Another early travel start to finally make it to Granada.
A 7.30 train from Madrid, with one change to a bus, got us into Granada about midday. After finding our hostel and dumping our bags it was a quick power walk up the hill to the Alhambra to try make our timed entry into the Nasrid Palaces.
The Alhambra is the most visited tourist attraction in Spain. With it being August in Spain, it is the busiest month and tickets are booked out a month in advance. We were lucky to get our hands on some... however we then couldn't get train tickets to Granada the day we expected due to the rail works around Granada and a nationwide taxi strike. We made it to the gate at 1.02pm, two minutes after our allotted entry time ended, and even though we pleaded and begged with the entrance guard, we were not allowed in. Pretty gutting,
August 02, 2018
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Madrid, Spain to Granada, Spain
Another early travel start to finally make it to Granada.
A 7.30 train from Madrid, with one change to a bus, got us into Granada about midday. After finding our hostel and dumping our bags it was a quick power walk up the hill to the Alhambra to try make our timed entry into the Nasrid Palaces.
The Alhambra is the most visited tourist attraction in Spain. With it being August in Spain, it is the busiest month and tickets are booked out a month in advance. We were lucky to get our hands on some... however we then couldn't get train tickets to Granada the day we expected due to the rail works around Granada and a nationwide taxi strike. We made it to the gate at 1.02pm, two minutes after our allotted entry time ended, and even though we pleaded and begged with the entrance guard, we were not allowed in. Pretty gutting,
although we did spend four hours in the rest of the grounds.
The Alhambra was built in the mid 13th century by the Nasrid Dynasty who ruled the Emirate of Granada from 711 until 1492 as an Islamic Kingdom. It was then converted into the Christian Palace of Ferdinand and Isabella and is where Christopher Columbus got the money to fund his expedition to the new world. So many layers of history here.
Although we couldn't go into the Nazrid Palaces where each dynasty had built/influenced the buildings in their own way, the rest of the grounds and buildings were amazing. We explored the Summer Palace, Generalife, the mosque/church, Charles V's palace, the museum and the Alcazaba (the military wing). It was so hot wandering around, but there are water fountains everywhere so that you can fill bottles, drink from or dip yourself in to keep cool! The whole Alhambra has a view of the Sierra Nevada, which still has snow on it. After the disappointment it was still an amazing four hours.
Afterwards we wandered back down the hill and stopped for a beer and some tapas at one of the local bars that had mist spraying out
the front over the seating to cool everyone down. Our next lesson in Spanish culture, if you order a drink here, you get a free tapas. After ordering a beer each and two plates of tapas, a plate came out that we hadn't ordered. As the waiter couldn't speak English, we had no idea what was going on and ended up accidentally having a delicious dinner with our beers. Cheap night out.
Back to the hostel for a night of trip planning to make sure we can do what we want to do in Spain and actually make it to Switzerland!
1.
On our way!
2.
The second longest travel day... so far!
3.
What we came to Norway for
4.
Travelling through postcard worthy scenery
5.
The city of seven mountains
6.
Our first overnight train and Ryanair sucks
7.
Tiger Woods and Ellie Lock
8.
Scotland in the school holidays
9.
A sleep in and a distillery
10.
Island hopping in Scotland
11.
A Ben is a mountain
12.
Highland weekend
13.
Hopefully the earliest start of the trip
14.
Catalonian culture and Spanish summers
15.
Travel lessons
16.
The Moorish Kingdom in Europe
17.
Exploring sunny Granada
18.
Holy shit it's hot
19.
Seville round 2
20.
Back to Madrid
21.
Spanish Culture and 101 Montaditos
22.
Travel days and Swiss facts
23.
Toddlers and Mountains
24.
Cow fighting and Swiss horn orchestra
25.
À bientôt Suisse et ciao Italia!
26.
Back to the seaside!
27.
Wine tasting and the beach
28.
Scenic walk and the beach
29.
Falling Towers and the Renaissance
30.
Michael and David
31.
Florence round two
32.
Avoiding flying Italians
33.
Tour de Umbria
34.
Don't go chasing waterfalls between 1 and 3pm
35.
Saints and signal failure
36.
Floating city and random catch ups
37.
Sunsets, pasta and tiramisu
38.
Ciao Italia, zdraveĭ Bŭlgariya
39.
More Romans and the Ottomans
40.
Balkan bites
41.
Victory Day!
42.
The oldest city….we have visited
43.
Pilgrimage to ANZAC Cove
44.
Living in caves
45.
Sun comes up, sun goes down
46.
Hiro tour let’s go!
47.
It’s a party in the sky with Turkish Airlines!
48.
Corn, fish sandwiches, and the art of bargaining
49.
The longest travel day by far
50.
Chilling and a cultural education
51.
Famous graves and forest walks
52.
Living like a local
53.
Escaping the city
54.
New York, New York!
55.
Bagels and memorials
56.
Old faces and sexy shoes
57.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS
58.
Green space in a concrete jungle
59.
“Bonus” night in NYC
60.
Toronto!
61.
We can play dodgeball!
62.
The bright lights of the big waterfall
63.
Roughriders and Whiskey
64.
The Sunshine State
65.
Going to the zoo zoo zoo
66.
California Sunsets
67.
I feel the need, the need for speed!... and shopping!
68.
Beverley Hillbillies
69.
A day at the beach
70.
Escape to suburbia
71.
Back to the hustle
72.
Last day on tour
73.
The most beautiful country in the world
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