Granada, Tarifa & Gilbraltar

Took a 3hr train from from Seville to Granada, completing our journey of Southern Spain´s (3) World Heritage cities. On the way here we wound through the interior heading towards the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. The countryside consisted entirely of agriculture, most of which was almond, olive and orange tree orchids. We stayed in Hotel Carlos V (2* - 10 min from the action, but very modern & had free internet), the cost of the hotel was the same as a hostel. By now you´ve probably figured out from the pictures of the previous blog and now this one, that this region has a legacy of Islamic and Christian monuments. Seville, Cordoba, and Granada each took turns as the leading city of Islamic Spain. Muslim invaders surged onto this region in AD 711, the last of the Islamic cities, Granada, fell to the Catholic Monarch in 1497.

The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra that has 6,000 plus visitors go through it a day. You apparently should purchase tickets ahead of time if you don´t want to get up at 7:00am and start queuing, an over exaggeration - everyone queuing at 2:00pm got in no problem. Many thanks to the (3) Canadians that we met in Lagos who gave us the heads up and insisted we book our tickets on the internet, it did make our wait in line much shorter!!. You only ned (3) hours and we would recommend going around 5:00pm when the crowds have died down. We are known to give our opinion every now and again so he it is on the Alhambra, it goes down as just another monument on the list, or maybe we´ve been fortuante enough to see the best of the best such as the Taj Mahal which really lives up to the wow factor hype. Few monuments and the ¨must see¨ attractions in the world live up to their potential, save your money and time, and go see the best instead of the rest.

Granada is a great city, full of life and the old Muslim quarter, Albayzin, contains narrow cobblestone streets full of tea houses and shops selling typical Muslim items. Granada definitely has the most Islamic presence of the (3) imperial cities. A must before heading into the Alhambra is to make your way of the hilly, narrow, and windy streets to Mirador San Nicolas which provides amazing views of the Alhambra stretched along the top of the hill known as La Sabika. The city has 60,000 students which no doubt explains the good number of bars and cheap eats.

From Granada we took a 5hr train to Tarifa, the most southern point in Europe, for some beach and down time before we take on Africa. Africa is only 14 kms away and at any number of the view points you can see it baring the weather. Tarifa is a wind and kite surfing mecca with tonnes of shops sporting the newest gear and loads of vechiles driving around fully loaded with the boards on the roof. It is an extremely under developed place from a tourist perspective which means the main tourist is the die hard surfers who camp along the beach in one of the many camp grounds along the coastal road. No doubt in 10-15 years it will be a built up beach resort with condos everywhere. Right now they are just getting started on the 10km boardwalk that will follow the entire beach located in town. Out of town a few kms are the beautiful beaches where the surfing is done along with the sunworshippers flock to. The crowd here is mainly Spanish with the worldy travelled dire hard surfers thrown in.

Our first day in Tarifa we headed to Gilbraltar a 40min bus ride with an hour added here and there for the ¨newly¨updated bus schedules. Gilbraltar was very cool. Lets start with the walk over the border from La Linea de la Conception, Spain to Gilbraltar. The walk or drive requires you to walk across the middle of the Gilbraltar runway - weird. Once in the town of Gilbaltar it is as if you have been dropped into the middle of London. Everyone speaks english, Marks & Spencer is alive and well and the streets team with British folk purchasing cheap duty free alcohol and electronics. Gilbraltar itself is a big lump of limestone, although very strategically placed. Taking the cable car up to the top provides a great view and if you like little apes, they are everywhere.

Our last day we spent at the beach enoying the weather and taking in the scenery...,nude tanning is the preferred method, along with the awesome surfing. The beaches are very long 5.5km and 10km which allows for plenty of space for everyone to enjoy their day out at the beach.

Tomorrow we head to North Africa and we have to admit that it will be nice to be in the middle of the mayhem of Morocco. The siesta, the complancey and prograstination of Southern Spain has got the best of us, or shall I say me. Known to be a very patient person, I lost it the final morning in Granada trying to catch a taxi at 6:20am. After standing at the taxi stand for 15min and not seeing a single taxi and then moving to the bus stop where again no buses passed by I began flagging down anything in sight - cars, buses and yes taxis - they just would not stop. Taxi stands are great for airports etc., but when you need to get somewhere in a North American hour......... We are really looking forward to the Male Egotistical society of Morocco where touts won´t leave you alone and where Isabel won´t be able to speak her mind - can´t believe I´m saying this.....but we will interact with people that understand time and money, that´s just fine with us!

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