The Alhambra

Monday morning my alarm went off at 6am. One of my roomates from Canada and I had agreed to get up early and get in line for tickets to the Alhambra. I was advised before I left to book my tickets in advance because they only let a certain number of visitors into the palace every day. Clearly I had not planned this far in advance so I had to wake up early to get tickets. I had been assured that if I was in line by 730am I would have a ticket for the palace. The palace is really the reason people come to Granada and I was not leaving until I had seen the palace. Some historians say it´s one of the wonders of the world, so it´s a big deal.

We ended up leaving right as the sun was rising and I was glad that I had someone with me on the walk to the bus stop. Those maze like streets in the early morning fog are even more eerie than before. We depated about catching the bus up the mountain or climbing it. It´s not an easy climb but we opted for the bus. Warm, safe bus. We finally get up to the palace around 745 and the line is a good 200 people in. I knew that usually the palace has about 2000 tickets reserved for the day of, so we were good. I start noticing people in line with coffee. Oh how I was dying for some expresso and a croissant so I set out to find breakfast. I turn the corner and about 100 yards in front of me is the coffee and bakery. Praise the heavens! I was a very happy Kelly with my expresso and chocolate croissant.

We get tickets for the 9:30 opening and line up at the entrance. The Palace is incredible from the outside, but even more incredible on the inside. It was a fort before it became a palace and has a rather interesting history. It was built by the Moors so it´s architecture is very arab like. Very intricate with details and all around the palace are water wells and fountains. The arab´s are big on water and cleanliness. The very cool thing is that from all around the palace you can hear running water. The design of the place is outstanding. I took hundred of pictures of the place including the details, so I´ll post them when I get home. We walked around the palace and spend a considerable amount of time in the gardens. It was rose season so they were in full bloom and beautiful. The gardens spand a little over two thirds of the land and are full of fountains, streams, and flowers. And the best part was that the weather was finally, FINALLY warm and sunny. It was a perfect day.

I ended up spending about five or so hours in the palace. It´s an incredible place and has made this entire trip to Granada well worth it. I ended up back at the hostel for a little siesta. I love the Spaniards and their siestas. I´m gonna miss them back home. That evening the hostel was hosting a little Spanish fiesta with paella, salad and sangria. The food and drinks were good and I ended up meeting some very interesting Australians. The guys had been travelling for a few months. The stories they had were adventurous and fun to listen to. The hostel has a ping pong table so I spent some time playing ping pong and it reminded me of the winters in Vermont. WE had a good time, but I was exhausted from the day at the palace and went to bed fairly early.