Granada Roadtrip

Granada sunset

I'm rushing to write all this down before I forget and so many ridiculous moments from this trip are lost.  Okay, this weekend was a 4-dayer.  October 12th, as I'm sure many of us Americans remember, is the day Christopher Colombus (a Spaniard) discovered America, and so rather than just have the 12th off, the Spaniards combine, or bridge (puente), Monday the 11th and Tuesday the 12th into an extended weekend, thus the holiday "Puente."  What does that mean for me?  Roadtrip!!

I had intended to book a train ticket but as it turned out, a few friends I've met including a girl (Amy) who is from Huntington Beach and attended UCLA a year ahead of me (who I have actually never met, small world) who has a Spanish boyfriend (Adrian) and therefore also a car, were already planning to make the 5 hour drive down to Granada with some other people and had a free spot so I jumped in for the ride.  Along the way, we stopped in a town called Córdoba which is famous for its Cathedral-turned Mosque-turned Cathedral, pending who was in charge at the time.  There is a lot of Arabic influence in the architecture, but then smack dab in the middle is a big Catholic altar and a crucifix, so it's quite entertaining.

Arabic arches in the Córdoba Cathedral

Altar of the Córdoba Cathedral

Kathleen (my very good friend from HB and UCLA as well) took a train into town from Cádiz (as she is also teaching English there) and we met up that night in Granada at the first of two hostels we stayed in this weekend.  Due to "Puente," we actually hadn't been able to book a hostel for our first night and had intended on just partying until like 8 a.m. the next day until the hostel we had actual reservations for let us check in.  However, Kathleen arrived to Granada first and met 2 Australians who had accidentally booked a 4-person room in a hostel, so... la di dah, we stayed one night with Bella and "Nads" as we kept calling him because we couldn't figure out how to pronounce his name, it sounded something like that.  They turned out to be quite entertaining, and tagged along for our first night out with my fellow roadtrippers.  

Sun kissed white washed walls of Granada hillside homes

Inside an Arabic street market shop

Our second and third nights were spent in the Oasis hostel, which is apparently THE hostel to stay in around town.  We were welcomed with a glass of sangria, there was a rooftop patio with a gorgeous view of the Granada Cathedral and of the white washed hill-side houses typical of Andalucía, a free breakfast, flamenco guitarists and indie backbackers floating the lounge rooms, and it even came with one Canadian, two French, and three very VERY odd Romanian roommates, all for the measly price of 18 euro a night.  One interesting interaction was when Kathleen was minding her own business, sitting on the tile floor of our our room, when one of the Romanian girls informed her that she better get up off that floor immediately else her ovaries would freeze and she would become infertile.  "No, but this is very good advice.  Please get off the floor."  Hostel life is just so... Hmm...

The view of the Alhambra from El Mirador

Being back in Granada, tapa bar and discoteca hopping to all our old favorite places was both aaaamazing and nostalgic.  From Granada Diez, to La Riviera, to Poe, to Kebab King, we tried to relive the memories from studying abroad while contemplating the differences of this time around.  At a nearby tetería we drank Moroccan and Egyptian teas on plush couches and smoke filled rooms, visited El Mirador - a spectacular viewpoint for the famous Alhambra palace, zig zagged through the streets of the Arabic market with its unique shops and creepy salesmen, and ate our weight in shawarmas filled with questionable meat and less-than-regulation heath standard preparation methods.  I'm so glad we took advantage of this 4-day weekend and carved a little story out of it.  It was great friends, great food, great fun... Granada, todavía te amo.

Tetería Al Jaimal