Leaving Cordoba was hard since we had had such a great time. We met some really cool people, had some great food and drinks, and loved all the sites and vibe of the city. Even after 4 days there, we had to tear ourselves away from it. We picked up a rental car and made our way to Grenada...
We made a pit stop at the local super mercado to pick up some snacks for our drive. I got stuck perusing the jamón ibérico section.
Even found jamón y queso flavored chips, yep we had to try them.
Now that we had fuel, we hit the road for about a two hour drive, well what supposed to be two hours. Come to find out that our hotel in Grenada was in the heart of the city, with very narrow and hugely restricted streets. Everywhere there were signs posted indicating not to drive down the road.
We made one wrong turn and our GPS rerouted us another way, which would take roughly 30 minutes, despite being only a minute away from our hotel. We were convinced to find another way. Oh were we wrong. An hour later, we decide to park in a parking garage and walk to the hotel about 20 minutes away. Finally, we make it to our hotel and the concierge informs us that our license plate had been caught on camera driving on the restricted streets. His english was not great, but he did manage to say, “They will find your ass!” unless you were registered with a hotel. Looks like we escaped those tickets. Phew!
Our hotel was in the Neuvo Plaza with a great view of the Alhambra, the most visited attraction in all of Spain. You can see it perched up on the hill, overlooking the city below.
We met up with some friends from the wedding for an amazing dinner at Bodega de Antonio and drinks at the Wall Street Bar. There were screens all over the bar with different drinks listed and every few minutes the price would change, just like they were a stock.
A few of us decided to play a friendly round of foosball, girls vs boys. Right from the beginning, the girls were on a steep decline, I think we were down like 6-1 or something like that. Somehow, our luck quickly changed and we ended up winning 9-8. We were so proud of our accomplishment that we failed to notice the couple wanting to play the next round. They slammed their money on the table, got set up and utilized every intricate play in the book. Our pride was quickly demolished, in a game that lasted all of two minutes.
The next day, Ray and I went on a walking tour of the city. We had done a few of these on our last trip and really enjoyed them, so we thought it would be a great way to see Grenada (also since we had some time to kill before the main event The Alhambra). We went all throughout the city seeing the:
1. Corral del Carbon, the oldest monument that still exists from when the Arabs lived there.
1. Corral del Carbon, the oldest monument that still exists from when the Arabs lived there.
2. The Plaza de Bib Rambla and the fun signs.
3. The Grenada Cathedral (Cathedral de Incarnation), the third largest cathedral in Europe.
4. The Pleceta de S Gregorie, a convent where at least one of the nuns is always praying. No matter when you go in, there will always be one there. We had about 5-6 when we walked in. It was cool to be able to walk into a place like this, most of the time I feel that these are not open to tourists.
4. The Pleceta de S Gregorie, a convent where at least one of the nuns is always praying. No matter when you go in, there will always be one there. We had about 5-6 when we walked in. It was cool to be able to walk into a place like this, most of the time I feel that these are not open to tourists.
5. Over to an outlook of the Alhambra. What a sight to see!
^. And then we made our way to Calle Beso (kiss street).
and ended up right back in front of our hotel.
Along the way, I snagged a photo of a neat door.
And the cute cobblestone streets
We grabbed a quick bite at a kebab place (totally not traditional Spanish food, but I noticed they had Turkish Pizzas on the menu and could resist).
Funnily enough, we met a girl from New Zealand, originally England, and chatted with her as we enjoyed our kebabs. It was a quick lunch since we had to get up to the Alhambra by 3pm.
I must admit that Pepe really likes the mailboxes here.
I must admit that Pepe really likes the mailboxes here.
You could even see the Cathedral!
The Palacios Nazaries is probably the most well known part of the Alhambra. With all the intricate detail of Islamic architecture. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
All in all, the experience of being at the Alhambra was breath-taking, both in what we saw and in how many steps it took to walk around once inside. We spent about 3- 3 1/2 hours there trying to see everything. I'm sure we missed a few parts but we were so exhausted and starting to get delirious that we needed to sit down and grab a drink.
We walked back down to the town and met up with Salli for vino y tapas. I also came across a gelato place that made, none other than, kinder egg gelato. It was relish. My phone ended up dying from all the pictures I took at the Alhambra, but I think Ray has some from that night and of the most delicious ice cream I have ever had in my life. We spent the rest of the night exchanging travel stories and deciding where to head next on both of our adventures. She was debating whether to go to Morocco and we needed to figure out where we would be the next few nights. Apparently, she always flips a coin in order to decide where to go. I brought out the Algerian coin given to us by Mostafa our first day in Marrakesh and let chance do the rest. You'll have to check back to see where we ended up. 
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