Granada yada yada

Thankfully on the road with backs and car engines mended, we headed south along the coast for a couple of hours until we reached Alicante for lunch. This place was a nice spot, in that the beach was long and wide with beautiful water surrounded by a backdrop of mountains. Pity about the fact they built tonnes of ugly looking units along the entire coast in the 60s or something which were looking very tired. We had some lunch (salads for both of us! Smoked salmon for me, and Ryan's conveniently had bacon and duck in it). Then we continued on inland all the way to Granada.

Lunch in Alicante - our last glimpse of the sea for a week or so

We arrived in Granada late afternoon and drove in to the old city through the narrow streets and found a car park near our hotel. Our hotel was another awesome find - a suite actually, with mini kitchenette and couch right opposite the massive cathedral which the large windows opened out on to. Being the planner that I am, I found, booked and paid for this hotel several months in advance, for the grand total of A$56 a night. Once there we found out it was actually worth 168 Euros a night, so now I feel partially responsible for Spain's flailing economy.

The view from our hotel

After chilling in the hotel for a bit, we went out and wandered around. I had been here before in 2005 (a few months before I met Ryan!), although with a side of giardia at the time post-Morrocco travels, so I have been looking forward to coming back here with healthy insides ever since. The amazing thing about Granada is that in their tapas bars, they usually serve free tapas with any drink you order. And not just like a bowl of peanuts or chips or bread, we're talking jamon, smoked salmon, quail eggs and the like. Again, feeling partially responsible for Spain's flailing economy.

A 2-3 Euro glass of wine in Granada earns you some free tapas (jamon and "little egg")

So we went to various tapas bars that evening and ate and drank the night away without buying any food! Granada, I love you. The next morning we went and had the hotel breakfast (included in the A$56 a night price tag - full hot and cold buffet spread) and walked around the old town a bit. Ryan wanted a pair of brown shoes since he left his other pair behind in Provence, so we found a nice pair of Campers for 89 Euros (which I'm pretty sure is at least half their price in Sydney and if not just tell Ryan that it is). Being pretty hot by this stage and with all the shops shutting for the afternoon we stopped for a cerveza and sangria near our hotel. We love how the bars in Spain have little jets of water that spray out to cool you (the first time I saw that was in Vegas - it actually works really well and doesn't seem to use an immense amount of water).

Panoramic view of Granada from the Alhambra

So that late afternoon we had pre-booked some tickets to the Alhambra (something we didnt have to do last time I went). Being foolish fat tourists we decided to walk up to Alhambra, which was actually fine apart from the insane heat at that hour. Anyway we made it up there, and the Alhambra was even more impressive than I remembered when I had last visited (possibly due to being sans giardia). We also had to book in for a certain time slot to see the Alhambra's main attraction (also did not have to do that in 2005) so we had to queue up again to get into that part. It is stunning - how they built that back then I do not know. (And I literally don't - I don't tend to do a lot of background reading of these tourist attractions - I just briefly read what it is, when it was built, then I'm just happy to walk around and look at it and admire its beauty and amazingness.).

Alhambra

So we spent the early evening walking around the Alhambra which not only is amazing in itself but has fantastic views over the rest of Granada. We went back home to cool off for a little bit, then set out on a tapas bar tour. I'd found a website that recommended a few good different ones, so we immediately set off to a nearby one which was actually Japanese tapas. I had gone without any kind of Japanese food for 5 weeks now (highly unusual) and was having major withdrawals, so this seemed like a good option. It was pretty good... some sea bass sashimi and mixed sushi. Nothing amazing, but decent and satisfied my Japanese cravings for the next 5 weeks. (We did listen to the staff talking at one point and Ryan worked out that they were actually Chinese.... whatevs).

View of Granada from the Alhambra

So we continued on to a few other bars, all with free tapas. One of my favourites was actually a Moroccan type bar (being so close to that area) which had extremely tasty kebab type tapas. Later that night, and while we slept, our unit in Sydney was all packed up and put into storage :( A big thank you to Yols, Keely, Jade, Herschel, Bec and Bruce for helping out with various favours with that move, but most of all thank you to my Mum and Dad!!!!! <3 xoxo

8 Euros for a bottle of Smirnoff - another time I gasped at the cost of items in Espana

The next day we had a pretty relaxing day.... after breakfast we went for a wander and walked around various streets. Then we chilled in the hotel during siesta time  (when it really is quite hot) until it was time to go out and sample some more tapas bars. Our favourite was Coco's which we had found on our first night and which had  a lovely helpful manager/waiter who was happy to see us again. I dare say we will be back to Granada again some day.

Enjoying vino y tapas (gratis) in at Coco's in Granada