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
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