free food when you buys a drink... yes, please.

I just loved Granada... but you all know that I fall in love so easily. Something just has to appear romantic and there I am fantasizing about my life and this story.. yada yada yada. :) you can call it my downfall.. I call it creative. hehe.

Anywho, Raquel and I had planned this trip a couple of weeks ago, impromptu, after deciding we needed to get out of Sevilla and see the other cities in Spain. We traveled to Granada on the train, through the romantic spanish (all of Europe is) countryside and through the mountains, each scene offering something completely different and intriguing. We arrived without problems, despite only having napped the night before. *I have this problem where I can't sleep when I am excited for something. We found our hostel,nestled in the city, winding our way through the rocky side walks and many hills. Everywhere you turned was a middle eastern influence. You could have almost fooled me that I was still in Spain. Tea shops here, there, and everwhere with an arabian theme decor to each and everyone. Fabulousness. vendors here and there selling things from Morrocco, aladdin type pants, leather purses, colors, fabrics, mirrors. Pure delectableness for the eyes, everywhere you turned.

Not five minutes after we arrived to the hostel, a free tour of the city was leaving, we decided to join. It was led by a guy from England who arrived in Granada and decided not to leave. He took us around seeing the gardens, views of the caves, views of El Alhambra, etc. etc. He was funny, I laughed quite a bit and afterwards, we joined him for some tapas. In Granada, for every drink you buy, they give you free food... freaking delcious. I love food. His friend was offering a tour of the caves at 5 so Raquel and I decided to hang around to go on that. Who doesnt want to learn more about people. who live in caves?? thats what I thought.



People, more specifically, the gypsies used to live in the caves. They were kicked out but many have returned to live in the caves once more. Many of them now have been upgraded with necessary ammenities and supposedly are some of the most valuable real estate in the city. We had to climb and climb and climb to reach them, but the view of the city that was offered to us, was totally worth it. I would do it a million times over to see what I saw from there. I had a sense of peacefulness fill me, as I so often do when I go to new places. Like I said before, I fall in love quite easily.

We watched the sun set from here over El Alhambra, over the city, over the mountains. The clouds parted for us and we were able to see the sky turn an incredible mixture of pink and purple, with wispy dark grey clouds marking their territory in the horizon. It is an image I want to burn on my retinas and retain forever... I guess I will stick with the million and one photos I took.

Fortunately, we were unable to come up with an excuse not to have tapas with our guide, so he took us to this great place where we ate sandwhiches and burgers for free while drinking some beers. He told us about some of his adventures, through siberia, croatia, Russia, etc. Oh the life of a vagabond. The stories one hears.



Day 2. The morning was spent touring the Cathedral and seeing the burial tombs of King Ferdinand and Isabella. Kebaps for lunch and then the tour of the El Alhambra. . there is the wiki link for you. There is a smaller scale version of it called the Alcazar here in Sevilla... beautiful moorish architecture throughout. As we were walking through it, all I could imagine was if I were Queen Isabella, how I would walk the gardens all of the time. I love gardens.. I want one. please and thank you.



That night was spent tapa-ing again with our friend from New Zealand. That is next on my list. She was wonderful. After we wandered the windy and steep rocky steps and finally got a little too creeped out, we finally found the sushi tapa bar that we were after. See, our guide put it on our maps, but gave us zero name and conveniently put it in a general area but we thought it was on a certain street...so we set off for that street, run into a nice little old man with an extremely strong strong andaluz accent.. I could barely understand him. He told us that we wouldnt find any restaurants in that area and to go somewhere else..so as we were walking somewhere else it jumped out of nowhere and smacked us in the faces. It was delicious and fun. We shared stories, laughs, drinks, and sushi. how could you not ask for anything more? And that my friends was my wonderful weekend in Granada. Now, back in Sevilla.. picked up another private class and am waiting to make my trekk to Africa quite soon! :) I am one blessed girl.