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Well, what to say about Granada...it was an adventure. First, this was a pretty last minute trip, so we didn't really have any plans, we just kind of got on the bus and went. However, before you think that we are too crazy, we were supposed to meet up with some friends of Amanda's, but we never did end up getting ahold of them. Anyway, Granada is a little over an hour away from Malaga and it's biggest draw is a fortress like city called the Alhambra. They sell tickets online, but those tickets were booked through the rest of May and into June; so tip to anyone planning on going to Granada ever, plan months ahead for those tickets. There was still hope however, because the ticket office is supposed to set aside tickets to sell each day when they open. The number they set aside varies from day to day (Caroline's guidebook said between 1000 and 2000), and we were told to get in line fairly early, in between 6 or 7 in the morning, and the office opens at 8am to begin selling tickets. This being labour day weekend and the day of the crosses in Granada, we
figured we would go earlier to make sure we got our tickets.
So we took off on Thursday, took the city bus into the downtown area, stopped and had a drink, and then decided to go check into a hostel. Now, just a note here, Granada boasts of having too many hostels and hotels, and as a result the prices are pretty cheap, as low as 15 euros. Well, to our dismay, every hostel and hotel in Granada, because of the holiday weekend was full. So, then we had the brilliant idea that we had planned on staying out late anyway and had planned on going to the Alhambra earlier (we were going to go around 5 am now, because judging by the full hostels there were going to be a lot of people waiting in that line). So we went to tapas places and tea places, then we found a movie theatre, our own little 4.50 euro hostel where Amanda slept and Caroline and I watched a crappy German movie dubbed over in Spanish voices. Then we went to another cafe and stayed there until it closed at around 4am. By this time we were obviously
tired and had been walking for hours on end; luckily we each only had our backpacks with us, so we weren't carrying a whole bunch of luggage.
Apparently Granada nightlife doesn't last as long as Malaga's, so we left the cafe and decided to head up to the Alhambra, couldn't be there too early right? Well, it seemed that 4am was also the time that everyone else, mostly drunk people, had decided to go home. Even in our sweats and with backpacks, we still managed to get propositioned about once of few minutes. For some reason Spanish people are fascinated with blond hair, and lucky us, both Amanda and Caroline are blond. It is definitely entertaining, the things people will say to you that early in the morning out on the street, but we made it through safely.
Now, normally people take a cab or the direct bus up to the Alhambra, because it is literally on top of a mountain, but being 4 o'clock in the morning we had to walk. This walk was no ordinary path however, but a long, steep hike up said mountain through woods. Luckily it was pretty well
lit. When we finally made it to a plateau, we decided to stop, rest, and take pictures of Amanda in her sleep sack as though she were homeless; which technically we were for the time being. After that we hiked more, and eventually made it to the ticket office at around 4:30am, and believe or not we were not the first ones there. There were about five people ahead of us. We decided not to get in line right away, figuring we had plenty of time, and decided to sit snuggle on a bench for some rest. By 5am though, after a few more people had literally run to the line, we decided to finally get our position. By 5:30 the line had grown significantly. It was also rather chilly. Amanda and Caroline decided to brave sitting on the cold concrete, but I decided to stand the whole time, totaling about 4 and half hours on my feet. By the time the ticket office opened I could barely stand, my knees and back hurt so much, and the also, the line now included hundreds of people.
The ticket office then announced that they only had aroune 130
tickets for the morning and maybe 160 for the afternoon (you are given specific entrance times). At this we were a little nervous, because whilst in line a guy had told us that the previous day, someone at the front of the line bought 200 tickets. That just seems unfair. Not ten minutes after we got our tickets (which were scheduled for 11:30am, so we had to wait some more), they announced that the morning tickets were gone, and not an hour after that the afternoon ones were sold out as well. Hundreds of people who had been in line, had to go home emptyhanded. I would have flipped if we didn't get tickets, so we were actually kind of lucky that we were left wandering the streets with nothing better to do than wait in line at the Alhambra.
It was worth it though, despite our tiredness. We actually ended up taking a nap in one of the beautiful gardens there, and I almost lost my ticket for the palacio, but I found it in time laying on the bench where I had been sleeping. I didn't take very many pictures though, because I think I
was too tired to care, so hopefully you enjoy the ones I did take. I took some videos, but I am having problems with my computer and camara and couldn't load them. When or if I get them functioning I will load them for you.
I pretty much slept for days after that, and then saturday I went with my host family to a family birthday party and that was really fun. In fact, everyone had forgotten to bring a camera, but I had both of mine, so it was kind of nice to be able to take pictures for them. Then this upcoming sunday is the first communion of my host little girl, and I am pretty excited about sharing that with my host family. They asked me to take pictures too, so it will be fun.
Everything else is going well here. I have my first final next monday, which is crazy! And then by the end of May at least two of my classes if not all will be over except for two finals in june. This has gone by so fast, but I still love it here. I hope everything
is going well for all of you! And I love you all!
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