Granada-ey goodness

The Alhambra
Us on arrival - me, Ashley, Alison, Mel and Jade

Granada is a lovely old city - it's a student town, but also lots of tourists, due to the wonder that is the Turkish/Christian palace, the Alhambra, which has been there for about 1000 years, and dominates the landscape. However, we were staying in a great apartment, with an awesome view of the Alhambra, quite cheap, and really close to lots of lovely little bars and cafes.

After arriving late, we had to spend a couple of hours on the internet, which luckily was free at our apartment, as Ryanair had sent an e-mail to say that Monday the 23rd, the day we were due to fly home from Granada to Stansted, the Spanish baggage handlers were going on strike, so although we had each paid 5 pounds to check in luggage, we were only allowed to take hand luggage, limited to 55cm long and 40 cm wide, and 10 kilos! As we all had large packs, the size restriction was going to be a big issue, as well as the possible weight, so we had to reassess our options, whether to change our flights, or send things home, or just hope for the best!! We didn't resolve it on the Friday night, but ended up with some very late tapas, at midnight, from a place where the chef kindly reopened the kitchen for us!!

Saturday was gorgeous weather, warm and sunny, so we went to the Alhambra, and spent all day there. There are amazing gardens, ruins, an old temple and the Palace itself, which limits the number of people, so we could only enter at 5:30pm, despite buying our tickets at 1:30pm. However, it was fine, as there was so much else to see, lots of staircases to climb to look at the amazing views of Granada! And the Palace was definitely worth the wait - beautifully intricate mosaic decoration everywhere!










Saturday night, after a lovely meal of paella, we attempted to find a nightclub for dancing, however it appears that students and young people in Granada merely drink alcohol in the various squares around town, so we ended up in a bar near our apartment, with funky music, and a Spanish hen's night, where the bride-to-be was in a belly dance costume, although she had never danced before, so she and i struck up a conversation!!

Sunday was a relaxed lazy day - in Granada, if you order a drink at a bar, they give you free tapas - this tapas I keep mentioning is basically little dishes of meat, vegies or cheese, which were originally used to cover drinks to keep them warm (I think). Most restaurants serve tapas, so you choose a few small dishes to share, and get a variety for a meal - I compare it to Spanish Yum Cha! But in Granada, they give you free tapas with drinks in bars, which is great!! So Sunday we wandered around the lovely little cobbled streets, admired the view, and then drank sangria and ate ham, cheese and bread! Sunday night was more tapas, then some mojitos, some pool playing, then home.
Me with nice view

Lovely little streets

Cute Granadian houses

Monday was our last day, and it rained! Thankfully not until we had organised our luggage - our solution to the limited luggage problem was to post our packs home! So what we saved on our flights with Ryanair (4 flights for $180 Aussie dollars), we spent in 50 Euros to send my pack and half my stuff home!! Oh well - it was funny to be in on the pavement in a main street, taping boxes together!! And I ended up buying a cheap 5 Euro bag for the stuff I needed to bring home on the plane, which is actually quite nice!
The street corner packers

We shopped a bit, then had another great 10 Euro dinner, then taxied out to the airport, to find that although some people appeared to be allowed on with large luggage, some familes were having to dump their suitcases and carry things on in plastic bags, or re-book their flights! So we made the safest decision.

Our flight to London had its own excitement, as the pilot announced 5 minutes before landing that we would actually be landing in Birmingham, because Stansted was closed!! As the plane didn't have enough fuel to fly back to Birmingham, they hired coaches to drive us back, 3 hours!! We were worried we would miss our 7:30am flight, which we had to check in for at 5:30, however we made it back in plenty of time! Then we caught our flight back to Aarhus, and thankfully arrived home on Tuesday afternoon, tired and slightly luggage-less, but having had a great trip, with lots of stories and photos!!

Now I'll be home for at least the next month, which is great, as I can acclimatise to the cold, rain and dark, and actually do some study!!