granada

i was especially excited to go to granada because i got to hang out with my friend RJ who i met in egypt a year and a half ago when i went to greece/egypt with cat.  i was stalking him on facebook one day and realized he now lives in granada so we had to have a mini reunion!

it was great seeing RJ again.  he is kind of a big deal.  he owns his own software company with a team he runs...while finishing up his doctorate.  yea.  can you say badass?  he loves granada and chose to live here because of the laid back attitude that everyone has there.  i have to agree.  the granadians (?) had the longest siesta out of every spanish city i've been to so far!  

while in granada, pert and i visited the alhambra, the main attraction in granada.  the alhambra is supposedly the last and greatest moorish palace in the world? europe?  you are supposed to reserve tickets beforehand...it is that big of a deal.  well, we did it the old fashioned way and got up way early and stood in line.  the alhambra is made up of a few parts including the generalife gardens, the alcazabe fort and the nazarine palace.  the gardens were really nice--very green and manicured to perfection. 

we strolled through the for a bit and then headed off to the alcazabe to check out the fort that used to protect the 2,000 people that lived there.  we had to kill time before our 11:30 palace visiting time.  the alcazabe had a lot of towers that we could climb up to get nice views of the city.

then there was the palace.  again, i really dig the moorish architecture so i really enjoyed it.  i also had good ol' rick (steves) guiding me through the place so i could get more out of the experience.  for example, i learned that the phrase, 'only allah is victorious' is repeated 9,000 times throughout the palace.  a bit OCD but whatever works.  i will say that the palace wasn't as large as i thought it would be, but still glad i saw it.

one of the neighborhoods that i really enjoyed in granada was the albyzin neighborhood which is the old moorish quarter.  it had a lot of character with windy cobblestone roads and teterias (tea shops) which we spent some time in.  i had the most fantastic iced black tea with mint, honey and something else i can't remember.  i also had this phyllo pastry with honey and pistachio.  it paired wonderfully with the tea...and the hookah we smoked as well!

later that night, we went to a spanish fair because it was the corpus christi celebration in spain that week.  what is a spanish fair, you ask?  it is our summer county fairs but on steroids.  this thing was HUGE.  tons of food stalls, rides, and then since we're in europe, they had their fair share of discotheque/club tents.  the beats were pumpin.  haha.  unlike our county fairs, this one also stayed open till the wee hours of the morning.  we left at 4:00am and the fair showed no signs of slowing down.  there were still little kids running around then.  i literally don't know how they do it.  while there we did try churros con chocolate (look at me practicing my spanish), which is a popular breakfast item here.  it's not like the churros we are used to.  it's more similar to a chinese doughnut that is dunked in a cup of hot chocolate sauce.  it was delicious (especially at 3:30am) and the churro guy liked us so much he snuck some churros on the house over to our table ;)

the next day, i met up with rj, esmerelda and flora (rj's dutch friends) and we went to lunch and then on an adventure for a river.  rj took me to his favorite paella joint in granada and it was to die for!  we had the paella mixto with seafood and chicken and it was legit.  they were generous with their seafood and the rice was so flavorful.  i definitely ate way to much for my own good that meal.  it was so worth it though!  i'll diet when i get home?

esmerelda was hell bent on finding a river to swim in because it was quite warm in granada so we hopped on a random bus from a recco we got from a traveler and ended up in the town of monachil where we walked 30 minutes down a road to find a river running through town surrounded by concrete walls. wah wah. well we continued wakling and esmerelda charmed some spanish guys along the way so they offered to drive us to a riverbed which would've taken us 45 minutes to walk.  they assured us that the water was 'super fria' but esme claimed it did not matter.  i think they just wanted to see our expressions once we touched the water.  just so you have an idea, this river is made from the melted snow that comes off the sierra nevada mountains.  yea.  we found the riverbed and i stood with my feet in it for about 30 seconds before i started to lose feeling!  esme and flora played in it for a little bit while rj and i watched before our new spanish friends drove us to the bus stop.  andalucians are so nice!  later that night, pert and i said our goodbyes and then headed off to valencia!