Andalusia, Granada and Free Food

We checked into the Granada Inn Backpackers, a compound of a place that sleeps 140 in peak season. Dawson, a friend from New Zealand had already checked into our dorm room. We met up with Marshall, a traveller from Canada whom my girlfriend met while she lived in Berlin. We made a few friends in the hostel too. Another traveller web comes together.

I felt the heat I’ve been waiting for as we climbed a nearby Hill filled with cave dwellers (actual people living in actual caves). A couple of them impatiently waved us away in Spanish which we translated as “no photos” we climbed to the top of the hill next to a telephone tower that overlooked the city. From high up the city looks older than it does at ground level. They have preserved the orange tiled- roofs and splashed most of the walls white. It looked like the cover of the paperback edition of “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

Tapas, tapas, tapas. A variety of small portioned foods, some meats, some olives, cheeses and so on. We would leave our hostel that is more like a Hotel to eat costly food that is more, like, free. A king from approximately ‘ages ago’ decided to make it compulsory to serve food with Sangria so people wouldn’t get so blootered (This backfired; we got drunk in order to be fed) Granada spoiled us, in Seville you have to PAY for food! (imagine that)

Granada is surrounded by mountains and the centre is dominated by the Alhambra. A palace that exhausted me with its beauty and filled my phone with photos of itself until I had to stop and simply take it in.

For 7 days at least – Granada is a place worth visiting. We were concerned it would be a few days too many. It is nice to be wrong. We went on day trips through to mountain towns and Salobrena beach. I enjoyed the beach for the simple fact that I have lived in Scotland since last year.

A group of us from the hostel hired a small car and drove through the mountains to the white villages of Andalusia. Incredible villages perched on the hillside with a backdrop of snow as the hill reaches its peak. The roads wound and twisted their way there and Jessica felt sick, Marshall offered a anti-nausea pill he had from Canada, along with a warning that proved prophetic.

“This should stop the nausea BUT can make you drowsy”

It turned out to be just short of a tranquilliser. I virtually dragged Jess around as we explored the sun bathed buildings and left her in the car when we climbed the mountains that surround them. I still laugh when I think of her half-smiling face through the car window as we returned from our little climb.

I am lying on a bunk bed in Seville – the capital of the province of Andalusia. Everyone at this hostel who hasn’t been to Granada is getting rave reviews from Jess, Marshall and myself. A Lot of guests here have, like us, already been to Granada and some have visited Lisbon – our next destination. We walked around last night and wondered why we haven’t heard much about this city, the buildings are stunning.

Only a few more days in Spain.