Granada-Land

OK, well, my first impressions of Granada blew me away (this time). It was absolutely breath taking. The city can not be described to its fullest by pictures, video, texts, or anything. You have to go and experience it yourself. That said, I'm going to describe my experience there for the last 3 days. (I know I say this a lot, but I really feel SO happy and lucky to be experiencing all of these things, Europe is such a beautiful continent full of history, small pueblos, different people, food-- ugh... I can go on forever!)

Us leaving Málaga headed to Granada!

Let's start with: SPANISH NIGHT LIFE AND FREE TAPA'S (since I got there at night on the first day)
So, it was raining and about 9 degrees C, thats like 51 degrees F. Not too bad, but not nice either. So we arrived, went to Cristina's HUGE beautiful apartment (with 5 bedrooms, and a balcony with a view of the snow capped Sierra Nevada, in the middle of the city center) got ready, and skedaddled. First we went out for tapa's and drinks. AMERICAN'S WONT BELIEVE THIS: In Granada, every time you order a drink you get a free tapa! IMAGINE THAT! For every drink you order, you get a small plate of free food! I was in heaven! The only problem for me was that the only vegetarian plates are usually white (potatoes, cheese, fried stuff--unhealthy) BUT I love fried foods, especially when I'm having drinks, it hits the spot! So we had a few drinks and had tapa's for dinner (for free). Here's an example of our free tapa's, after ordering one round of drinks:
So after an amazingly cheap, fun few hours having tapa's drinking, laughing, talking, we moved on to a place that is dear to my heart because it's part of the most beautiful culture in the world! A Cuban Place that only serves MOJITOS!! YAY! If there was a doubt that I wasn't in heaven before with the free tapa's, I KNEW that I had just entered heaven when I stepped foot into this place! AMAZING! The Mojitos were SO good and the bartenders were friendly-- they gave me a lot for free cause I told them my family is from Cuba (and I'm a girl)! Here's more pictures of us and our friends! I don't know what I was thinking, but I met this guy (they say the people from Granada are not friendly, but I didn't buy it, I can get along with anyone and have a good time!) He had a HUGE Mojito and I put my hand in his drink, I didn't even know him, and pulled out a mint leaf and then pressed it against his forehead until it stuck! LOL! I could not stop laughing and he LOVED IT! He thought it was the greatest thing that someone has ever done to him! After that, he wanted to talk and joke with me the whole night, lol. Well, later on I found out his girlfriend was there and although me and her got along really well, him and her started fighting outside when they left. :/ Hopefully it wasn't because of my silliness, lol.


So after gorgeous drinks and great company, me and my sexy girls headed out for our first night of dancing in Granada! We went to a big club with a few floors. It was nice, the only problem for me was that half the time this guy was talking my ear off and my friends left me alone with him because they thought I liked him, NO! I don't meet guys when I go out, especially when I am on vacation, what the hell am I supposed to do with them? I'm not that type of girl! He was interesting and cute anyway, so it was ok I guess, ha. It was a nice place, but like always, the smoke smell was pretty bad, but when there is music, its like I tune everything out and go with the rhythm, nothing gets me down! Soy una balerina!
The next night, we had tapa's and drinks early in the center of town, then walked to a more local spot, met some of Cristina's friends and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Overall, Granadan Nightlife is GREAT. It's different than Malaga's because first of all, you can eat for free until like 3am, second of all, all the clubs are HUGE, you have space to dance, in Malaga, it's always packed (except the salsa clubs). I had such fun at night in Granada, TOO MUCH FUN for one person I think! Ughh... When am I ever going to be able to settle down? I cant ever give this lifestyle up!

GRANADA DURING THE DAY, CULTURE, SIGHTS, AND HISTORY:
Granada was one of the last area's in Andalusia, which had Moorish influence. It wasn't until 1492 that the Christians came in and ousted the Moors from the Kingdom of Granada. In this city, you can find beautiful buildings built centuries ago with Arabic, Roman, or Christian influence. It's stunning. Here are a few pictures and short descriptions:

An adorable walkway with hanging lights, Moorish architecture. I fell in love with this area!
Beautifully detailed and colored buildings on the main street, Gran Via. BREATH TAKING!

Looking at an amazing patio, very typical in Andalucia, I'd love love to throw a party here!
Again, amazing!
I'm standing in front of the first Arabic University in the whole world. It's a beautiful building! Now it's been turned into a government building.

Aside from all the sights, I was SUPER excited to visit an Arabic teteria (tea house), to relax, have some tea and enjoy the ambiance. We walked to a part of town with Arabic shops, teterias, and a ton of people. I bought very unique jewelry (Arabic inspired of course), one of which is a brown wooden winding bracelet which stretches almost halfway up my arm. I've NEVER seen anything like it before and I bargained the guy down REAL GOOD! :) So here we are in the adorable colorful shops before we made our way to the teterias (where there were over 100 types of tea to choose from!) I ordered the Pakistani with milk and honey, it hit the spot after hours of sightseeing in the rain!

Darkness snuck up on us unexpectedly, we were having so much fun exploring, eating, shopping, that all of a sudden it was dark! Nonetheless, we made our way to the Mirador De San Cristobal, its a viewing area where you can see the Alhambra (Arabic Palace) and the whole city. To get to the Mirador, you have to walk through the most romantic, cobblestoned streets, with beautiful houses with flowers in the windows. It reminded me of the beauty and romance of Rome, Italy when I was there, it was an amazing, beautiful and romantic places that makes you feel a way that you have never felt before, it's indescribable! Here's some pictures of the towpath bridge to get over a small stream, and some pictures along the way to the Mirador.
Anyone can fall in love in a place like this! Look at this beauty! I asked my friend to marry me as soon as I set my eyes on this place I felt so romantic! She happily and romantically accepted.
And Finally we got to the Mirador, I didn't want to leave! It was so beautiful, and I felt like I was in such a spiritual place, it was amazing. nighttime pictures are bad, but here's a picture that doesn't even scratch the surface.The next morning we seized the day and started off my having breakfast-- churros y chocolate-- with Cristina's parents in a famous, local, churros place. It was typical Spanish, and I LOVED every second of it!
Then we went to a museum se llama, Casa de los Tiros. It was interesting to see a house built in 1530, with paintings from the Royal Family. OK, I really liked it, but felt like I couldn't be all that serious! LOL.
To top it all off, as we were walking back to the piso, a marching bank came down the street! I got the goose bumps from their beautiful music. I managed to capture a short video of it. It was great. (OK, I just watched the video, it was SO much better in person, but you get the idea)



All in all, I had an amazing time. Granada is great and I had great company. I love my life and I LOVE Granada, SPAIN, MY FRIENDS, AND EVERY ONE AND EVERY THING! I'm so happy right now! xo.