Granada

On Sunday I woke up at 9 so I could leave the house by 10 and be on a bus to Granada at 11. This time, I didn’t get lost at all and was able to make it to the station with 15 minutes to spare, buy my round trip ticket (20 euros), and wait for the bus to load. The trip was fairly uneventful and I just sort of dozed most of the time.

When we arrived, I went to this info booth and bought a map for 1 euro and was told which bus I needed to take to get to the center of the city. While waiting at the bus stop, there was a guy next to me who also didn’t look Spanish. I asked if he spoke English, and he said, “I am English.” lol He was from Lincoln, England. I think his name was Jason...or Jeremy or Johnny. Some J name. Anyway, turns out he was in Granada because he works on the Lenny Kravitz tour and he sells t-shirts and stuff and travels with them about 2 weeks at a time. Pretty cool job...he gets to see so many interesting places.

An Arab street in Granada

View from St. Nicholas Plaza over Alhambra.

The bus came shortly after we started talking, and we hadn’t exchanged any information before a bunch of people got off the bus and I thought it must be my stop, so I got off too. It’s sort of a shame, because it is always nice to have more contacts – especially with someone with a job as cool as that. But, that is also part of this sort of trip – meeting and talking to people who you will never see again, whose name you may not have even gotten. There is something a little romantic about it – the people who touch your lives for one moment in time. They live on only in your memory.

View over city and Alhambra.

Anyway, turns out it wasn’t my stop, but it wasn’t too far a walk to where I wanted to be – the cathedral. Unfortunately, they were holding mass in the cathedral so I only got to go into the entry hall area. I could still see much of the church and it was beautiful, but I couldn’t walk around it. However, from what I could see, it was no more impressive than the other bazillion churches I’ve seen on this trip.

In Alhambra gardens.

From there I just started wandering in an upward direction toward this plaza that Enrique said I had to visit. The streets were scarcely labeled and very tiny, cobbled and full of stairs. I don’t know how people live there – they must have amazing calves because there don’t seem to be a whole lot of drivable roads in that old section of the city. As I wandered, I went down a few tiny streets that were lined with shops on both sides selling everything you can imagine – all the normal kitchy stuff, but also a lot of beautiful Arab tapestries, lamps, jewelry, incense, pillowcases, shoes, purses, etc. Granada has a very strong Arab history and still has strong ties with areas like Morocco. It was also one of the few cities that I visited that not only has an Arab history, but still has an Arab presence. I enjoyed looking at the shops there because they were very unique and the designs were so beautiful.

Tania in the gardens.

Anyway, I finally figured out how to get to St. Nicholas Plaza by generally following other touristy-looking people. It was quite a hike, but the view was more than worth it. From the top there was a stunning view of the Alambra across the gorge.

The Alambra is the main reason people visit Granada. It is similar to Alcazar in Malaga, but much bigger and grander. It is an old Arab-built castle/fortress//palace with stupendous gardens and architecture. In the distance I could also see snow-capped mountains. It was hard to believe, given the blazing heat, that anything could have snow within sight. I had some Americans from New Mexico take some photos for me and vice versa, then I made my way back down again, this time to the river (which was more like a stream). I walked along it and then started back up again trying to find the famous caves that many flamenco shows are held in. However, I didn’t see them after hiking up many narrow, step-filled alleys, so I gave up and went back down to the river where I then had to start climbing up again to get to Alambra. 

 

More gardens in the summer palace.

My Alambra reservations were at 5:30, but that is just for the main fortress – as long as you have a ticket, you can enter the other part (which includes the garden and summer palace) any time. I arrived a little before four p.m. and was waiting in line behind this group of Australians. This one guy with a giant hat started talking to me. He was clearly the clown of the group and was always making everyone laugh. For example, this girl walked by, and he started fanning her with his hat (as a joke) and she gave him this scandalized look and walked away. It was really funny. Anyway, so I started talking to them and when they found out I was alone, and had 5:30 reservations, they were like “oh, we just met a Brazilian girl who has a 5;30 reservation and she’s all alone too.” Right then, the clown guy saw her walking up and called her over, introduced us, and said we should hang out. Haha. I really appreciated it because until then, I’d really been wishing I had someone to hang out with.

This was really cool in person.

Her name is Tania and we went around the gardens and summer palace before our time came to get into the main facility. It was great because we both liked to take photos, so I didn’t feel bad asking her to take pictures for me and vice versa. She does internal audits for some international company. She used to work in Sao Paulo, Brazil (where she’s from) but was transferred to Paris. She hope to go to China after one more year in Paris. It’s hard for me to believe anyone would voluntarily move to China – especially if they don’t speak Chinese. She said she’d learn if she moved there. That’s just so crazy to me – I’m pretty sure I could work the rest of my life and never be able to speak Chinese. Lol

Waiting to go inside the fortress and playing around.

Anyway, Tania was on a one week holiday from work which is why she was in Spain. We had a nice day – though I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the main part of the Alambra. I don’t know if we missed something or if it was closed, but we liked the summer palace (Realife) better. Though, the views from the top of the fortress were excellent. The gardens were also so impressive – I’ve never seen so many roses in one place! It was incredible. And, like the Alcazar, there were many fountains to celebrate having water. 

(By the way - just talked to Enrique and found out that we missed the main part of the palace which is the most impressive part.  lol  Guess I'll just have to come back!) 

Inside the fortress of Alhambra.

After Alambra, we walked back through those little streets and bought a few things. I then grabbed a kebap before catching the bus back to the bus station. The bus from Granada to Malaga was at 8 p.m. and arrived just before 10 p.m. (and it still wasn’t fully dark). I walked to the local bus and took it back to the stop closest to Enrique’s parents house and walked back without getting lost at all. Lol I think I need an adjustment period everywhere I go, to get familiar. After a couple times, it’s just like it clicks and I can picture everything in my head. Even back in London, it took me a bit to adjust again to navigating the tube and such.

From the fortress.

When I arrived I was really gross after an entire day of walking in the hot sun and then trekking it uphill to their house. Piilar and Juande encouraged me to take a shower and they’d make me food. When I got back to the kitchen, Pilar gave me fruit and Juande made me a yummy salad and cooked me an omelet. I am spoiled rotten.