Laters London - MC and JD's adventure back to NZ

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,

mc_rombie

73 chapters

The Moorish Kingdom in Europe

August 02, 2018

|

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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