Day 6 and 7: Granada

The meeting place with the guy who was taking us to the next and last destination was the bus terminal in Cádiz.

We were travelling with a nice guy who was more or less the same age as us and got to the meeting point about 20 minutes late. He said he spent the weekend skiing in the mountains of Granada.

The car journey lasted around 3½ hours, so our morning "went to hell" so to speak. What is more, our hotel was nice, but really far from the centre. As it was the weekend, the prices were raised and accommodation in the centre would have cost us too much. Patience.

We ate a quick lunch and caught the first bus going to the city centre. Again, we were tourists improvising everything, vaguely following the advised routes on the Internet, whilst also following our feelings and taking the direction that inspired us most. As a result, we got lost a few times.

Generally speaking, we travelled along the main streets (of which I remember Gran Vìa de Colòn), and we ended up in Plaza Isabel la Catòlica, after which we decided to visit the Cathedral.

We wanted to experience the "real Granada", and that which is most typical, so we went to the Alcaicerìa and visited its little shops selling ethnic clothing, ceramics, oriental lamps with coloured glass and all kinds of trinkets. We only walked around a part of it, but I really liked it, despite it being an area that was a little too touristy.

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We continued towards the district of Albaicìn. As you go up the hill the streets become narrower, creating a labyrinth of streets with picturesque views. The houses were all white, small, decorated with colourful ceramics and flowers hanging from balconies or windows.

At the end of a staircase you finally arrive at the Mirador San Nicolàs, one of the best places to admire Alhambra and part of the city from above. The sun was more or less setting and the square was packed with people, so it wasn't easy to take a decent photo.

In any case, it was worth it. The light of the sun that descended on the snow-capped mountains and the surrounding setting of the typically Andalusian lanes and small houses all helped in creating a truly magical atmosphere.

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We came back down Calle Elvira, famous for its many “teterìas”, i. e. rooms selling Arabic-style tea and shisha, with an oriental atmosphere. I would have liked to stop and drink something, but it was starting to get dark, so we set off at once for the university district to have dinner and have a drink, following the advice of my Spanish flatmate.

The university district wasn't anything special, but it didn't lack places to eat for low prices and spend the evening. There were especially a lot of bars and pubs. We slipped into a kind of disco pub that was a little bit more elegant that the others and we met some students there who asked us if we were going to Mae West, one of the best clubs in the city. It was Saturday evening, so we could have gone. The problem was that after walking around and getting lost in the streets of Granada all day, it had knocked us out and we also had to get up early the following morning to visit Alhambra. We had to politely decline the invitation and we got a taxi back home.

Finally the moment was here - it was time for the long-awaited tour of Alhambra. We woke up (with little difficulty) and via shuttle bus we arrived at the top of the hill.

Again I must say that it was really worth visiting. It was definitely the biggest and most majestic complex we'd seen during our trip and it was practically a miniature city. The rooms with wall carvings alternate with courtyards, colonnades, patios and canals through which water flows. It was like we were transported to another world.

This is the floor plan of the building, just to give you an idea of its complexity:

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I also confess that, having already visited places such as these (the Alcazars in Córdoba and Seville), our jaws didn't drop like the first time. The "Mudejar", i. e. Hispanic-Arabic dating back to the 1300s, was now something normal to us.

However, that doesn't take anything away from the fact that it was one of the most beautiful buildings I'd ever seen in my life. And the view of the white houses below in Albaicìn only adds to the beauty of the place.

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Ah, obviously it's a good idea to book the visit on-line, especially at the weekend. There's a veritable sea of tourists and turning up without a booking will lead to you losing time, the risk being that you might not even get in. It costs around €15 per person.

We spend the rest of the day strolling around the city. Our quest to discover Andalusia was now coming to an end. We felt the tiredness in every part of our bodies, yet we still wanted to stay longer to carry on exploring these lands which, personally, had taken my breath away more than once. When I'm able to return here, I'll take the necessary time to visit every corner, without neglecting the beaches, small villages and less touristy places.

Having walked a part of the boardwalk, we went to a bar with WiFi to book the BlaBla Car that would take us back to Madrid. This time, the guy was a man in his 40s who, for the almost the whole journey (a cool 5 hours) was blasting Spanish rock music from the car stereo. Despite this, the other girl and I slept for the most part.

We got back to Madrid around midnight. That journey seemed to last a lifetime, but at the end I was happy to return to my dear Atocha street. And I was also satisfied with my Andalusian tour which we'd more or less improvised each moment.

I know that this kind of journey doesn't suit everyone, and that finding yourself racing against time to book accommodation and everything else can get a bit stressful after a while. Anyway, I'd do it all again without hesitation. Maybe it's the kind of adventure I seek, that which gives you the possibility to arrange yourself, improvise and live in the moment every day.

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