Benicassim Festival and Granada

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Well, I have survived my very first music festival ever! It was beyond amazing 😊 We got to Benicassim on the 10th and stayed thru the 16th. Let me just say, I am so so so glad we decided to do the easy tents - where they set up the tent for you and supply us with a light, locks and bed mats. Such a good idea! It was also pleasant because the rows of tents were covered with some sort of material that were held up to keep the major part of the sun out. I can't imagine not having shade like all of the other people in the other camping area called Villacamp. It had to have been in the high 80s - upper 90s everyday! We were lucky to be camped next to ´normal people´ (those that weren't 17-21 and throwing up all hours of the night. Two couples, Sarah and Graeme who were both from Manchester, UK and Jodi and her husband Ashley who were from Leicester, UK. Both were in Villacamp originally, but couldn't stand the heat and hearing the drunkards all night so they gave in and bought a tent next to us!

For this being my first festival, I thought I did a good job staying up for the majority of it. Granted the festival didn't start until about 6pm every night and went until about 7am, I stayed up on average until about 4am and woke up on and off throughout the early morning until about 9 everyday. Good effort on my part! Sasha on the other hand was a beast and stayed out until 6am one night, and on the last night stayed out until 7am! Crazy!

The first day of the festival we were all looking forward to seeing Florence and the Machine, but unfortunately we found out she cancelled because she had been having vocal/throat problems the past week or two. While this was a big bummer, we did enjoy the other acts such as Example, Pony Bravo, and De La Soul. We also went on some crazy ride that spins you upside down and back and forth with our other neighbor in the tents, Patrick. It was quite a lot of fun, but to be honest, I had my eyes closed quite a bit...

On Friday, after spending time at the beach and drinking quite a bit of Sangria, we later saw one of Sasha's favorite right up front, Django Django (who were amazingggg), Bob Dylan who might I add, was BORING AS HELL, but at least I can say I saw him live. He had a 2 and a half hour set, and it really should have been a half hour set...We also saw Viktor Flores, and just by being at a different stage, SebastiAn who was a crazy militant type DJ who apparently wants to run the world. It was after him, when it was around 4am that I turned in and Sash stayed out until about 6:30.

Saturday was the day that I was looking forward to the most - We once again spent some time at the beach, enjoyed the cheap Don Simon Sangria mix, cold showers, and then got ready to head out to see School of Seven Bells, Jessie J, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, the Stone Roses, and Crystal Castles. School of Seven Bells, Jessie J and Noel Gallaghers band were pretty awesome; Jessie was my favorite just because I like that type of music the best but I appreciated the other artists style. Did I mention we were in the very front of the whole venue for all of these acts? That was definitely an experience in itself! Quite a lot of people had to be pulled out, but the security was making sure everyone had water and whatnot. Sasha at one point looked like she was going to pass out because we hadn't really eaten anything, but she got a second wind and we stayed thru The Stone Roses. Quite a lot of people were excited to see them, but I found them quite boring. The lead singer just gave off a vibe of a dirty old man who likes shaking reindeer bells at the audience and making faces at people. I also had wanted to see a band called Shit Robot, strictly beause that was what they were called, but we missed them during our time at this one stage. It was after The Stone Roses that we finally managed to leave and go get some yummy thai food and watch Crystal Castles. I would've enjoyed her performance more but I still wasn't feeling too great so I couldn't get into it as much. We both headed home around 4:30 and passed out pretty quick once we were back at the tent.

On Sunday, everyone of us (Jodi and Ashley, Sarah and Owen, Sasha and myself) all slept in late and went to a late lunch/dinner together in the center of town. Sasha and I split a yummy seafood Palella which had prawns, baby octopus *gasp!*, calamari rings, and muscles in it. As long as I didn't look at the octopus, I could handle it! We all then went back to the tents to get ready to go down to the festival and decided to all stay together for several of the acts. Patrick unfortunately missed out on quite a bit because he was on something the other days (which made for hilarious photos later), but he did catch a few acts with us on Sunday night. We watched The Vaccines, then Ed Sheeran who ended up being my favorite performance of the whole festival, New Order, and David Guetta! Because we were all together and it was sadly the last night, none of us really wanted the night to end, so we took a bunch of silly photos and danced the night away 😊 After David Guetta from 2:30 - 4, I had no energy for the non-lyrical trance music of the DJs at the other stages, so I turned in and Sasha once again made a late night of it and stayed out until I woke up at 7am!

The next morning we were all sad to leave, but we managed to get all of our stuff packed up and ready to go. It was amazing to me how messy some people left their tent and doorway area, it seriously looked like an alcoholic, throw-up bomb went off in some people's areas. One group even had to pay for their whole tent because someone decided to take a crap in the corner of the tent!!! Come on people...lol

Well, Sasha and I made our way into town and parted ways with all of our new friends (sadly), and caught the bus in Benicassim to Castellion. Unfortunately the bus that we were told stopped at the train station didn't and we ended up basically taking a tour of both cities. Luckily for us we didn't need to cath our night bus until 10:40pm to Granada. While we did get lost, we finally made our way to the station and slept on the group like bums along with about 40 other people in the middle of the station and around the perimeter. Wasn't the most comfortable, but we had nothing else to do for about 9 hours!

We successfully got onto our coach and got about an hour or so into our trip when we had to pull over because a swarm of civil police were searching cars and buses for what I think was drug smugglers and whatnot. They questioned a few people on our bus as well as took out all of the luggage and went through them somehow. Everyone was half asleep but we eventually made our way after that, only to wake up at every stop because we didn't exactly remember where Granada was...

We finally made it into town and got to a hostel called Nevada Hostal for 31Euros for 2 people in a double room with bathroom included and a towel each (luxury living for us!) and passed out for a good 3 or 4 hours. We left around 6 to go eat some dinner (palella again, vegetable for Sasha and seafood for me, not as yummy as the other place) and then came back to this internet cafe where we've sat for a good few hours now! I'll probably be back tomorrow sometime after some sight seeing because they have a memory card uploader (whoo hoo!) and I will finally be able to upload some photos.

I think I may be coming down with a cold. All thru the festival I was sneezing and had a stuffy nose, could've had to do with the smoking that has been going on over here, the smoke seems to make me all stuffy. Smoking is definitely promoted over here versus back home where it isn't really seen as ''cool'' anymore. May have to buy a few more jugs of orange juice to drink while we are here in Granada. We plan to be here for 3 or 4 days and will go see La Alhambra which is quite famous. Here's a blurb about it:

Historical introduction The Alhambra was so called because of its reddish walls (in Arabic, («qa'lat al-Hamra'» means Red Castle). It is located on top of the hill al-Sabika, on the left bank of the river Darro, to the west of the city of Granada and in front of the neighbourhoods of the Albaicin and of the Alcazaba. The Alhambra is located on a strategic point, with a view over the whole city and the meadow (la Vega), and this fact leads to believe that other buildings were already on that site before the Muslims arrived. The complex is surrounded by ramparts and has an irregular shape. It limits with the valley of the river Darro on its northern side, with the valley of al-Sabika on its southern side and with the street Cuesta del Rey Chico on the eastern side. The Cuesta del Rey Chico is also the border between the neighbourhood of the Albaicin and the gardens of the Generalife, located on top of the Hill of the Sun (Cerro del Sol). The first historical documents known about the Alhambra date from the 9th century and they refer to Sawwar ben Hamdun who, in the year 889, had to seek refuge in the Alcazaba, a fortress, and had to repair it due to the civil fights that were destroying the Caliphate of Cordoba, to which Granada then belonged. This site subsequently started to be extended and populated, although not yet as much as it would be later on, because the Ziri kings established their residence on the hill of the Albaicin. The castle of the Alhambra was added to the city's area within the ramparts in the 9th century, which implied that the castle became a military fortress with a view over the whole city. In spite of this, it was not until the arrival of the first king of the Nasrid dynasty, Mohammed ben Al-Hamar (Mohammed I, 1238-1273), in the 13th century, that the royal residence was established in the Alhambra. This event marked the beginning of the Alhambra's most glorious period. First of all, the old part of the Alcazaba was reinforced and the Watch Tower (Torre de la Vela) and the Keep (Torre del Homenaje) were built. Water was canalised from the river Darro, warehouses and deposits were built and the palace and the ramparts were started. These two elements were carried on by Mohammed II (1273-1302) and Mohammed III (1302-1309), who apparently also built public baths and the Mosque (Mezquita), on the site of which the current Church of Saint Mary was later built. Yusuf I (1333-1353) and Mohammed V (1353-1391) are responsible for most of the constructions of the Alhambra that we can still admire today. From the improvements of the Alcazaba and the palaces, to the Patio of the Lions (Patio de los Leones) and its annexed rooms, including the extension of the area within the ramparts, the Justice Gate (Puerta de la Justicia), the extension and decoration of the towers, the building of the Baths (Baños), the Comares Room (Cuarto de Comares) and the Hall of the Boat (Sala de la Barca). Hardly anything remains from what the later Nasrid Kings did. From the time of the Catholic Monarchs until today we must underline that Charles V ordered the demolition of a part of the complex in order to build the palace which bears his name. We must also remember the construction of the Emperor's Chambers (habitaciones del Emperador) and the Queen's Dressing Room (Peinador de la Reina) and that from the 18th century the Alhambra was abandoned. During the French domination part of the fortress was blown up and it was not until the 19th century that the process of repairing, restoring and preserving the complex started and is still maintained nowadays.

There is also the famous silk markets, Capilla Real, the Muslim quarter of the city called Albayzim, Palacio Nazaries, and the Goth-Renaissance Cathedral which is about 2 minutes away from our hostel 😊

Hasta luego y buenos noches!

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Photos

all of us together
The whole gang minus Patrick

Jodi
Photobombed me several times while I was trying to get a pic