Apparently the police were closing down a bunch of the hostels in Granada because they were not registered. There were only two hostels that were registered in the whole city, so those were the only two that were open. Fortunately for us, one of the hostels that remained open and legal was right next door to the one we had initially booked. The owner of the first hostel was extremely nice and made arrangements for us to stay at the other hostel for the same price that we would have paid initially. The hostel ended up being absolutely amazing. It was a little backpackers hostel and it was so cute. There was a little fort thing with hammocks, chairs, and comfy pillows to sit on. The bathroom was co-ed, but I only ever saw girls in the bathroom when I was there, so that is was comforting. We couldn't check in until one in the afternoon, but they let us keep our bags there so that they would be safe and we wouldn't have to carry them around when we went to the Alhambra that afternoon. When we got there, the guy who was working the front desk told us where we could put our bags, then he went into the kitchen and put together toast and coffee and such so that we could have breakfast. It was so nice!
Picture of the hostel (there weren't really any good angles to take a picture, though...)
Around 9:30ish (I think) we headed out to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Spain, as well as in Europe. We had bought tickets prior to coming to Granada because you have to reserve a specific time for entry into the central part. If you miss your entrance time that is posted on your ticket, they won't let you in. They are very strict about that. So we got there early, and toured around the gardens and other buildings before it was actually time for us to go inside. Everybody was getting hungry and grumpy because we had been awake for so long and had eaten a small breakfast very early, but we entered the Alhambra at 12:30 and didn't get out until about 2:30 or later. We then grabbed lunch and headed back to the hostel.
The sign at the entrance
view from the windows of one of the buildings
me... as Caroline says, it looks like I'm sitting on a painting
I'm basically in love with this picture!
It was nice to freshen up when we got back to the hostel. I took a shower, made my bed, and just relaxed for a bit. We got to talking to a girl who had just graduated from college in the States and was touring around Europe by herself for two months. It is amazing to me that people do that all alone! I think I would get lonely and I'd be too scared. That day was Halloween, so the hostel was making special paella for everybody. We paid seven euro and got a cup of delicious sangria as well as a HUGE plate of delicious chicken and veggie paella. It was the best paella I've had so far! At dinner we sat with people from all over the world. We mostly talked to a guy from Chile who was very cryptic about why he was in Spain (he said something about teaching people how to make atomic bombs... I don't buy it), and a girl from Argentina. We also talked to the staff a little bit and just hung out. It was cool to practice our Spanish language skills in a different setting. Jessie and I talked to each other for a while, but we did it all in Spanish which was pretty cool.
Paella... see the scary face made by the peppers?
After dinner, we headed up to a pretty lookout spot where you could see the Alhambra at night. Although it was hard to get pictures because it was so dark, the view was spectacular and it was nice to just sit and look out upon the lights of the city of Granada. We then walked down to the main streets of Granada and grabbed gelato. It was the most beautiful display of gelato I'd ever seen... and it tasted really good too!
Blurry picture of the Alhambra at night
Delicious gelato! (the picture doesn't do it too much justice)
The next day we took a bus to Sevilla and arrived at our hostel without a glitch. We had a room all to ourselves, and we had a private bathroom too. That was nice because we weren't worried about our stuff sitting out and we could relax a little bit about beds and stuff. The hostel (Urbany) organized a walking tour, so we got a free tour of Sevilla. We walked around with the tour group for about two or three hours and the guide (who wasn't actually a trained tour guide, but knew a lot about the city) was super nice. We met people from all over the world in our tour group. There were boys from Canada who were studying in Denmark, girls from Germany who were studying in Spain, Australians, etc. It was pretty cool.
The girls before the walking tour
(Top: Genelle, me, Jessie, Kelsey, Julie, Hanna; Bottom: Dalia and Helena)
After our tour, we went to an awesome flamenco show. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the show was spectacular. It is funny because the guy we were talking to the night before about Sevilla said that we should go to a specific place for a flamenco show. Also, when my mom visited Spain a few years ago, she and Jeff went to a flamenco show and she was saying that I should go to a specific one because they really enjoyed it. None of us remembered the name of the place we were supposed to go so we just chose one that was relatively cheap, and it turned out to be the same place that the Chilean guy and my mom had both recommended! After flamenco, we grabbed a few cheap tapas down the street from our hostel (really really good bocadillos) and headed out to see the city at night.
They only let us take pictures at the very end so I don't have very many good ones :(
By two in the morning, a few of us were tired so Genelle, Dalia, and I headed back to the hostel. We ended up staying up super late and talking about life, but it was nice to be in pj's, and just sitting in bed chatting to some girlfriends.
The next morning, we got up, ate the free breakfast at the hostel, and walked over to tour the cathedral. It is the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third biggest cathedral. The architecture was absolutely amazing (as it normally is in the cathedrals I've seen), and we climbed up the tower to get a view of all of Sevilla. This cathedral is also where Christopher Columbus is buried. Well, actually, not all of Christopher Columbus is buried there... just a finger, but still. They don't actually know where the rest of him is. Don't ask me why. After that, we went souvenir shopping on a cute little street. I got some beautiful black and white prints of flamenco dancers, as well as a shot glass to add to my collection.
Yup... that's us holding up our fingers in honor of Christopher Columbus who is buried behind us...
Overall, the weekend was successful. I enjoyed the company of the girls I was around and the cities were absolutely beautiful. I wish that I'd had more time in each of them (you could probably do at least a weekend in each one), but the time that I did have there was spent well. I wish I hadn't been so stressed the entire time I was there, but I guess stress is just part of the package when I am taking 18 units while studying abroad, traveling, and trying to get good grades.
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