3/12/10-3/14/10

Thursday

Our bus was at 9:30 in the morning. We got into Madrid at 2:30ish. We went and walked around for a little because we had about 4 hours to kill. We went to the park el Retiro. It was a really nice day so it was good to be outside after the bus ride. Then we met up with a friend of Tash's. He took us to the most famous chocolate y churros place in Madrid. It was really good! I think they are open 24 hours a day too. People like to go there after they have been to bars and clubs at 5 in the morning. Spanish life is crazy. After that we tried to go to the convent of cloistered nuns who are famous for selling cookies. They have a revolving door that they can place the cookies in and you put your money in and they swing it so they won't be seen. It is supposed to be a really cool experience but sadly I have not partaken in it because the nuns apparently were out of cookies until Monday!? When I go back again for the half marathon I may try again. We stopped at the Templo again because Tash has never toured around Madrid. From the Templo we hopped on the metro to the airport. I took my first Ryanair flight and I hope I don't have to use it more. The owner wants to charge for using the bathroom so they can eventually remove one to reduce fairs by 5%. The flights are already 10€ so you are saving 50 cents. Not worth it... We got into Granada at 10. There was a shuttle bus to city center right outside waiting. I think we were the last flight. Basically the airport revolves around Ryanair. We found our hostel pretty easily too once we got off the bus. We went out to a restaurant for a late dinner because we were starving. We didn't really eat anything substantial all day. We found a Mediterranean/Granada cuisine place. We all ordered really cool pizzas. Mine came with a fried egg in the middle. We took home half so that we could have them the next day.

Friday

We got up and were at our free breakfast that consisted of toast, coffee, juice and cornflakes. It was free so I am not complaining. Then we made the trek up to la Alhambra. It is the biggest site in Granada. It was the Moorish palace. The palaces up there are so ornately detailed it is beautiful. The colors are really pretty too. There were a lot of places that you could look out onto Granada. You could see all the little white houses. They are all white so that they will reflect the sunlight. It gets really hot there since it is in southern Spain unfortunately we experienced only slightly mild temperatures but it was nicer than Pamplona so I will take it!! We were at la alhambra for about 3 hours touring. I am glad that we went during the off season because it looks like it would get crowded with people there. They highly suggest to make a reservation. We were lucky that we got in with little wait without a reservation. I would have liked to see all the gardens in full bloom though. We walked backed down to town and looked in some shops. They have a lot of Arabic shops and things for sale. They still have a lot of the Arabic influence. We eventually made it back to the hostel to eat our leftover pizza. Then we decided to walk around Alcaiceria which used to be the old silk market but now it is all touristy shops. Later when we were walking around we found my friend from high school and his friend. We went to get chocolate y churros which were amazing!! We sat in that cafe for about 2 hours until we decided to get dinner. Angela had written down a Lebanese restaurant that was supposed to be good and cheap. We found it and had a nice dinner. We were a little early for a Friday but it was good to have a relaxing dinner after touring all day. Then we went to a bar for a little bit and eventually went back to sleep.

Saturday

We slept in a little because we were just planning on walking around the Moorish quarter for the day. Of course we filled up on some free breakfast first! The Moorish quarter was really interesting. The houses are built along the mountains. We walked up through winding streets. Oh and this is after we found cloistered cooking selling nuns like those in Madrid. It was actually pretty cool! The cookies were good too. Anyway we were winding our way through the Moorish quarter up to a lookout point that was across from la Alhambra. We found a park before the lookout. We sat there for awhile because it was so nice. We had a few of our cookies and just layed in the sun. Then we walked around and found some plazas. I thought it was really interesting that they had plazas up in theses mountains where it looked like they were really lacking space. The roads were for pedestrians and cars. Whenever cars came we had to squeeze against the walls to get out of the way. After some more walking we found the lookout! You could see all of Granada and more. La Alhambra was right across. I wish we would have gone up at sunset so we could have seen it la Alhambra lit up at night. We walked a little bit into a neighborhood of Granada that is famous but then walked back down to the center. We sat in the plaza for awhile and people watched. There was an eco-friendly carousel. They used a bike to pedal it around. It was awesome. There were a lot of families in the plaza. We also saw a group go through that was practicing for Semana Santa (Holy Week). Semana Santa is world famous in Southern Spain. We went back to our hostel and had dinner there. It was only 5€ and they made paella right in front of us. It was pretty good. After we went out to tapas bars. I like tapas bars in Southern Spain because tapas are free with your drink! Pamplona needs to adopt that. Aroudn midnight we went back to the hotel We had to be up at 5:20 to catch the shuttle bus to the airport.

Sunday

We caught the bus. We thought we missed it because we were on the wrong side of the street but luckily there were some other people catching it so it stopped. We got our Ryanair flight back. Their landings are pretty rough. In Madrid we had some breakfast at a cafe right by the bust station. On the bus back I slept most of the time. When I got home I just had some dinner and a shower. I was pretty worn out from traveling.

Monday

This morning I caught up on my sleep. I had some breakfast and went to class at 12. We are still learning about the Spanish economy in Contemporary Economic History. I think we are about to switch topics though. After class I went for a nice run. The weather is finally like spring here!! It was really sunny and warm. It is supposed to be in the 60s for the rest of the week. I am glad that I will be able to get some good runs in because the half marathon is coming up!! I went to the store to get some snacks for the week and my trip to Italy on Friday and I just wanted to be outside some more. I am probably not going to do much else today. I need to start my paper since I won't have time to do it next week. Other than that just relaxing in Pamplona to my neighbor's super loud music.

Hasta luego!