet staff, and good music.  I had an amazing cocktail of rose gin and tonic. (Gin and Tonics are super popular here).  After some time passed, the crowd increased, and we witnessed some of the locals getting down to the classic Spanish music you’ll hear everywhere here…Reggaeton.  We got back to the hostel early, and “early” for Spanish culture is 2am.
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Saturday, we went on a guided hike through the Sierra Nevada mountains in the pueblo of Monachil.  We climbed after taking a short bus ride, enjoyed some  beautiful views, steep inclines and declines, and peaceful waterfalls.  After the hike, we enjoyed some patatas and carne tapas with an Alhambra beer. Saturday evening, we explored the markets and had homemade paella with other people from the hostel. We drank our 1,95 euro bottle of Tinto on the roof top while talking with young folks all over the world.  I joined the hostel bar crawl to a few dive bars, and ended the night in good spirits.
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Sunday morning we woke early to go into Alhambra, which is a beautiful palace and fortress complex, originally constructed in AD 889 on the remains of the Roman fortifications and rebuilt in the 11th Century, then later renovated in the 13th Century and made into the royal palace.  It is must see for anyone traveling to Granada.  We spent a little more than 3 hours walking around the gardens and inside the palace.  We took a siesta in the sun in a park off of the main street in Granada, Gran Via.
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After all the walking, we found a nice little park, took a mini siesta in the sun, and met our blah blah car back to Madrid.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, filled with lots of walking, beautiful sights and great people. 🙂

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