Bunny and Granada

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. It's been pretty hard to get onto my computer lately.

Since it has been so long and I have done so much I'll try to sum this up as briefly and as interestingly as I can.

First, after Madrid we stayed with Luke's relatives for a night, Bunny and AC. They have an absolutely gorgeous house about 20 minutes outside of Madrid. I got there around lunch time, where they had prepared an amazing three course lunch that included (aside from incredible food) great wine and great conversation. After that they took us to a castle nearby and AC gave me a quick overview of the Spanish/Muslim history.

After we visited the castle I went back to the house, enjoyed even more great food and wine and watched "A Few Good Men" and went to sleep in my own bed in my own room that was generously provided for me.

I'm embarrassed to say that in all the rush of the overwhelming hospitality I forgot to take a picture of my incredible hosts! I'm even more embarrassed to say that the only picture I managed to take was of my new best friend, Nico, a bilingual black lab that loves tennis balls and begging for food. Nico and I became fast amigos.

After taking advantage of the generous hospitality afforded to me, I was back on the road. This time to Granada.

The last time I was in Granada was with my parents, and it felt like ages since I had been there. Granada is an absolutely beautiful city that has long, winding cobblestone streets and moorish influenced architecture.

I arrived there at about midnight, possibly a bit earlier. This all would have been fine except for the fact that the Hostel I had booked online had changed addresses and had neglected to tell me. So, at midnight in the middle of a winding (albeit totally amazing) city I found myself carrying a 20 lb backpack and no place to stay.

Luckily! The Let's Go Europe book my mother had bought me a couple years earlier led me to a totally amazing Hostel called "Hostal Venecia" which was run by a very sweet elderly couple. After about 10 mintues of navigation and 5 mintues of excessive hand gestures along with some broken Spanish (my Spanish is rusty at best, especially after about 4 hours of sleep) I was given a room with a balcony overlooking one of the most prominent squares in the city.

Just to endorse this Hostel a bit more, the couple took me in during the dead of night and gave me a great room. They also gave me fresh, homemade tea in the morning and all the while kept calling me "Tranquilo" which I'm pretty sure means "chill out" in Spanish.

The first day in Granada I went up to visit the La Alhambra, which is an ancient castle on top of a hill in Granada right in the middle of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The name "La Alhambra" is arabic and it means "the red one" which refers to the color of the bricks the castle was built with.

La Alhambra is also very huge, it took me about three trips in one day in order to see all of what I wanted to see (I kept going back into the main city for tapas). It's made up of several different sections, all of which are filled with beautiful and highly unique architecture.

Even more incredible is the amazing amount of ornate decorations inside La Alhambra, including (but not limited to); plaster carvings of oriental designs and arabic poetry on the walls and ceilings, colorful tiles also on the walls and ceilings, gorgeous gardens that include every variety of flower and plant imaginable and an incredible amount of overflowing fountains.

Told you.

After the overwhelming beauty of La Alhambra, I went to see a flamenco show (discount courtesy of Hostal Venecia. I love you, Hostal Venecia) in La Albayzin, a section of Granada that is filled with, narrow, winding streets of moorish influence. It was from the top of la albayzin that I got a great view of La Alhambra at night.

It's hard to take long distance nighttime shots from an iPod.

I also saw an inpromptu flamenco show at the top of the hill, which ended up being my favorite picture of Spain.

The real flamenco show was no dissappointment, though. It took place in a really cozy venue right in the center of one of the steeper hills, and I got a great seat and a free drink!

On stage there was always at least one guitar player, one singer (the singing was throaty and loud and lovely. It's hard to describe) and at least two dancers. At one point there were even some male flamenco dancers, which I didn't even know existed!

The next day I checked out of the Hostel (I'll miss you Hostal Venecia!) and was on my way to Barcelona on a train. And that's where I'm writing from now. I'll have to write the post on Barcelona another time, I'm pretty exhausted. About to head out on my way to another bus to another city to continue my travels.

I hope everyone is doing well back home. I miss all of you and I promise (promise promise!) to write another post soon.

Love,

Danielle