Hostel Reviews

Based on a snow-biased 5 star system

Madrid: Hostal Metropol

-5 stars

Location: Located in a convenient, yet we will admit, slightly sketchy part of town because of the prostitutes which line the side street of the hostel. Right off Gran Via and 2 minute walk to the Plaza del Sol. Right by a Metro stop.

Security: No outside guests are allowed into the building. They have a security guard at all times, especially after midnight. Keys had to be returned to the desk any time you left the building. We felt very, very safe.

Staff: They were the sweetest, most helpful people we encountered. They all spoke English, but Spanish was the language they preferred.

Room: (Stayed in a 4-person dorm room) Suite-style, individual beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet and pillow provided. Cheap towel rental (1 euro). Only one outlet located in bathroom.

Wifi: Fair-have to resign-in every 30 minutes. Connection only in lobby area. Public computers are available for free from 10am-10pm.

Community: Most of the guests were not English speakers. Their bar area has great potential for meeting new people.

Granada: Oasis Backpacker's Hostel

-5 stars

Location: Located in the heart of the Islamic district off the main street Calle Gran Via. Surrounded by tapas restaurants, kebab shops, and bars. 2 minutes away from Granada 10 night club. 15 minute walk to the center of the city.

Security: Card key access to front door and rooms. Large locker compartments for each person within the rooms.

Staff: Hilarious and young. Able to speak English, Spanish, French, Swedish, etc....

Room: (Stayed in a 12-person dorm room) Suite-style, bunk beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet, pillow, and blanket provided. Outlets were scarcely located throughout the room.

Wifi: Soooo slow! Public computers are available, but even these had a very slow connection.

Community: Most of the guests were English speakers. The hostel hosted different events, like walking tours and tapas crawls, to allow for intra-hostel bonding. The terrace is amazing!!! It overlooks the entire Islamic district. Have their own bar with a happy hour, and they give a free drink to every guest.

Sevilla: Garden Backpacker's Hostel

-3 stars (pretty neutral)

Location: Located within 10 minutes of the Cathedral and Alcazar. Near supermarkets and La Carboneria—a well-known Flamenco place.

Security: Have to ring a bell to gain entrance. Security guard throughout the night. Lockers provided within the rooms.

Staff: They were good. Not mean nor super nice. Helped when needed.

Room: (Stayed in a 8-person dorm room) Bunk beds. Bathrooms located nearby the room. Cleaned everyday, sheet and pillow provided. 2 outlets per bed.

Wifi: Not sure—unable to connect with Linux OS.

Community: They have free sangrias in the garden at 9pm everyday. Host dinner parties, pub crawls and walking tours.

Valencia: Center Valencia

- 2 stars

Location: Location was the best thing about this hostel. 2 minute walk to the tram for the beach. Right next to the Plaza de la Virgen.

Security: Rooms are card key, but security for the front door was not great.

Staff: Day staff was helpful, but night staff was rude.

Room: (Stayed in a 8-person dorm room) Suite-style, bunk beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet, pillow and blanket provided. Each bed had their own reading light and outlet.

Wifi: Not sure—again, Linux OS could not connect. Public computers are available and shut down at 1am.

Community: Most of the guests were not English speakers. Their terrace provided nice view points but was not used by guests and closed by 9pm. The lobby and common area are off limits at 1am. If you need to make a phone call after 1am, the lobby is not available because you will be kicked out.

Barcelona: Equity Point-Gothic Point Hostel

-4 ½ stars

Location: Amazing! Right off Placa Sant Jaume and 5 minute walk to La Rambla. 2 minutes from Museu Picasso, the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar and the Cathedral. Right by a Metro stop.

Security: No outside guests are allowed into the building. Card key access to rooms. Outside door is locked after dark, so you must ring bell and show card to gain access.

Staff: Young crowd; some staff members were backpackers who were staying at the hostel for free by working for the hostel.

Room: (Stayed in a 14-person dorm room) Suite-style, really high, awesome bunk beds. Each bed had its own wooden locker and drape which provided privacy. Cleaned everyday, sheet and pillow provided. Reading lights and outlets for every bed. *No air-condition!!! (this is what caused the loss of a ½ star) Air is gained through open windows which doesn't really help in 90/95 degree weather.

Wifi: Fast connection in lobby area. First 20 minutes on public computers are free, after that, you can buy more time. (2 euro per hour)

Community: Great!!! Their focus is on the night-life of Barcelona. Offer party buses, club crawls, walking tours during the day. Most people are English speakers, and enjoy each other's company in the lobby. Have a great terrace, but it closes at 9:30pm :( Allowed to purchase and bring in outside alcohol to pre-game.

San Sebastian: Roger's House

-2 ½ stars

Location: Located in the center of Old Town, 2 minutes from the closest beach, and 10minute walk to el Centre San Martin and La Playa de la Concha

Security: Must have key to enter the apartment, and an additional key to enter hostel. Within hostel, all rooms were accessible by anyone staying there. Lockers were available, but must inquire and pay for them.

Staff: Very nice, but not around very much.

Room: (Stayed in a 6-person dorm room) Bathroom down the hall, bunk beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet, comforter, and pillow provided. We fortunately had a power strip in our room because the public computer was attached to our room.

Wifi: Available everywhere in the hostel, and had great connection. There is one public computer available in a little cubby-hole between two of the dorm rooms.

Community: Most of the guests were from Australia, and pretty much people did their own thing. Not a lot of intra-Hostel interaction since they only had a tiny kitchen and no other communal space. It is not a “party hostel” and seems like everyone was fast asleep by 1am. It looked like a place that attracted a population of surfers who were all out on the surf beach during the day, exhausted by night.

Madrid: Guess who's back?...Back again

DAY 14 CONT. - Wednesday 30 June

Our love for Madrid was not reciprocated by the city, for when we arrived at 10pm, we were not able to take the Metro because of a strike! Instead, we had to take a taxi to our hostel, and his driving was one for the books. We stayed at Metropol again, and after checking in, decided it was time for dinner.

Bodega Melibea was stop Numero 1. Their tortilla espanola and tostada de jamon y queso with a tasty cup of draught cider welcomed us back to the wonderful food of Madrid! However, one miscalculation on the snow's part was that it was a Wednesday night which meant restaurants closed their kitchens at midnight, and by the time we were out of the bodega, it was a quarter to midnight. Our failed attempts at eating at other restaurants led us to the best 24-hour food source in Madrid: Chocolateria de San Gines :D

After a warm, fuzzy cup of cafe con leche and churros con chocolate, the snows called it a night.

DAY 15 - Thursday 1 July

Who knew that 1 July marked the beginning of summer sales in Spain? (All of Europe I guess, but not us). Our day started early (about 10:30am), for we hoped to head out to the Thyssen museum located near the Prado. The moment we turned the corner, however, we were allured into 'Bershka'-a Spanish brand clothing store-through their “up to 50% discount” signs. We eventually made it out of the store and over to 'La Catedral' for lunch. We had their 'Menu del Dia' which left our tummies full and ready for our escapade to the museum to practice our connoisseur abilities. The Thyssen is an amazing museum which, in our eyes, gives the Prado competition in size and variety of collection. At this museum, we were able to sample the collection which begins with the Early Renaissance and ends with modern art like Surrealism and Pop Art. 4 thumbs up from the snows!

We decided exercise was needed after such a big meal and wandering about the museum, so we took a detour onto Calle Atocha and walked it back up to Sol. Shopping pretty much took up the rest of our afternoon. Because of our hostel's location, we were able to frequently drop off recent purchases and take a break from the heat and people traffic surrounding us.

9pm came around, and it was time to begin our final tapas crawl in Spain – that is, until we come back!

TAPAS CRAWL #5 FINAL!

Las Bravas-Patatas bravas, croquettas de jamon y pollo, sangrias

Cervezeria 100 Montaditos-Jarras (jugs) of tinto verano, olive oil potato chips, and 2 montaditos

Lamiak-Basque cider (*it is salty and tangy, definitely different from regular cider—one snow equates it to a less sugary salty dog cocktail), and 2 tapas: brie with caramalized onion and tomato and pork tenderloin with carmelized onions

Midway through our crawl, we met an Englishman who ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the night. On our way to Lamiak, we made sure to show him Plaza Mayor and the area around La Latina. After the crawl, we took a short break and decided we wanted to end the night, and essentially our trip, at “Joy”-the 'hot' nightclub of Madrid. Honestly, it wasn't too great. It was student night, so students got in for free with discounted drinks. The floor was packed but dancing seemed to be the only thing missing from this dance club. Will we go there next time? Probs not, but it was worth a try.

About 3:45am, it was time for us to bid farewell to our favorite place in Spain [almost]...Chocolateria de San Gines, which is conveniently located right next to Joy. We had our usual, but we are unsure if our Englishman friend enjoyed the churros as much as we did [something about fried batter and fish and chips].

DAY 16 - Friday 2 July

Spain is so sad to see us go that she decided to cry and rain all morning/afternoon. We packed up our things and wondered what happened to our bathroom door during the night because when we woke up it was literally hanging by a hinge. The people at the hostel were the best by far and told us they would miss us [tear]. We headed out to lunch at a nearby Cervezeria 100 Montaditos and indulged in a cafe con leche with their 6 motadito platter and a side of papas fritas (we decided to be tubby since we knew plane food would not be substantive :D). The rest of the time before our flight, we took our final walk around Sol and searched, but did not find, a place to buy paella pans.

When heading to the airport, we did not know our travel time would equal one hour. Because of the strike, services were still scarce, and at each transit, we had to wait about 10 minutes. The airport did not prove to run any faster, but luckily, we planned with more than enough time to get to our terminal. To add to our smooth day, our flight was delayed almost an hour meaning we may miss our connection flight into Houston from Miami :( We spoke to Iberia, and if we do miss our connection, then they will pay for our accommodations in Miami. As of now, we have 2 hours until landing and need to make sure to do some really good stretching before we run through the Miami airport.

San Sebastian: “Basque”-ing in the Spanish sun

DAY13 - Tuesday 29 June

Both snows only took a short one hour nap before leaving the hostel for San Sebastian. The bus left Barcelona at 7:30, and we arrived in San Sebastian at 1pm. The Basque country side proved to be beautiful with many hills, trees, wheat patches and tunnels which went through numerous rocky mountains. When we arrived in San Sebastian, we were greeted by a day long wage reduction strike. The strike was peaceful; however, 70% of the businesses were closed, so we had to go on a quest for food upon checking in to the hostel. Old part of town was completely shut down – even McDonald's was closed! So we headed down south towards the Romantic New town, and the Playa de la Concha. We fortunately came across an open tavern that served affordable pork loin bocadillos for 4 euro each. We walked into the bar, and the first thing we were told was that we had to wait for our food for about 8 minutes because they were out of bread and his son was out trying to find more. As we waited, the owner gave us a free tapa de patatas allijo (fried potatoes with garlic olive oil), a type of basque pintxo. He made sure to explain how to eat them: sprinkle some paprika and eat with toothpicks. I guess we looked like newbies in the area. Eventually, the bocadillos came our way, and it was AMAZING! Tons of swiss cheese with tasty tenderloin in french bread :) When it was time to pay, a snow handed over 10 euros, and was given back 5 euros in change...? The owner cut our bill in half just because he felt like it!! We got lucky :D

Then, we were ready for the beach! We lied out on the beach for about 2hrs and touched the Dover waters, which was surprisingly warmer than the Mediterranean water! We went back to our hostel, named Roger's House, took a shower, and got ready to go look for dinner. We wandered around new town, and eventually settled at a pub called Krunch. One snow was excited about salad, and the other snow ordered a sarten de pollo (chicken grilled on a hot plate with curry sauce). Coffee was calling our names, so we proceeded to walk along the beach to the Cafe de la Concha for some Cafe con Leche and brownies for dessert. Pretty much the town was done for the night, so we went back to the hostel to get some good night's rest :)

DAY 14 - Wednesday 30 June

It's the last day of June!!

After checking out of the hostel, our plans to drop the backpacks down in a locker was a complete fail... We tried the bus station and two different train stations, but all locations did not have lockers! (How strange is that??) Hence, we lunged our bags all the way back to the beach, and our packs joined us for a bath in the sun. On the way to the beach, we stopped at a market inside Centre San Martin where we bought freshly baked whole wheat french bread with nuts and grains, smoked salmon, and tasty havarti cheese. We made our sandwiches by the beach, and proceeded to lay out on the sand.

When we left the beach, we were able to see the true community of San Sebastian come to life after the strike day. People of the town were charming and helpful and there were so many families out and about. San Sebastian is a great, serene town that both the snows are ready to live in :P The great French influence also contributes to its charm, and especially to its pastries! (num num <>

San Sebastian turned out to be lovely and relaxing, and also left us with a yearning to one day return again. Now we are in the bus and making our way to our last stop, the LOVELY city of Madrid.

Barcelona! "Baby, baby, baby, Oh! -- We met 'Justin Bieber'"

DAY 10 – Saturday 26 June

The bus ride to Barcelona was about 5 hours, showed us the coast line, but nothing too exciting. It took us about 10 minutes to find the Metro stop located outside of the bus station because of really bad signage, but once we were on the Metro, it only took a little less than 10 minutes to make it to our hostel's metro stop: Jaume I. We stayed at the Equity Gothic Point hostel, located in the area known as 'Barri Gotic', and had a 14 people dorm room. 14 people sounds overwhelming, but it turned out to be amazing! Each room had high ceilings which allowed for the hostel to bunk the beds and provide a drape for privacy, so each bed felt like its own room. (go to the web site to check out the bunking system because we forgot to take a picture...oops) Our room ended up housing 7 Americans, 3 Australians, 2 Dutch, 1 Canadian, and 1 French (it also included a Brazilian before the last American arrived but he didn't really hang out with us).

For lunch, we ate at this awesome place called 'Conesa'; they are famous for their "entrepans", a Catalan word, which equates a 'bocadillo' in Castellano. [Catalan is the Spanish dialect spoken in the region Catalunya where Barcelona is located. Castellano is the national Spanish language=textbook Spanish.] We then stopped at a gelteria called "Gelaaati!" because one snow could not stop craving frozen yogurt. Both of these establishments were located on the road Lliberteria (right next to Calle de Jaume). It was time to start our Barcelona walking tour via Lonely Planet, and our first exploration led us to La Rambla--the main street in Barcelona where you can find performers, small markets which sale crafts, souvenirs and even pets, etc. Also along La Rambla is "Market La Boqueria"--one of the fresh markets in Barce.

Our tour took us to the Placa de Catalunya, the Cathedral, the Roman Wall, Museu Picasso, and Palau de la Musica Catalana (notice the Catalan spelling for some words). After the tour was done, we joined some of our roommates from the hostel for the USA game at a pub named "The Palace". During overtime, we moved to the hostel which was our meeting point for 'The Party Bus'. 'The Party Bus' was hosted by our hostel and cost 25 euro. It took us to 3 bars and a disco called "Catwalk". Our room was fast asleep by 5am. [By the way, one of our roommates from Rutgers University spoke, acted and looked like Justin Bieber. In greater coincidence, he actually plays guitar and can also sing.]


DAY 11 – Sunday 27 June

One Snow managed to wake up by 10:30am for Mass at the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar; Mass was done in Catalan which was really difficult for Snow to understand but she made it through. By the time Snow was out of church, the rest of the room was awake. The afternoon started with a visit to the Museu Picasso and the Pre-Colombian museum. The Museu Picasso featured the early work of Pablo Picasso and marked his stylistic changes as he moved between different cities in Spain; the best part of the collection, at least for the Snows, was Picasso's reinterpretation of Velazquez's infamous art work "Las Meninas". The Pre-Colombian museum was interesting and featured artifacts recovered overtime by the Spaniards during their exploration of Northern and Central America.

Next on the agenda was a trek to Anotoni Gaudi's unfinished church called 'Sagrada Familia'. From our hostel, it took about 40 minutes to walk to the infamous, architectural beauty, but for us, it was well worth it and also gave us a chance to see another piece of Gaudi's architecture in Barce, 'La Pedrera'. When we visited the church, we were unable to climb the towers, but we still felt it was worth going inside to view the work in progress within the church. [It cost 12 euro per person; this is pretty pricey, especially since the towers were out of commission, but we allowed ourselves to splurge and felt it was worth it.]

Upon our return to the hostel, we headed out for dinner at 'La Taberna del Cobre'. We had patatas bravas, an hamberguesa, and tostada ahumada. That night's festivities included watching the end of a World Cup game and then a journey to a club named 'Roxy' with a large group from our hostel and its sister hostel--the hostel provided everybody with free entrance to the club and the girls got a free mixed drink and champagne.


DAY 12 – Monday 28 June

Monday morning started off with unbearable heat inside our room and drilling right outside our window. One of the downfalls of this hostel is their inability to have functional AC inside the hostel rooms--or at least within ours. For lunch, we went to 'Taller de Tapas', located on the same street of the Museu Picasso, and had a pintxo de calamares, a pintxo de bombas (a meatball surrounded by mashed potatoes), and a parillada de verdeturas (grilled vegetables).

The main item on the agenda for today was Parc Guell--a park built by Gaudi. We took the metro as a means of transportation because the distance was a little too far even for the Snows. The park is a must-see for Barcelona! Its layout is built upon a hill which leads to different lookout points over Barce; the best and highest of these, however, is the one marked with a sculpture of a cross surrounded by other abstract shapes. A trail is provided for park goers which snakes them through the different museums located within the park; the snows had different plans though. Instead of following the paved trail, we followed a nature trail which bypassed the museums and took us on a small hike through the hill towards the highest peak. Our trip from bottom to top took about 15 minutes when it should have taken about 30. Nevertheless, the view from the top included the coast line, the Olympic stadium, and the vast city of Barcelona.

The day started and decided to remain hot. We were satisfied with our touristic adventures and decided to visit the market on La Rambla to buy fruit for our next day early train ride to San Sebastian. The rest of the day was reduced to a failed attempt of watching the World Cup, an exploration of the hostel's terrace (which was really nice, spacious and included a ping pong table), and a crucia siesta for a snow. Dinner was enjoyed at 'Orci', a Basque-style pintxo bar. At this bar, you serve yourself the pintxos you want to try (buffet-style), then the server counts how many toothpicks you have left on your plate from the pintxos and calculates your bill. Too many pintxos were tried, so a list cannot be provided, but they were all delicious so as a piece of advice: Do not be afraid to try new, and sometimes unrecognizable, pintxos.

Our last night in Barce was spent in two different ways for the Snows. One snow went to the beach with the Dutch girls from our room, and the other snow went to the 'Harlem Jazz Bar' with the Australian friends and another American from our room. Both snows spent a relaxing evening in amazing company :D

Valencia: Fashion for beach bums ;)

DAY 8 – Thursday 24 June

(hour 6 of our train ride)
So far, the trip has been smooth and unexciting today. This morning we were touched by the kindness of the Andalucians when an old man tried to help us out when were trying to walk to the train station with our 35lb backpacks. At the train station, the snows had cafe con leche and shared a croissant together while waiting for the train's departure. For lunch, we made sandwiches with the bread, cheese and serrano ham we bought at the supermarket the day before – Delish! And, here we are!! :D

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After the train ride, we needed to stretch our legs, so we decided to walk over to our hostel--Center Valencia. We loved the location of the hostel (<3) but we did not like the actual hostel (if that makes sense). To explain: there wasn't a very communal feel, the night guard was pretty rude, and public spaces got their lights turned off and closed down by 1am.

Our first order of business was to visit the Museo de Bella Artes, a free museum which showcases Early Renaissance altar pieces and included later artists such as Velazquez and Ribera. On our way over, we had a slight pit stop for soft-serve ice cream that was only 1 euro for a pequeno that equated a grande! After the museum, we began our walking tour courtesy of Lonely Planet--note it was already 8pm when we started, so our tour lasted until after dark. As we were walking, we passed by a shop named 'Blanco' which had a big sign which said "Todo de Descuentos 50%" and translated to us as "Time to Shop!" After the snows purchased some lovely clothes, it was time to integrate our first tapas meal of the night at "Sagardi", a Basque pintxo (pronounced pincho) bar. A lovely glass of tinto de verano was enjoyed alongside tapas like crab with mozzarella, smoked salmon with cream cheese, mushroom and iberico ham, and an olive salad with tuna--all of these dishes were served atop a small slice of baguette.

Our walking tour took us through different plazas, government buildings, and a torre (a tower built in the 16th century which acted as the passing point into the city of Valencia). Since another downfall of the hostel was bad internet connection, we had to venture out to McDonald's to call our parents and a snow's significant other. This is when we discovered the McD's McCafe is actually good in Europe and better than some cafes in Spain. Finally, at 11:45pm, it was time to continue our tapas crawl. We ended up at a tapas bar in Plaza de la Reina which served big, yet affordable, 'raciones' of tapas; we ordered a racion de croquettes and a pincho de tortilla.
*A reason to speak Spanish in Spain: You won't get ripped off by waiters in restaurants late at night. Explanation: A non-Spanish speaking family of four was desparate to find food before all of the kitchens closed. They stopped at the restaurant we were at and tried to ask for a tapas menu (which is cheaper and easily capable of feeding four), but the waiter said they didn't have one even though he had just waited on us. In the end, he forced them to order a 'Menu del Dia' which cost 20 euros per person! :(

This night was the celebration of 'Dia de San Juan'--the longest day of the year--and we were planning on going out to the beach to join the celebration. However, the snows were tired from traveling more than 9 hours that day and were never really given proper directions to the festivities. (Later in Barcelona, we heard that we missed out on quite a party which included bon fires all along the beach and people raising their glasses in celebration of the longest day of the year.)


DAY 9 – Friday 25 June

Our day started at 2pm which is when we finally woke up, both snow's slept past the 10:30am alarm. By 2:30pm, we were at the beach enjoying the clean, soft sand and the blue Mediterranean water. A couple of hours later, it was time for lunch and we knew what we wanted to try: arroz negro--squid ink rice paella. We found a place along the boardwalk which was still open and situated close to the grand prix track where a race was in progress while we enjoyed our meal.
*Note: When visiting Spanish beaches, be ready to encounter many topless women since that is a part of their beach culture.

After cleaning up at the hostel, shopping was calling our names once again. Once our shopping itch was satiated, then we headed south on a quest to see La Ciudad de las Ciencias y Artes. We got to the set of buildings at a little past dusk (10pm) and had the chance to experience its architecture emphasized by the glimmering spot lights which surround the perimeter of the complex. To get home, we walked along what used to be a river bed and has been turned into a long stretch of park land. It took us about 30 minutes to make it back to the hostel, and by then, it was dinner time. We decided to have Doner Kebab sandwiches from the plaza next door and sat in Plaza de la Virgen to watch locals play 'futball', rollerblade, and the lovers sitting along the church steps.

We had the fullest intention to experience the Valencian night life we had heard so much about, but after calling home at 3am, there was no more energy left to go out especially since our bus to Barcelona was leaving at 8 the next morning :(

Sevilla: Hell ya! We're 'Mericans!

DAY 7 – Wednesday 23 June

Waking up in the morning hungry and sick of hostel breakfast, the snows wanted another kebab sandwich before the train ride; however none of the stores were opened yet :( we miss those sandwiches soooo much.... On the way to the train stop, to redeem our fail of not finding the sandwiches, we stopped by Carrefour supermarket to see what they offered for breakfast. We picked up two iced lattes in a cup and a three pack of chocolate croissants. Also, the snows stopped by a vegetable shop to pick up some... num num num num dark dark cerezas (bing cherries)! It was probably the best that we have ever tasted!!
*When abroad, if you need to find any food essentials (ie water, yogurt, bread, cheese) go to a local supermarket for the best deals! You can get a 2L water for less than 60 EURO cents.

As the snows indulged in an economical but tasty breakfast from the supermarket, some of the people we met at the hostel showed up at the station. Turns out they were all headed to Sevilla as well! We promised to watch the USA game with them at Flaherty, an Irish pub, located right across from the cathedral next to one of the THREE Starbucks-es on the corner. Question: Is it necessary to have so many Starbucks in a matter of 1/8 mile? Anywho, three hour train ride and check into the hostel, Garden Backpacker's, where linux OS did not support their internet later, we headed out to the cathedral. We were lost at the cathedral for 30 minutes looking for Flaherty. When we finally found it, we both craved a smooth sweet cold drink, so we shared a cider :) USA kept on attempting goals, but failed constantly until........... GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!! Yes, it was an exciting moment, and everyone in the bar was jumping up and down because we are 'mercians from the 'nited 'tates of 'merica! (inside joke,,, teeheheh) We grabbed a bite with the guys and a girl we met in Sevilla, and said bye to them so that we can go check out the Alcazar.

When we got to the Alcazar, they told us we only had 30minutes left... what?! Since Lonely Planet was last published, it looked like they changed their closing time from 8pm to 7pm. We fast walked through the awe-inspiring beautiful gem, that is, the Alcazar. We managed to take a peek in all the rooms as well as the garden before making our way out of the complex. This monument is a MUST see in Sevilla. After Alcazar, we walked around the Cathedral, but we did not go inside, since one snow lost her student ID it was going to cost her 8 EUROs.

We walked back to the hostel and went shopping for the next day's lunch – for our 8.5hr train ride to Valencia. Upon returning, we were allured by the hostel staff with free sangrias. We intended on going to join the others at the garden, but both fell asleep for an hour. After failing to get our sangria, it was time to think about heading out to watch a FREE Flamenco show at La Carboneria (located on the Calle de Levies). At first we thought that the show was cancelled because we did not hear music or see any dancing, but turned out that they were just taking a break. The music was emotional and strong, guiding the flamenco dancer to take her powerful and passionate steps across the stage. However there was a moment that made the snows feel sad. People were being loud during the performance and caused the dancer to stop to tell the crowd to please respect their emotion and performance by being quiet :(

When the performance ended around 2am, the snows walked quickly back to the hostel to get to bed, since we had to be up by 6:45am.

Cordoba/ Granada: our entry way into Andalucia

DAY 5 – Monday 21 June

One Snow woke up at 7am, the other at 7:30am. Our bus for Cordoba headed out at 9am...or so we thought. Turns out, our ticket was for the wrong day, so we ran to the ticket counter and managed to switch our tickets but we had to wait for the 10am bus. While waiting, we learned about the history of the Cordoba mosque and found that Christians and Muslims used to share the sacred grounds until the 13th century; this is when Fernando III took over Cordoba and built a Gothic Cathedral in the middle of the mosque.

The bus ride between Madrid and Cordoba took 5 hours but it was only 1/3 of the price of a train ticket = totally worth it. The buses are comfortable and safe, so if you ever travel in Europe, do not be afraid to consider buses as a transportation option. In fact, at times, bus travel can be faster than train, so take the extra time and do a little research on the internet.

Once off the bus, we rented a locker and took bus No. 3 until we saw the “Mezquita” -- the mosque. The mosque proved to be even more beautiful than the postcards portrayed it to be and is worth a trip into this smaller city. Cordoba is filled with narrow streets and reminded one Snow of her time in Italy. It seems to have huge Italian and Arabic influence when it comes to food, for both pizza and Arabic kebabs were available at most, if not all, of the restaurants. Most of our walking was done during siesta time, so many of the shops and restaurants were closed, and because it is Monday, all of the museums, except the mosque, were closed as well. At 5:30pm, however, this somewhat sleepy city woke up and its citizens finally came out. One minute was all it took for the barren Plaza de la Tendilla to be filled with shop owners, high school students, and other locals.

*Discovery of the day: A 2L bottle of water is only 65 euro cents in a super market (or at least in Cordoba). If you ever need water, find a local super market to buy it.

Our next bus to Granada, our stop for the night, left at 7:30pm. Right now, as we type, we are in transit and loving the orange orchards and sunflower patches which grace the mountains of La Tinosa—which is where we are driving through.

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As we arrived in Granada and took a bus – where knowing where we were was impossible – we managed to get to our Hostel, Oasis Backpacker's, located in a tiny alley in the back streets of the Islamic District. We rung the door bell and opened a huge door that one snow could barely reach... We were happy to see that the inside of the hostel was not as sketchy as the outside, and quickly learned that the area surrounding us was actually safe.

Our first order of business was DINNER! We ended up wandering to el centro to see what we can find, but because it was a Monday and already past 10pm, most of the restaurants and bars were closed. So, instead of a tapas crawl, we wandered into a restaurant where the waiter told us that the kitchen was going to close in 10 minutes. We each ordered a glass of wine: one snow ordered a rose wine, and the other snow ordered an AMAZING white wine that had a strong after taste of muscat grapes and a floral scent. (num num num... ) We also shared a little plate of paella, and with our wine, we were given a braised beef sandwich as a complimentary tapa.
*In Granada, drink prices seem higher, but that is because a drink usually comes with a free tapa.

After that we stopped by an Italian gelato/ pastry/ cake shop and had a scoop each of tasty ice cream! We were walking back to our hostel with our ice cream calling it quits, but when we returned people were gathered in the lobby ready to leave for a pub crawl. Since the internet was not working well in the hostel we could not talk to people via skype that night, so we said, “Why not?” and tagged along. However, the pub crawl consisted of one lame bar, and the snows didn't want to drink anyway. Highlight of the night was meeting a large group of people from our hostel. As most of us did not enjoy the bar, we all decided to leave. As we were walking back to the hostel, we noticed that Granada 10 ( a club usually FILLED with people on the weekend) was open. So, several people of the group approached the bouncers, and it turned out that we got in for free :) When we all walked in together, we noticed that we were LITERALLY the only people in the club. Yes, a club made to accommodate 1000 ish people had 15 people in it! Eventually the locals walked in, but they did not dance at all. One snow called it quits so the snows returned to the hostel hoping for better internet. Annnnd, there it was! That concludes our first night in Granada – so spontaneous as backpackers should be.

DAY 6 – Tuesday 22 June

Our night ended late, and our day started early. We wanted to go to the Alhambra but failed to reserve tickets. So instead of an Alhambra escapade, we walked through the less traveled route around the Alhambra to get back down to the city. A tiny, windy road along the walls of Alhambra led us out to Carrera del Darro which led us into the Plaza Nueva. We continued our walk, and began searching for the leather market, but it was closed due to a music festival occurring that day. Hence, the snows decided to go explore the north side of town in the Islamic District up to Albayzin. Before that, we seeked for sustenance at the San Agustin market where we bought dark cherries. One snow had never tried them before, and turned out that she loved them! From there, we proceeded on quite a hike to Albayzin, which felt like we did a good set of stairs, but it led us to a park that provided us with a beautiful panorama of the Ahambra and the Sierra Nevada as the background. The park was on the corner of Calle Santa Isabel la Real and Placeta Cauchiles de San Miguel. If you ever visit Granada, you should definitely make the hike to Albayzin because even its architecture sets itself aside from the rest of the city.

We walked back to the hostel for a siesta before the Mexico World Cup game, only to get convinced in a walking tour back up into Albayzin. (Stair exercise for us again! :P) This walking tour, however, included a tour of the houses up towards the hills of Albayzin. In Granada, it is common for people in that area to live in a cave. The cave house was owned by an old man from Mexico, who crossed over to India during the spiritual movement in the 60s and now lives in Granada as he continues his brotherhood work. The cave was surprisingly homely, and the temperature was perfect! Both snows would have loved to live in there :) We continued on with the walking tour to a famous graffiti wall by a guy named Mico. The art took 5 years to complete, and was not only amazing, but very intensely emotional. (Pictures to come) Our next stop was the tallest mirador (view point) of the city of Granada. We continued with the tour for a while, but we bailed to go watch the game. We went to the bar, grabbed an ice cold cup of tinto verano (OUR FAVORITE DRINK IN SPAIN: tinto wine and soda). Sadly Mexico lost to Paraguay, but cheering along with the Mexico fans was loud, obnoxious, and SOOO much fun!!

The hungry soccer game watching crew from our hostel all headed towards the Pescador to get some seafood tapas. After we ate, we all returned to the hostel for a break on the terrace. A guitar, ukulele, and a recorder created the melody for a hostel-wide jam session! The sun kept us warm and cozy until about 10:00p. This was where we met many more people from our hostel, and eventually we decided to go check out a chupateria (shot bar). Before going out for the night, the hungry snows followed a group of people getting kebab pita sandwiches at Kebab King on Calle de Elvira. They were by far the best kebab sandwich both the snows had ever tried!! Then it was time to go, and after being lost for 30 minutes, we found the chupateria. They had 120 different types of shooters on top of the regular shots, but the snows only tried maybe four between the two of them. The night ended with one snow returning to the hostel with a group, and another snow went to Granada 10 with the rest of the people from the hostel. Then it was night night time for the snows, for they had a long day ahead of them in Sevilla :D