Feb 15th – Day of Perfect Time in Granada

So we wake up for the day at about 9am to get ready and be ready for the day. We leave the hostel and walk just down the hill towards the Alhambra to get our tickets. Fortunately we had ordered them in advance online, so we just had to pick them up. Then we stopped at the café right there to get some breakfast before taking on the Alhambra. My friends from Colorado State went the weekend before and told me that I really needed to be prepared for the walking and the hiking up long hills and steep steps. There was a tiny stray dog walking around the café and I knew his game a mile away. Having puppies at home who do it makes you recognize it when others do it…he was playing the cute, cocking his head to the side with perked ears and big eyes game. No way mister…I’m too smart for that, but try the old man over there. I think for some reason the dog understood me, because he stopped asking me and never came to me! Then we finished our food, and started walking down further to the entrance. But we didn’t quite know where it was, so we followed a group. The morning was beautifully clear and bright, the weather was nice enough for someone like me, who overheats a lot, to wear only a cute long-sleeve shirt…I mean I wanted to look fashionable even if we were walking a lot. As we started walking further and taking pictures, we noticed that a group of older women were saying (in English) that you can’t enter this way. They were Scottish! So we walked back up with them while they asked us if we were first, Spanish, and since we weren’t but flattered either way, second, what we were doing here. Were we studying?! Really? What were we studying? Did we know each other before? They were really nice, and commented on how they were impressed with us studying abroad and made comments about how Americanized-English has influenced Scottish words. Really, what words?! They said, gross, cool and awesome were the only ones they could think of. Hmm…I never thought of those being American words but okay. Then they needed to take a break from hiking back up the hill so we said goodbye. Then we followed behind another group, which led us to the right way to the Alhambra. Entering in, I can’t begin to describe the marvels of Arabic culture’s influence on Spain’s. It was unreal the amount of dedication and detail that was devoted to creating this beautiful masterpiece which took total 4 to 5 hours for us to finish walking through while taking pictures everywhere we went. I marveled over and over about how amazing it was that someone actually thought all of this up. They created this design in their head…it seemed like it just couldn’t be. I mean the amount of time and work that was made in not only making in but designing it. There was meticulous detail of ornate décor from the floors of the palace to the walls to the ceiling and even the crease that connects the two. The garden paths even had designs made in them by stones carefully placed and water was everywhere. My history of art class was going over Muslim culture and the influence on Spain and water is an essential part of it. Water is what light is to Gothic architecture…it is the way of life for that culture, so it is incorporated as much as possible. fountains and ravines, small canals for water to run down staircases, through rooms and connecting everything to one great fountain. Every fountain was different and added its own unique touch to each room and garden. It was spectacular. Oranges naturally grow in Granada and they were everywhere as well as palm trees. However when I returned I asked Ana about them and they are not for eating, only for cooking to add flavor as they are very harsh tasting. And to add to the wonderful ambiance the Alhambra sits on top of a mountain overlooking all of Granada and the surrounding mountains. To think that people who live here see this everyday and never know the marvel that they get to see everyday is so valuable and unique to anything else. I’m sure they will never know what treasure they have. The whole experience was calming and by time we left, there wasn’t much to say. We walked out to a pretty park area and sat on a bench to take everything in. Then I noticed someone was approaching us…oh no. A gypsy woman…crap. No, I don’t want anything. She said no, no, I want you to have this and placed rosemary in our hands. I tried to give it back but she said now I will tell you your fortune. To which Teresa said, no we don’t want our fortune you’ll make us pay. She said, no, they fortune is free and grabbed my hand. Blondie, you are beautiful and your eyes are beautiful given from the gods. And all the meanwhile we have stealth grips on our purses and cameras. You have a man who has brown hair and is madly in love with you and you will get married and have 3 kids. Two will be boys and one girl and they will have your beautiful eyes and will look like you. They will be (kiss her hands and look at the sky) beautiful. Then she takes Teresa’s hand and tells her fortune. I guess she figured us for dumb Americans who didn’t know our Spanish because she gave her the exact (word for word) fortune but said a blonde man was in love with her. Then she finished with saying we will be blessed and then, now you pay me. What?! I looked at Teresa to make sure I heard right and she was confused. I said no, and grabbed our rosemary. She said, I gave you your fortune, now pay me. Yea, okay. I took the rosemary in my hand, put it in hers, and said “but I didn’t want my fortune”. Apparently, me being a smart ass made her upset, so she got mad and cursed us then spat on the ground and stormed off. Apparently, not the right dumb Americans she thought she was talking to. Since she was still in viewing distance, we thought it’d be best if we high-tailed it. We walked back to our hostel to rest our feet a bit and we would start to make our way down to the main plaza to see Granada more. Once we felt better, we made our way down and saw a great amount of graffiti which I have to say I think they would blow American graffiti out of the water. So detailed and life-like…almost like drawings; people (made up and real), places, statements, philosophies on life, and even old school Nintendo (pixilated and all!). Then we caught the bus down the rest of the way to the plaza. A beautiful sunset was cascading over the buildings in the plaza and it only made me love this place more. The shops were filled with Arabic goods and crafts, shoes, clothes, tunics and hookahs. After we shopped a little, we were hungry and wanted some kebabs. Kebabs are an Arabic version of gyros and have the same mass-appeal like gyros do in the states. We picked one that had outside seating so that we could watch the gypsies who were playing the violin and guitar and see the people of Granada. Tea is a big deal down in southern Spain and so we ordered apple tea for me and some Arabian tea for Teresa. It was really tasty and the kebab was awesome. Minus the awkward waiter who tried to sneak in our order, (one order of a kiss for the waiter, no joke!) it was a really nice evening and a little on the romantic side. Funny because Teresa then said that this was a pretty nice belated Valentine’s Day date. After we wanted to check out the tea cafes and see about the hookah bars. We went into one that someone had recommended called the Oriental. It had ornate Arabian décor, bright colors but a calming atmosphere. I had ordered a tea I can’t pronounce but it was described as suave and aromatic, and Teresa order the fruity and enveloping tea. They were a little muted in flavor until Teresa taught me a trick. In order to bring out the flavor of the teas in Spain, you add sugar (which doesn’t make it sweet, since I like bitter teas) which really makes the tea completely different. Suddenly a little sugar made my tea the suave and aromatic tea I was promised. Then we ordered our shisha (the tobacco for the hookah) which was strawberry and the guy rushed off to set up our hookah. The actual hookah pipe and all was so pretty and was painted with gold and blue in Arabic. I really loved how everything here was influenced or had been marked by the Arabian culture. I never even knew I would love it so much, but I really did. After we finished with our tea and hookah, a guy poked his head in the door and called my name. I looked over and it was Max!!! I haven’t seen Max since high school when he and I used to hang out all the time and were really close. When he found out I was here in Spain he wanted to meet up and I told him I would be in Granada this weekend where he was studying. He said he knew where we were so he would come to meet us. However I haven’t seen him in 3 years, so when I got up to hug him the first thing I said was “oh my gosh you are so tall!” because he picked me up off the ground when he hugged me! “and your voice sounds so different!” he just sat there laughing at me. His friends ordered some tea and they asked how our day was going and what we’ve done so far. After they finished, we left and went to have tapas at this place that they normally go to which was a tiny bar with cozy pub-like benches posted around all the walls with tables. I didn’t pay much attention to what all tapas we ate as Max and I were catching up with latest news and memories of high school. From there we went over to Max’s apartment with his roommates. Everyone was meeting up to go out and since we were going out with all of them, we were tagging along. His roommates were fun and from ever corner of the states and the world. He actually has twelve roommates, which take up two complete floors in this apartment building, and they all share a kitchen and bathrooms. Some were Dutch (i.e. the Dutch girls which they called the Dutchies), English, German, and all areas of the states. They were fun and it reminded me of being in a sorority house but with guys and girls. They decided to initiate us by Max’s roommate, Tom, playing the guitar and Max playing the drums while beat-boxing on the harmonica. It was funny and we were having a great time. Then once all the girls were ready, we all took the cab down to boteón. Boteón is basically like a huge house party outside in a parking lot that is packed with Spaniards. They have even put bathrooms there because it is such a regular for natives. Drumming, drinking, and hanging with tons of people, mostly talking in Spanish. It was awesome and actually reminded me of parties in high school. Weird. Which Max took on pulling old pranks on me the entire night, like tripping me, making jokes to me, and pulling my chain whenever possible. Thanks. Then we decided it was time to go to the discothèque, which by this time it was 5am. Boteón was still hopping, but we wanted to go dance so we left. Walking up the street with everyone Max stopped everyone at a discothèque because they usually do break dancing. Tight! I’m down. Unfortunately not this night, but we danced to rock music and hung out with Spanish natives the rest of the night until we left at 6:15am. Teresa and I took the cab to the hostel, snuck in our room while the rest of our group was sleeping, and went to sleep.