Granada, Sevilla, and a little more Madrid amazingness

Even though I´m writing this from Argentina, I´ll give you my second to last post about Spain.  And I´m also happy to report that I now have a new phone which means pictures! (In my final Spain post I´ll have the only picture I have from Spain with my Greensboro friend and her roommate during my last night)

After failing miserably with my paella adventure, I set off for Grenada to visit the infamous Alhambra.  Excited is definitely an understatement here. I originally hadn´t planned on visiting Grenada but my Madrileno friend convinced me that I should (she´s a history buff) so I snagged one of the final tickets a couple days in advance and set off on an overnight bus. Sidenote: I have a new apprecation for sitting alone and exploring places, realizing that wherever I go and however long I get lost, it´ll all work out.  Back to the bus... I arrived in Grenada early and had plenty of time to explore the city.  Per usual, I chose to forego the bus into the city and walk the few miles since I had time to kill and wanted to explore. After wandering a bit, I found this incredible chuch tucked away in one of the many narrow, hilly streets and couldn´t resist following the dozens of traditionally-dressed families into the venue. I still have no clue what it was but they had two bulls, the most gorgeous and bright dresses I´ve ever seen, and a small car-sized gold icon to Jesus that they processed in with. Definitely one of those moments I wish I had a camera for.  Fast  forward through more wandering and a little lunch, and I´m walking up to the Alhambra to get ready to enter. From 2:00 to 8:00, I could be found exploring the endless gardens, fountains, buildings, and cool things inside the palaces. My favorite was easily the view from the Mirador de Daxaxa, and just thinking about what went on in those rooms back in the day.

Then after the Alhambra, it was dinner outside and bar-selection time for the USA game. Fortunately, I found a small bar with a nice bartender where I could drink my sorrows of the 4-0 loss to Spain. Although I blame the bartender for my current sickness. He took a liking to me and after 4-5 beers, he thought it was a good idea to pour a few different shots for the both of us during the course of the night.  Let´s just say I was a tad wobbly when walking to the bus station at 2:00am.

From Grenada it was off to Sevilla. Here I had the most typical hostel-travel experience with late night bars and hanging out with American friends but in between I was still able to explore and get a taste of the unique Sevillana culture. This city had the most personality out of the 5 I visited. (my favorites list to come in the final Spain wrap up post tomorrow).  The Flamenco, the bold people, and the winding streets were all incredible. But the best part was easily the calamari across the river. I will never eat calamari in the US again. If you ever get to Sevilla go to El Kiosco de las Flores in Triana (it was triple recommended to me so that makes 4 recommendations!).  Best fried and fresh fish I´ve ever had.

So that about does it for my other cities.  I returned to Madrid for my final 36 hours and yet again the city didn´t disappoint. Obviously my friend´s hospitality swayed my judgement of where Madrid ranks but I don´t think I needed that to make it my favorite city.  I love Madrid and I will definitely be back.  We closed out my last night with a couple bottles of wine, queso, lomo, and plenty of good conversation with her roommate, followed by an extremely late night at the Flamenco bar (her roommate is Sevillana and can actually dance unlike the two of us). By far one of my favorite nights of 2011 thusfar. 

And ahora, I´m in a cyber cafe in Santiago, Chile waiting for my bus to Mendoza, Argentina. I can´t wait to see my sister and travel through the beautiful Andes mountains.

See you all tomorrow! I´ll be posting my Spain wrap up with highlights and lowlights and hopefully I´ll have a picture to at least prove I went there.