Granada Part 2: Lotsa walking, lotsa awesome

We last left our heroes riding home on the struggle-copter after dancing literally all night, arriving home around 7am.

Sunday
This morning (I guess it would be more correct to call it the afternoon at this point) we went to a nearby cafe for beer (haha) and fried eggplant with honey.  Then we walked around the city, but it's shitty out today, so we're probably going to watch Game of Thrones at some point.
Ok, Emily came over and we watched some epic GoT, then walked around the city some more.  Needless to say, we headed in the direction of food.  Emily knew about a little British owned pub, where we had some rounds of drinks and excellent tapas.  We hung out there for a bit just chatting, then went to an arabic themed tea and hookah bar, where we obtained some excellent tea.  Then kebab... I've been noticing that different cities in Europe do kebab a little differently.  In France and Germany it was half a toasted pita, filled like a hoagie.  In Madrid, it was a kind of crunchy flat hamburger bun type thing.  Here in Granada it is a filled pita, rolled up like a burrito, which I think is the best yet.  ...clearly I've been thinking a lot about kebab...
After the kebab nom-session, we hit up an irish pub and got a few more drinks.  A little pricier, but having some Guiness in Europe reminded me how it's so much better than back home.  After Emily left, Sarah and I stayed until 3am for a few more drinks.  Then we tried for more kebab, but it was unfortunately closed.

Just a couple of normal sisters

Monday
We got up this morning for a walking tour of the Albaicin wall and some other areas in the north that we hadn't seen yet.  It's been kind of overcast, but at least it's not raining.  And we got some INSANE strawberries at an outdoor market on our way to meet Emily.  Holy crap: best strawberries EVER.  We basically walked around the northern part of the city, through the quaint-as-fuck passageways and gates and down magical streets.  A lot of great views of the Alhambra from different spots around the city.

Ok this city is pretty rad

The weather is... interesting

Kitteh wanted some Bueno Bar

After getting our walk on, we went to that little hippy cafe again to get some food and tinto.
Later at night we opted to go to an irish pub for trivia.  It was in English, so at least we could play... but it was run by a British guy.  Some of the sports questions were... skewed.  Most of them were based on soccer.  Not so good.  But I rocked the music questions.  And after about 7 coronas (great choice at an irish pub) it was the first time on the trip I felt a little drunk.

Tuesday
Sarah and I woke up at sunrise to see from the hostel roof.  Finally a nice day!
We used the Sun for some extremely pleasant walking and sight seeing.  We went up to a park by the Alhambra, Carmen de los Martires.  It was really pretty and had some peacocks to imitate, so that's fun.  And there were little kittens to play with.  We then returned to the park from yesterday with the great view of the Alhambra.  We had a few beers in the Sun with a great view: always a good way to spend your afternoon.

Kittehs love me

My zoom is pretty decent

I'm not sure which Alhambra I like better!

 
Then we decided to have some cookies and sangria on the hostel roof.  It was a perfect way to prepare for a bullfight.  That's right, ANOTHER BULLFIGHT.  Emily got us tickets at the Plaza del Toros, which is rare now because bullfighting is starting to become looked down upon.  This bullfighting experience was a lot different from the one in Sevilla.  Fans didn't dress in suits and flamenco dresses for one thing.  And the matadors didn't wear flashy, ornate clothes.  But on the bright side, we arrived early AND there are stairs in this stadium, so we didn't repeat the horrific experience from last time.  And the matadors put on a better show.  Well, at least two of them had really impressive moves.  But the last one had a really tough bull, and right off the bat was trampled a bit (how the hell was he ok after that?).  But he kept losing the bull's interest, and then botched his finishing attempts really badly.  The crowd was not pleased.

This dude was nuts

MISSED IT

Anyway, we finished our Granada experience with a return trip to the Poe for delicious tapas.  Holy fuck those are so good.

Granada Part 1: so many tapas

The first few days in Granada were so insanely action packed that I didn't get to writing in the old journal for a couple days.  And soooooo many tapas.

Friday
Sarah's sister, Emily, met us at the bus station in Granada, where we took a city bus to our hostel.  It's difficult to describe Granada.  One street will be large and city-like, but the next street over will be a lot like Sevilla: small and very Spanish.  You can tell that there was a lot of Muslim influence though.  One of the older areas of the city, which used to be the market square, is now occupied by shops whose owners speak arabic.  The main attraction in Granada, La Alhambra, used to be a Moorish plaza before it was converted to a Catholic area.

Granada seems ok

Our hostel is amazing: we finally have our own room (with a bonus bathroom!) and the roof has an amazing view of the Alhambra and nearby Cathedral.

Get out of the way, I'm trying to look at cathedrals!

Fun story about the cathedral: we walked in to take a look, as many others did, and there was a wedding going on.  Really strange.  The bride and groom signed the paperwork in front of everyone?  Is that normal?  I'll tell you what isn't normal: complete strangers, dressed in rain jackets and flip flops, watching a wedding full of people they don't know.  Weird.
But anyway, Emily showed us around a bit, we got some kebab (obviously), had some Tinto de Verano at a cafe (like sangria, but sans fruit and with carbonation), and then walked around some more.

The tinto round came after the beer round

We met with some of Emily's friends at a cheap tapas bar.  Insanely cheap drinks and free tapas with each one.  The best were fried eggplant with honey.  We didn't feel like party cat-ing too hard, so we went to one other bar (sunflower seeds come with your drinks?) before calling it a night.

Saturday
Today was the day we booked a tour of La Alhambra.  There was some mix-up with the tickets (fyi booking online is insanely complicated apparently), but we eventually got everything settled to see La Alhambra and the connecting gardens and Generalife (King's summer house).  It was unfortunate that it was raining and that we got soaked, but that didn't "dampen" our moods.  HAR HAR HAR.  As expected, everything was amazing.  The gardens were really cool, showing the difference in Muslim and Christian design.

Not sure why this guy's summer house was right next to his regular house...

They also had some great views of the rest of the Alhambra.  This was even more gorgeous, with insides that were ridiculously ornate and courtyards that were actually stunning.  The craziest part through were all the walls.  So intricate, most of which had rows and rows of chiseled arabic writing and other designs.  It was nuts.

The outside of the building does not at all indicate that this is a circular structure

We're at Hogwarts

That seems difficult

After that, we changed out of our wet clothes and hung out at a cafe for a bit.  We had to relax before Beast Mode Bar Night 2012.  We started at a tapas bar, Poe, where I had 6 tinto de veranos, mostly to get the free tapas that came with.  They were unbelievable.  A spicy thai chicken, pork stew, skewered pork with pineapple.  I can't believe how cheap everything was.  For less than 12 euros I was slightly tipsy and full of delicious food.  SO GOOD.  Fuck.

That pile of tapas bowls belongs to me

Then around 12:30 we went to an amazing discoteca up on the hill facing the Alhambra, which looked incredible from up there.  So while dancing literally all night, we had an amazing view.  And club music.  Awesome.  Then we headed home around 6am.

This was our view while we danced to "Call Me Maybe"

Madrid Part 2: Spain is owning it

Most of our time in Madrid was spent searching for the next place to eat.  That is barely a joke.

Wednesday
We decided to get a fair amount of sleep last night in order to heal some, but it doesn't seem to have worked.  Not letting that get us down, we had some free hostel breakfast and started our day.  Most of the day was spent walking around and taking in the sights.  We went back to Palacio Real, hoping there was no "official business" today.  There wasn't, but it was replaced by an infinitely long line, so we said fuck that.  Then we went to San Gines for some chocolate and churros.  Omnomnom.

Sarah really enjoys sepia mode

Sangria and beer in Retiro park was relaxing.  We followed that up by walking to Palacio de Cibeles.  I shouldn't say "walk," because it was more like a race to the bathroom after those drinks.  We went to the top for a cool view of the city.  Madrid is really flat, so there weren't so many "views," but it was still cool.

Ok that's enough

After more kebab (we're addicted), it was time for a few free museums.  Museo Nacional del Prado is free 6-8, and then the Reina Sofia museum was free 7-9.  We tried to focus on the Spanish artists, including Picasso's "Guerneca."  It was really interesting to see a famous painting, one that I've heard a lot about in school.  While I tend to become angered by most modern "art," I really like this one.
At night we finished the evening with a bit of a tapas crawl.  Well... in spirit.  We went to one bar with the intention of tapas crawling.  But this bar was really awesome and very Spanish.  We had a drink called Caiparina (don't even try to look it up, because my spelling is horrific).  It is a sugar cane based drink, so it is obviously delicious.  We also had some shot they call the "house shot" (or what I think is a "house shot," because I'm not fully sure my translation was correct).  I'm not entirely sure what it was because listening to Spanish is a bit like trying to catch a firefly: I can follow it for a little bit if I pay close attention, but then if I slip up a little then I'm done.  It gets difficult after a while.  But I'm actually impressed with how well I've been doing and how much high school Spanish I remember.  After that bar, we watched Madrid lose to Munich in soccer PKs from outside a bar.  I didn't care too much.  We then decided that ending the night "early" is a better idea for our health, so we went back to the hostel for the night.  "Early" was in quotes because in Spain, "early" is 11:30pm.

Thursday
I woke up feeling a bit better this morning, so that's good!  We packed everything up to check out of the hostel, then went for a quick stroll to Plaza Mayor to get some chocolate and churros.  We're currently on the high-speed train now to Sevilla.  However, my last Madrid experience will be running back to the hostel with only 45 minutes before our train left, because we forgot one of our souvenirs there.  No luck finding it though.  Oh well.
Shit, the train through the countryside to Sevilla is absolutely gorgeous.  Nothing but farmlands and mountains.  And a really cool castle on top of a hill just outside Cordova.  I'll have to look that up when I get back.  Almodovar Castle.

Madrid Part 1: ok Spain, let's do this

Guess what I just learned?  Eating yogurt with a fork will get you nowhere in life.  Learn from my mistakes kids: yogurt requires a spoon.
Oh also Madrid is neat.

Monday
I took a couple of small comas on the planes, and when we arrived in Madrid at about 5:30, I was both refreshed and relapsed into a deeper allergy-cold thing.  Sarah's bag was lost in London, but we had everything we needed for the night, so no harm done.
The metro was easy enough to figure out and it turns out that our hostel is in the middle of everything, so that's good.  The first moment we stepped out of the subway was one of awe.  Madrid is unbelievably beautiful.  In the kind of quintessential "quaint Europe" kind of way.  Small roads, gorgeous buildings, colors and flowers everywhere.  Every other intersection was an open square with umbrellas and tables and sangria and tapas.  We were both blown away.

Buzz Lightyear is quizzical

Our hostel is a typical "American college student hang-out" place, which is fine.  Except that the beds are children's bunk beds.  Something about a tipsy grown man trying to hurl himself to the top bunk in a room where 6 other people area already sleeping... just a little annoying.
Our first stop was El Tigre, a tapas place recommended by former Madrid resident Katherine "de nada" Rizzolo (and others).  It was great.  I was somehow able to pull enough Spanish together to order some beer and tapas (it came with an ENORMOUS plate of tapas, which are Spanish appetizer-size nom noms), all for 5 euros.  Yeah, Madrid is going to be waaaaaay cheaper than Iceland.
Upon returning to the hostel, we immediately joined a hostel-run "drinking games" event.  It was a chance to have free sangria, meet some people from our hostel, and play Kings.  Funtimes, Inc.  This turned into an all-out pub crawl, where we went to 3 or 4 bars and danced and discussed the future of the U.S. and China, usual stuff.  Madrid is fairly easy to navigate, but I was proud of myself for already understanding the layout of the city and making our way home.  It was only a Monday, but some of the bars started picking up a bit around 2am.  Should be good news for the party cats in us.  Bad news for the replicating virus currently destroying my sinuses.

Tuesday
This morning began with some intense nose blowing.  Toast and nutella, provided by the hostel (shit is getting cheap!  FINALLY) made for a good start as we took the Metro out to see Palacio Real, but it was closed for some kind of "official business."  Likely story.  But we did manage to see the changing of the guard: really cool.  We also went into the Catedral de la Almudena nearby: an immense cathedral.  We derped around some parks after that, visiting Templo de Debod, a donated Egyptian temple.

LET US IN

These are some intense colors

Wait WHEN DID WE GET TO EGYPT?

We then went to the city center, Puerto del Sol, to get some doner kebab.  Yum.  I love cheap delicious food.  From there we walked over to Parque del Retiro, an enormous park with a cool glass house-thing and a huge pond where we rowed a (magical) boat!  Well, after a siesta in the park...
After siesta time we rented one of the row boats on the Retiro pond.  It was a lot of fun: I beat everyone in the pond.  It was like they didn't even know we were racing?  Then we saw some cats curiously feeding on what appeared to be liver.  Were they fed?  If so, did someone put food in an area, which attracted cats, or were the cats already there?  These are questions I need answers to.

I hope the owners don't throw stones in that glass house.  LE CHUCKLE.

Look at these guys!  This is the sorriest excuse for a boat race I've ever seen.

Ok our turn

I want in on some of that rowing action

Kittehs noming on livers (maybe)

After our excursion in Retiro, we started sauntering (yes, sauntering) toward Sol.  We came across a few Madrid attractions: Puerta de Alaca, Palacio de Cibeles, and the Banco de Espana area.  These names mean nothing to you, but trust me, they're cool.  We then migrated to Plaza Mayor.  This place is a really awesome looking open plaza with cafe areas along the sides and open walking area in the middle.  Some more exploring led us to a lot of cool buildings in the area and a market where we tried some octopus and cod.

This is Plaza Mayor.  No joke here.

Muah!

Then we met up with Katie's friend Kate (real original, guys), who tooks us to a cool hole-in-the-wall-ish tapas-ish place called Rey de las Tortillas.  It was pretty cheap for a shitload of sangria, potatos, bread, chorizo, and tortilla (egg/potato awesomeness).  I actually had wine with coke, which is a drink they call... something, and it's not half bad.  But then my face cold started destroying my life, so we're back at the hostel for tea and another regroup.  It's 11pm, but people aren't even starting to get ready to go out yet.

Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 43

Europe is owning it

Caturday 4/28/2012
La Alhambra.  What?
How can this even exist?
It's so intricate

Random wall in the Alhambra.  What?

Sunday 4/29/2012
Went to bed at 8
Discoteca all night long
Also: free tapas

Tapas are the greatest gift to man

Monday 4/30/2012
Strolling around
Albaicin and trivia
Soccer questions? Ugh.

View from... somewhere awesome

Tuesday 5/1/2012
Another Bullfight!
What an incredible sport
Sad but amazing

Last time to see the Alhambra...

Wednesday 5/2/2012
Early Lisbon flight
Are we in Eastern Europe?
What is this language?

Also, awesome museum converted from a destroyed cathedral

Thursday 5/3/2012
A great night last night
Makes for a rough morning now
Pastries are delish

Pastel de Belem.  SO DELICIOUS.

Friday 5/4/2012
Belem adventure
Monuments and museums
Oh and more pastries

Haiku-a-Day Challenge: Week 42

These are late, but my excuse is that I was on a different continent.

Caturday 4/21/2012
Golden Circle drive
Huge geysers and waterfalls
Northern lights are nuts

Thingvellir National Park

Sunday 4/22/2012
Iceland is quite strange
Expensive and beautiful
Still: northern lights rock

HALLGRIMSKIRKJA

Monday 4/23/2012
Time for Madrid, Spain
Cheap tapas and sangria
This place is awesome

Also kittehs

Tuesday 4/24/2012
El Retiro Park
Y U so friggn gorgeous?
Row boats in the pond

Wednesday 4/25/2012
Kebab is the best
Saw Picasso's "Guernica"
Free museum night

More Retiro Park

Thursday 4/26/2012
Train to Sevilla
Just in time for a bull fight!
Then some Flamenco

Friday 4/27/2012
Giralda today
Then a bus to Granada
Ok, Spain is great

We also saw the Plaza de Espana.  SO PRETTY HOLY CRAP.