Spain, Part 2

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Welcome back to my continuing adventures in sunny Spain! So I started out in Barcelona, had a blast for a few days, and then I decided to take a 12 hour bus ride down to Granada, in Andalusia, in the south. 12 hours seems like a long time, but when you spend half of it sleeping, or trying to sleep, it goes by pretty quick. Even if it hadn't gone by quick, Granada would have been worth the wait.

I spent 3 days in Granada and saw maybe 1 or 2 clouds the entire time. The weather was perfect, though a trifle warm my last day when it reached 40ºC, luckily it was a dry heat. I later on my travels discovered what a somewhat humid 45ºC day felt like, so looking back on it, 40ºC was actually rather pleasant. The hostel I stayed at, thanks to a tip from my Slovenian friends, was fantastic. It was right in the old town, in a fairly old, fairly awesome villa. The days consisted of various free tours walking tours offered by the hostel, followed by a siesta, then some beer and tapas. For those of you who do not know, Granada is known for their free tapas. Simply go to a bar, order a beer, and you get a tapas. Some places are better than others when it comes to the tapas, but it's all pretty good. One night, with a couple of other backpackers, we went and checked out some flamenco dancing, put on in a cave by gypsies. It was good dancing, good wine and good sangria that night! The last night, a group of 15 of us all decided to head out the natural hot springs near-by. Unfortunately the minibus the hostel hires only can carry 9, so half of us ended up drinking in the street for an hour or so while we waited for the bus to return. Drinking in the streets isn't technically legal in Spain, even in Barcelona, but as long as no one's causing problems, the police don't seem to care. After the wait we got in the bus, then got in a sketchy jeep, when the road became too bumpy, before spending a couple of hours at the hot springs with one of the best €2 bottles of wine I've had.

After a fun time had in Granada, I ventured up to Madrid for a day. Apparently Madrid has a great nightlife, and some good museums, but my liver and my wallet needed a night off from the drink and I was starting to get all museumed out, so I wandered around the city for a day, saw some sights, and called it a night. One of the more tame night I had in Spain.

I needed the rest though, as the next 2 days, I was up to Pamplona for the Fiesta San Fermin, known for its Running of the Bulls. With no accommodations booked, I was in for an interesting few days. I got into Pamplona after a short 7 hour bus ride around 7am. As the bulls ran at 8, and I was sober and somewhat rested, I was all set to run with them. That is until I realized I was wearing sandals, and my shoes were in Barcelona. I settled on watching them from the sidelines with a beer. I also found out that the camera I take out with me when I don't want to worry about breaking or losing my good camera, needed it's battery charged, and the charger had also been left in Barcelona. So unfortunately there are no pictures. Following the bull run, I seemed out of place with my non-white clothing and lack of red handkechief and matching sash, so I bought myself a San Fermin outfit. The cheap white clothing is a must, as drinking sangria, wine, and Kalimotxo (cheap red wine mixed with coke) all day leads to a mess, and it's best to just toss out what you were wearing after the fact. So there I was, decked out in my San Fermin attire, 9am, beer in hand. Alone. This needed to be remedied. I wasn't too sure what the festival was all about, so I started wandering the streets. Within a short time, the sounds of brass bands could be heard. Out of curiosity I decided to see what was up. As I found out, soon after the bull run brass bands, called peñas, hit the streets. They play some fantastic music and crowds follow behind walking and dancing as they go. Every now and then when the peñas will stop outside a bar to allow everyone to get a drink, should you not have one, and then continue on, all the while playing their fantastic tunes. This goes on for a while, as people leave and join all through the day. It was a some of the most fun I've ever had. After a while, after meeting some people, we left the peñas, and continued the party. I couldn't tell you what time this was, or who I was with, by that time I was already quiet intoxicated. If I recall, I had a nap on a patch of grass, sometime, somewhere in Pamplona, until I was awoken by one of the folks I was drinking with earlier, when he jumped on me. I had sore ribs for a week. But it got me up, and the party continued. I either lost that group of people, or they went to bed, and I ended up eating some food with a group of other people. Names and faces escape me, but I was invited to watch the bull run the next morning from one of the apartments with a balcony over looking the route. Unfortunately I didn't remember this until after. As I outlasted that group as well, I ran into some young locals, who took me out to a club, where we partied until 7am, as it is customary in Spain. When they went off to bed, I decided to get myself a good spot to watch the bull run at 8. I decided I needed a bit of a sleep after that, as I had been out enjoying San Fermin for 24 hours already. I ended finding a nice patch of grass to rest on until the sun was getting to warm, and headed into the bus station for some further rest. The next day, after not the most restful rest, happened in much the same way as the first. Though I went to bed a little earlier than 7 this time. I caught the first bus back to Barcelona that morning. Once back in Barcelona, I headed to the beach, by way of the metro still all decked out in my not so white San Fermin clothes. Luckily I had packed my swim trunks so I was able to eventually get out of my now quite dirty, and smelly, not-so-white outfit, which I proceeded to toss in the bin. All in all, a fairly successful first San Fermin experience, one of the best parties around. As much fun, maybe more so, than Oktoberfest, and a whole lot cheaper, especially if you go the sans-accommodation route and stick to the sangria/beer/wine/kalimotxo from the shops. San Fermin: a must-experience party, as rated in the Greg Mason travel guide to parties in Europe.

The last few days in Barcelona were fairly uneventful, as the first night I needed a break, and then became ill for the following few. I did however manage to make it to Gaudi's Park Guell, before spending the last days in bed. I managed to get out with Borja one last time, my last night before jetting off to Qatar, thus ending my Spanish adventures.

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