GRANADA

Loved Granada!!!

Got here around 10:00 PM on the 3rd and found "Granada B&B Homestay," a B&B run by a very nice and helpful and eccentrically dressed gay man named Victor :) The rooms were clean and we had a full bathroom for the four of us, to ourselves! Victor was like our savior, he gave such great suggestions on places to eat, places to go, etc. Wish there was a Victor in every city!!!

That night after checking in, we went to go get tapas since our hectic schedule in Madrid didn´t allow for any. When we got to the little hole-in-the-wall place, nobody spoke English and I actually got laughed at (by the waiter, bartender, and the people at the next table) for my inability to express myself ("Que... que...???") but it was fun... we just realized that pretty much everything on the menu had ham (or some other form of meat), cheese, and bread... and the "veggie" section had potatoes soaked in oil with a sliver of what was a green bell pepper but had now been soaked through with olive oil. haha

The next day we went to The Alhambra! It was the castle of the Muslim empire that surrendered to the Catholics later on in Spanish history, it was also the last Islamic empire in Spain! It was freaking GORGEOUS, the architecture inside was beautiful--interesting fact: the outside is plain while the inside is super detailed bc they didn't want to flaunt their wealth and make enemies who would want to overpower them! After the Alhambra we tried to get Moroccan food but they laughed at me and then hung up on me when I tried to speak Spanish (FML) so then we found a donur kebab place (Turkish food) that was SO FREAKING GOOD. Then we went back to Victor's and had a siesta before going to a flamenco show that night! It was super cool, the dancers (who I later realized were actually real gypsies.... Don't worry Sam I got pics) were really into it. They all had like really violent facial expressions and actually hit themselves while dancing....... after the flamenco show we went to a delicious traditional Spanish restaurant that also had a beautiful lit-up view of the Alhambra, so beautiful. And great food!

The next day we walked around the Plaza Real and shopped, shopped, shopped!!! We got a bunch of great souvenirs and then (surprise, surprise) we were craving Asian food so we went to a Japanese restaurant and got udon..... whatever. Then we went to the Cathedral, which was realllllly pretty! Then we went on a cafe-crawl (much more enjoyable and less regret afterwards than the pub crawl) and ate our way through Granada: club sandwiches, pastries, cakes, tea... yum!

Then we headed back to Victor's to get our luggage and get to the train station for our 9:55 train to Barcelona... except Victor was nowhere to be found at 9:15.... Hanna and I almost had heart attacks. My palms were like sweating bullets I was so nervous. Victor finally rolled in at around 9:20 with some fellow hostelers who he "had" to take to the hospital to remove a cyst (yeah, whatever) that was KIND OF bleeding. Only a little.

When we finally got on the train, with a HUGE sigh of relief, we found our sleeping car that was actually very cozy! Four bunk beds and our own sink, kind of a luxury compared to what we expected. We got bundled up, got snug, and chatted our way to Barcelona before finally falling asleep around 2 AM....

I LOVE GRANADA!!!