Nothing sadder... than being blind in Granada.

Dale limosna, mujer,

que no hay en la vida nada

como la pena de ser

ciego en Granada.

(Give him alms, woman,

for there is nothing sadder in life than being blind in Granada)

-Francisco de Icaza

This weekend I had a four day weekend, so on Monday and Tuesday I decided to go visit Granada, and one thing is for sure, Francisco de Icaza was right.  

On Monday morning I hopped on a bus at 7:30 and headed towards Granada.  When I arrived in Granada I headed straight for the closest stop of a tour bus/train that I had found out about online.  (SHOUT OUT to my Mom and Dad for getting me an international phone plan, because I would never make it anywhere without my data.)  So, for the fantastic price of 12 euro I got a two day pass to ride around on this tour bus and get on and off whenever I wanted.  I rode around until about 11am where I got off at the stop where they were offering a walking tour for free.  To kill some time I ate a Spanish tortilla at a cafe and looked around at some shops. Then at 12pm, two old couple, the tour guide, and I set out on a nice afternoon tour.  I highly recommend walking tour, you just get such good information that you would miss otherwise.  

After that I decided to take the tour bus to the stop that was closest to my hostel and made my way there.  As it turns out the hostel reception wasn't open yet, but luckily one of the volunteers found me and let me in.  So I joined the volunteers in their hangout spot and one of them, who is American, offered to show me around some.  So set out again.  And we walked... and walked.... and walked... for about three of four hours we walked and climbed stairs and hiked up hills.  She ended up taking me to some of the best views of the city and of the surrounding mountains.  

Once we got back to the hostel I relaxed for a bit and got ready to meet some Meddeas people who were kind enough to invited me out to dinner with them.  One of them met me at the hostel and we walked to meet the others.  We ended up eating Mexican and I finally got a BURRITO!  I was very happy to say the least.  So we just talked for hours and then headed back to our "homes."  Then I fell right to sleep.

The next morning I ate breakfast at the hostel and went around to some of the shops.  After finding some great gifts, I headed towards the closest tour bus stop and hopped on to avoid the rain.  Then my flatmates and our friend Ignacio came up for the day so I met them and we walked around and toured some ancient houses and buildings and got something to eat and were back on the road by 5 

(after hunting for the car in the wrong car garage for about 10 minutes).  

Needless to say, this was such a successful trip and I met so many great people in just one day.  Shout out to Hannah and Orla for being so friendly and taking me around with them!  I can't wait to go back and explore more, and also to continue exploring this beautiful country.  

Oh and here are some pictures in case you did't see them on facebook already:

Plaze Nueva

Inside an ancient bath house

The gypsy village

View of Granada from my hike

View from hike

Ancient house in Granada

Beautiful houses along the river

The Alhambra (ancient Muslim castle)

Beautiful streets and buildings

Souvenir market

Alright, thats it for now... I'm off to work!

Hasta luego!