Granada in a day

By 6:00AM Saturday I was on the first Metro of the day to the bus station. It's interesting being on the Metro then, because so many people are getting on who are still out from the previous night. The Metro closes here from 1:30 to 6 every day... so in order to save money on a cab you just have to make it to sunrise. Seriously, this is the city that never sleeps.

But anyyywway, I had a 7:00AM bus to Granada, and by noon I arrived. I only gave myself a day to be there, so I could save on food and didn't have to get a hostel. Therefore, I had an agenda and I knew I had a lot to get done.

I started with the old downtown walk, which took me a couple hours. The city is so much smaller than Madrid, so I appreciated the abilitiyto see everything without having to walk miles and miles. Plus, it made it possible to feel like I could do it all! So, I saw the old alleys where they would sell silk back in the Moorish(?) days, and the really old cathedral (but that was built by Christians), and of course many open plazas.

I then began the long walk uphill to see Alhambra. I spent almost 4 hours there walking the grounds, seeing the Palace, the old fort, and the huge garden. Everything about Alhambra is like, magical. When I was walking through the garden, called Generalife (Hen-er-al-lee-fay), I thought I maaay just had found what heaven looks like. What's most amazing is that they have found paintings from 500 years ago that show the garden in the same condition. So green, so beautiful. After "strolling" this Generalife I went to the Palace. The construction of this old muslim palace was incomprehensible. The detail in the walls, the ceilings, the floors almost doesn't make sense because of how much work it would have taken to create. The tourists in this palace, however, were the worst. I know that I was one of them, but taking a picture took some serious effort if you didn't want a family of 4 posing for the 10th time in front of the same thing in the frame.  Finally, I saw the old abandoned fort, which gave some pretty cool views of Granada.

I left Alhambra, wondered Albayzín for a while, which is the old Moorish neighborhood which still feels just as dated. It was designed to confuse intruders in the city, so the streets just come to dead ends and have no order or sense. I somehow found this lookout point to for some views of Alhambra and Granada, and hung out up there for some time listening to old Spanish men sing and play guitar.

Finally, I went back down and saw the rest of the downtown I rushed though, grabbed some free tapas for dinner, and read my book until I had my 12:30 bus home. The seat next to me was vacant on the ride back so I passed ouuutt, and by 7AM Sunday morning I was back at my apartment.

Although the day was really tiring, hot, and I was by myself, I'm really glad I saw Granada. So many people who have stayed in Spain say it is their favorite city, and I can see why. It's small and manageable, which is nice after being in Madrid for all these weeks. And, now I can say I've been to Andalucía (Spain's whole Southern region).

Okay, so I took more than 300 pictures in Granada, which is just absurd. Here are some of my favorites:

Downtown, where all the gypsies were!

Cathedral.

Back side of the Cathedral, more downtown.

Entrance to the start of Alhambra

Long hike up.

Walk to Generalyfe inside Alhambra

One of many lillypad filled pools

Still inside Generalyfe

Carlos V Palace

Inside the Moorish palace

This is where the women would "stroll" because they couldnt leave the palace

From the other side

This is the room where the sultan used to sit....

Views out the window

Detail on the walls.

More examples of the detail

Back in the garden

On top of the fort!

The whole abandoned fort

Granada from Albazín

Up on the look out point. Random people dancing and playing music.

Alhambra from the look out point

Lost in Albayzín :)