Granada, Spain - October 20-23

There's too much going on in Granada to lump it into the best of post. After visiting in 2006, Granada was one of the cities in Spain I was most excited to return to. I remembered it having a very cool vibe and lots of free tapas.

At this point of the trip we really started focusing on cool accommodation. Spain is cheaper than Italy in general and the fact that we were out of high season helped us find some really good deals. In this case, the highest rated place on tripadvisor were the Muralla Ziri apartments. It was a little out of our usual price range, but after exchanging emails they offered a bit of a discount. It seemed worth the splurge. And after arriving, it certainly was.

This was the view we were greeted with upon arrival.



When the storms cleared it was even more impressive.



We were located in the Albaicin (or Albayzin), one of the best preserved Moorish Quarters in Spain. Tiny, steep roads are surrounded by the typical whitewashed buildings of the south of Spain. The area has a reputation (at least in the guidebooks) for being a little seedy and slightly dangerous at night. We never felt uncomfortable trudging aimlessly around though. It is a unique place that seemed mostly occupied by 20-somethings best described as "alternative." Midway up the neighborhood is a large plaza and a few blocks away a mirador filled with the locals smoking and playing music. It provided for some great views.



It's hard to see in the pictures, but it rained on and off the whole time we were there and the mountains behind the Alhambra behind us were filled with snow. It was quite a stunning sight.



Of course we went to the Alhambra which is an incredible sight. It's located high up on the hill above Ali here.



Pictures of the architecture and design don't really do it justice, everybody should really see it at least once.

The yellow building right in the middle is our apartment. We didn't have access to the balcony, but we are the window right below it.







Granada is also (rightly) famous for being one of the last bastions of tapas. You order a drink, you get a tapa. Accordingly, the drinks are a little bit more expensive than elsewhere in Spain, but still only about E1.50 for a beer. Tapas range from nuts or little sandwiches to things a bit more filling:



You could make a meal out of one tapa in some cases. This is not to say they are always good (the picture is posted more for its quantity than any memorable quality, although I think it was pretty tasty) but they can be pretty filling for the price of just one drink.

Because it is such a ritual there, a bar can't really skimp on the tapas for fear of alienating the locals. Some places have really creative well thought out tapas. We did the tapas crawl until we were stuffed fell asleep to this every night.