This weekend I travelled to Granada, an historic city in the South of Spain. It is best known for its Moorish fortress/palace, La Alhambra. Even though we planned the trip 3 weeks ahead of time, most tickets to the Alhambra were already sold out because they limit the visit to 6000 people daily. That sounds like a lot but really it’s not apparently, so if you do plan a visit here make sure to buy your tickets to La Alhambra well ahead of time.
We took a bus from Madrid to Granada to get here. Honestly it was so pleasant and so cheap. I would definitely recommend it. The buses have wifi and movies so you hardly even notice the 5 hour drive, plus the scenery is full of Olive farms, mountains, and windmills.
We stayed at a hostel here, again, would recommend. It was cheap and quiet and functional.
My favorite thing we did was seeing La Alhambra and el Generalife, the accompanying gardens. The gardens, architecture, and views were all great. My least favorite thing we did was eat dinner up in the hills near the caves. The whole area had a very “alternative” vibe which, for all its merits, isn’t really my thing. It was hectic and the food was just average.
The funniest/most random memory I have is the bus ride from the hostel to the bus station to come home. First, we got a little lost getting to the bus stop (even though we had directions… oops). Then we had to wait 12 minutes only for the bus to show up and when it finally did it was almost completely full. There was about 5 square feet for 8 of us with bags to squeeze into- that was fun. We flew through all the stops, the bus driver letting people off as needed but ignoring pleas from those waiting to open the front door and let them in, chuckling a bit each time. It was so hectic and squished I was glad it only took like 15 minutes, but we made it and got on our bus and here I am. Hopefully the people he left behind weren’t too inconvenienced??
If I were to plan the trip over again, I’d fit two cities into one weekend, adding either Córdoba or Sevilla. Granada was great, but one day-albeit jam packed- would be enough.
Now, back to Madrid and back to classes, though only a three day week!