Ali-hambra

We arrived in Granada at around 8:30, which was quite early, but it ended up working out for us ok. We stopped at a bar for some breakfast and got some great churros con chocolate. With Trillion's cappuccino and my freshly squeezed orange juice it came to a grand total of 4 euros, and we stayed a while and used their Wifi. We still had to wait for some time to get into our apartment, but we still got in before lunch. Here is the view from our balcony.

ranada is known for a couple things. One is the Alhambra, an islamic royal palace built over 500 years ago, and free tapas. We experienced both, and thoroughly enjoyed them. For the tapas, you just go to a bar (it's not this way in all bars, but it is in most), order drinks, and they bring you a plate of food. Another drink gets you another tapa, and the drinks are usually around 2 euros. Sometimes they have a set order that they bring things out in, and at other places you get to choose what you want. One of our favorite places was called Poe. It was actually run by an English couple, which was nice because we were finally understood, and they had a great spicy pork stew. A delicious meal for 10 euros.

Our second morning we woke up and headed up the hillside to la Alhambra. It was an amazing place with the most intricate stonework and mosaics. It was the last stronghold of the Muslims on the Iberian peninsula, and was finally overtaken in 1492. The palace was built over a period of about 300 years by rulers after they retreated to the region of Granada. There is also a huge royal garden, and a spanish palace that was built by Spanish kings soon after their conquest. Here we are in one of the many courtyards of the main palace.

And here you can see some of the intricate carving that are found throughout the palace.

The Gardens, called the Generalife gardens, may have been the coolest part. They were huge, and I can't imagine how much water is takes to keep them going considering Granada is basically in the desert.

We only spent two days in Granada, which was probably enough, but it was still sad to leave. The free tapas were amazing, and just walking around on all the narrow streets was really cool. The only issue is the heat, but there is enough shade that it isn't too bad. Plus we were headed to even hotter places... more on that soon.