After leaving the American Cup City of Velencia, Andy and I have continued our money burning adventures in our little small VW Polo hatchback into the Sierra Nevada mountains of Espanol. The trip itself was indeed very long as both of us had to share the driving time while the other was listening on the black IPOD and sleeping. The Sierra Mountains were indeed very beautiful and at one point (Later we found out that it's the only point) that the snow exist there all year round. The locals do many winter activities in the Sierra Nevada range such as skiing or snowboarding. (Damm, now I knew that I was missing something in my bag) at the end or the base of the mountains, we have now entered into the city of Granada.The Alhambra, a huge citadel and palace, is in Granada. It is one of the most famous items of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian historical legacy that makes Granada a well known spot for cultural and tourist attractions in Espanol. The city has shown various geographic attractions from the Arabs, Romans and finally the Christians as each religious group has once invaded and settled in the city over time.
The hill facing the Alhambra palace is the old Moorish casbah or "medina", called the Albaicin, a fascinating network of narrow streets and white painted houses with secluded inner gardens, known as "cármenes". The Plaza de San Nicolas, at the highest point of the Albaicin, is famous for its magnificent view of the Moorish palace.
Our Hostel, known as the Oasis is ranked as one of the best Hostel in this region was embedding in the Albaicin as the Oasis’s features shows the true white painted colours and the elaborate growing vine like garden in the middle. We have stayed here for many nights enjoying the historical structures and the hostel night life such as the Paella meals and the Tapas bars.
The Alhambra was more than a day tour as we had to get up very early in the morning to get our tickets. The walk was not a regular walk as we had to hike up the hill which was approx 1 KM in length with a 30-45 degree angle. At the top, Andy and I ended up going into the Alhambra itself and later realized that we went through the back door and found ourselves embedded with the tourist people enjoying the early morning exhibits. After noticing that we were in the wrong place, we separated ourselves from the touring groups and found the ticket booth at the north west end of the Alhambra. This is where we were greeted by a KM long lineup. We waited for 30 minutes in the line and later greeted by a PA message saying that all the tickets were sold for the morning and there were 700 tickets left for the afternoon. We took our chance and continued to wait in the line. Luckily enough we made it through and brought our tickets for the afternoon viewing. Since this early morning exercise and our late night hostel activities, it was time to head back and catch up on breakfast (impossible in Spain) and went back to sleep for a hour or two.
Around 2 PM, we went back to the Alhambra with the same intensive hike as we did in the morning and went on a mad photo shoot (people thought we were professionals) taking pictures and enjoying the historical structures and scenery this palace has to offer.
Click here to enjoy the passionate pictures of the Alhambra Adventures…
