Granada- Before Alhambra

It's sad to say but I'm already more than half way through my stay in Spain. So far its been absolutely wonderful and I've enjoyed a lot of memorable experiences. Unfortunately the balance between adventures in Spain have come at odds with figuring out my post Spain plans and maintaining my blog. Consequently I have fallen behind on. Already my blog is three weeks behind and everyday is creating more material to share. Consequently I am going to try to get my posts more brief so I can catch up. Expect more pictures and less writing until I can catch up.

With that in mind.. Four weeks ago I went to city of Granada in the South of Spain ( Andalusia). This was my first trip that I took by myself. I was able to get help from some of my friends; who gave me advice on what bus to take and what to see. The prospect of traveling by myself was exciting and I made sure to try and plan out exactly what I needed to do. Still I made plenty of rookie mistakes but I'll get to that later.

Taking the train to the bus has become a pretty much essential part of any weekend excursion and most of the bus station are connected to Rail or Metro lines. The most important thing to remember is to print out your ticket before getting to the bus station, which luckily I remembered.

The bus ride to Granada took nearly 8 hours and I spent the majority of my time listening to music, reading and trying to sleep. The long bus ride gave a great view of southern Spain which contrasted to the olive trees of Madrid and plains of Leon y La Mancha. The south was more beautiful than the other regions of Spain I had been to. There were huge mountain passes, green countryside, and even a little snow at one point.
    The bus company ASLA maintained a bus that had televisions, individual head phone jacks, a crazy small restroom in the stairway exit in the middle of the bus, and a giant rest stop half way through the trip. The rest stop best illustrated the contrast between riding charter buses in the United States vs. Spain.The rest stop was definitely more impressive than than when I took the GreyHound from San Luis Obispo to Santa Cruz. Not to mention the trip went by much faster because we didn't stop in every small town along the way. I felt this indicated Spain's higher priority towards a well maintained bus system.



Once in Granada my first mistake became apparent as I didn't look up which bus to take to get to my hostel. As a result I spend my first two hours wandering around the town trying to find my way with tiny map I had scribbled in my notepad. Eventually I found my way to my hostel which was right across the street from the Catedral of Granada and just below the magnificent Islamic palace fortress Alhambra.

    That night I found an awesome bodega that served amazing tapas. Granted it was a little nerve racking walking into a bar by yourself in another country, But it was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish and enjoy some great food. I had a bacon bocadillo, croquetas, vino tino, and beer for only 10 euro. I was very happy. After the bodega the Granada light life made it difficult to sleep but I managed.





In the morning it was raining. Luckily I had my umbrella and was able to stay mostly dry as I walked around and explored. Along the path that went to the Alhambra ( the main site of Granada) I found a small bath house that was used when the Moors controlled Granada.

The path always kept within view of some of the towers and walls of the Alhambra. Because of the hill and surrounding buildings it was hard to see the true scope of how large the palace fortress was so I decided to head to best viewing position at the Mirador de St. Nicolas 

 Along the way I found an old palace with amazing tile work and fountains.

Going up hill through the narrow streets made me a little nervous because it was early in the morning and their still weren't that many people. Also the tourist office had warned about an increase in daytime muggings so I was on my guard.

Although Granada is Spanish for pomegranate there were many orange trees around the city that were in season and seemed to be open for the public to eat.

I took a panorama picture from the Mirador St. Nicolas, but for some reason it isn't uploading to the blog. Also in general I have been able to figure out how make the best panorama for viewing online

 Next blog,  Alhambra!