okay Granada is by far one of the coolest cities. i am ranking it right up there with Barca, except it doesn't have a beach, so i think that makes it my second favorite city in the world. i have over 200 pictures, and i want to post them all here because they all look like postcards! but i will try to pick the best and maybe put them in a separate post.
so, the city:
first of all the weather was perfect, like 75*. so that might have helped tremendously. there was so much to see!
their streets are all stone, and all one way, and NO SIDEWALKS. it is hard enough to walk on pointy stones, but when cars are trying to whiz by you, it gets a little scary.
that said, the people are so much fun! they all want to be your friend, they all want to talk to you, and they are all so laid back. i thought barca was chill, but this place is like pleasantville, but not scary looking. the style is definitely relaxed, no suits and high heels here. and the hippies! they are everywhere. a lot of people without homes too, but they are all so happy. EVERYONE has a dog too. and all the hippies play their instruments in the street.
there are several districts that divide up the city. there's an arab district, a gypsy one, a flamenco one, and there's even a part that's totally devoted to tapas, which is called La Ruta de Tapas (the tapa route).
i think my favorite was the gypsy town. i've been called a hippie many times, so maybe i just fit in there. but the arab one was pretty cool too and they have all these Teterias (tea houses) where people sit and drink tea and smoke hookah all afternoon. the whole part of each district revolves around the theme, the people, the food, the clothing, the decorations, etc.
of course we had to try the Ruta de Tapas. Granada is supposed to be known for it's tapas. if i haven't mentioned it, tapas are little appetizer dishes that are very popular in Spain. people go out and get a drink and eat three or four or six, however long they want to hang out.
but the cool part of Granada? when you order a drink, anywhere, even a coke or a juice, you get a complimentary tapa. so on the Ruta de Tapas, we would order a drink at each place, and that's all you pay for. and it's so much cheaper than Barcelona!! a drink could be less than 2 euros. some places had a drink and a tapa for 1 euro. they say they do it so people don't get drunk. i wish Barca gave out free tapas!
we went to the flamenco district and saw a flamenco show inside a cave! the whole place was so oldschool, no english, all locals, and all the dancers and musicians were from Granada. it was really authentic and really cool to see. but the bad part was we got ripped off because we heard other people talking about the price and we paid almost double! i'm kind of upset, i mean, Diana is Colombian so she looks Spanish! how did they catch us?!
the funny thing was how the people there wanted to differentiate themselves from the Catalans. when we said we were from Barcelona, they would give us a look like, oh nooo. and they would tell us to pack up our stuff and move to Granada. "it's so much nicer here! it's beautiful, easier to get around, etc..." and a few tapa bars we would ask for patata bravas, which are really popular in barcelona, but they would give us dirty looks and ask why we would ask for that here. they have their own Andalusian style of patatas. Andalusia is the "county," and patatas are potatoes.
the coolest part, and where i took the most pictures, was in Alhambra. it's a separate town on top of the mountain that you have to pay extra to get in! it's supposedly visited more than the Eiffel Tower. but i'm sorry to admit i've never heard of it! inside it has palaces, gardens, views you wouldn't believe, and the prettiest architecture. we spent the entire day there.
we also had a tapas bar-hopping tour the first night of our stay in our hostel. it was so much fun! we got to see some of the little places no one knows about, and we met so many people and made so many friends. one girl from Paris is moving to Granada and she told me and Diana we could come to Granada in the summer and stay with her.
so that is that and if i think of more i will write it. i will post some pictures now because i am dying to share!!!
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