So I got back a few days ago from my first trip this semester, we went to Granada. 30 euros roundtrip bus direct from Madrid to Grenada, it was about a 4h30minute trip. Heading out there, we had to leave at 730, which was the cheapest. They advised getting to the bus station at least 20 minutes early, and it was a 40minute Metro ride there, so we had to leave our houses at 615 or so. Granada, for those of you who don't know, is in Andalucia (southern Spain) and was the last stronghold of the Muslims in Spain. Very cool place. We spent about 10euros per night for a hostel there which was pretty much awesome, 3 of us to a room (3 beds of course), plenty of bathrooms on the floor, our own keys to the hostel and the room, etc.
Granada is a very interesting city, a mix of Spanish and North African culture. I thought it was close to the Mediterranean, but it's actually in the middle of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, or close by. It's a very hilly city. With the more recent influx of immigrants from across the strait of Gibralter, it's gaining even more Arabic influence. There's a lot of very cool artisan shops, most of them Muslim. I would have loved to buy some stuff had I had the money. Plenty of tea shops, too. At one point we went into a hookah bar. Excellent lighting, plenty of cool blankets and pillows, entertaining Arabic music, and of course hookah. Nice place.
Granada has plenty of stuff to see. Twice we went to the Mirador San Nicolas, a viewpoint over the city that tourists (and locals) like to go to, to watch the sunset. Some old guy told one of us “Bill Clinton said this was the prettiest sunset he'd ever seen, but then again, he's a politician, he's probably said that to every other sunset.” There was a lot of musicians there, some people walking around selling weed not-so-discretely. (It's legal to smoke marijuana in Spain, provided it's not in public and you only have an amount for personal use. Though people still do in public some places. Selling is still illegal, seems like a much smarter way to go about it.) Very cool place. On other days, we went to a couple other Miradores, or lookouts.
Of course the biggest draw to Granada, and perhaps one of the biggest in Spain is the Alhambra, a Muslim fortress on a hillside in Granada. The place is massive, it's a walled castle that has an entire village inside as well as several ornate palaces and gardens. I think it's one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Amazing place, it only cost about 13euros to enter. The main palace has a very bizarre policy that only allows you to enter in 30-minute windows. Obviously to control crowds, but I found it a bit odd because the Alhambra wasn't that full when I was there, and moreso, I thought the gardens and particularly the towers to be much more interesting.
Other sites in Granada are the Cathedral and the Palacio Real, where the Catholic kings were buried. You might remember Ferdinand and Isabel, who us Yanks know mostly for financing Colombus's trip to America. The same year, they conquered all of Spain, the last Muslim stronghold being in Granada. (They also kicked all Jews out of Spain, all 3 events happening in 1492) I guess as a final screw-you to the Muslims, they decided to be buried in Granada though they were both from Madrid and reigned there. I took a picture of the tomb, even though it was banned. I figure I'm in Granada once, and I'm paying to get in, so so it goes.
Granada is a college town, which is always cool, and an Alhambra town. It seems like every bar is named the Alhambra or some derivative, and the most famous beer in Granada is called Alhambra. (a bit ironic given Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol) Very good beer, I liked it more than Mahou which is more popular in Madrid. We met up with a Tulane student who was studying in Granada for the full year, which was cool because he told us some good places to go. Plenty of students out there, we actually met up with some students from Marquette who are doing the same program as us in Madrid.
Tapas in Granada are even better than Madrid. In fact, the entire 3-4 days we were there I don't think we ever ordered actual food. No point in doing it, buy two beers for 3euros, and you get say a sandwich and french fries with it. Which brings me to a brief point about Spain. It's expensive, though Granada was kind of cheap. But it's expensive kind of like Canada is, because of fluctuations in the exchange rate. If $1=1euro, it would be quite reasonable. But our currency isn't worth that, so you're paying like $4-5 for a 2-3euro sandwich.
To quote my host brother, when you go to an unknown city and don't really know what to do, fiesta. And we did, plenty. It was pretty intense, I was definitely very tired after 3 nights of marathon partying and walking around the city. Nightlife in Granada was excellent, plenty of stuff to do. One of the more interesting places we went was this discoteca named Granada 10. It was pretty empty when we arrived because we were early (1am or so) but it was a former movie theater converted into a dance floor. Cool place.
I woke up at 945am Sunday after a pretty crazy night, took the bus to the bus station, and came back to Madrid. The Super Bowl was this Monday morning, 1am-4am here in Spain. I thought about watching, I heard it was a pretty good superbowl. But after 3-4 hours of sleep the night before and a very long (yet extremely entertaining) 4-day trip to Granada, I crashed at about 11pm Sunday night. Classes started the next day at 830am for me anyways, so it was a smart option.
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