Like Being in a Different Country

Caitlin and I got back Wednesday night from “our vacation from our vacation” to Granada and Malaga in the south of Spain. We had amazing experiences and met great people. The great thing about the two cities we traveled to is that they are distinct from each other and especially from Madrid. 

Granada was my favorite. Being there was like being in a northern african or middle eastern country - the city is heavily influenced by Arab culture. Food was so cheap and was some of the best food I’ve had in Spain. It was nice to have a break from ‘typical’ (though wonderful) Spanish meat and bread and instead mix it up with some new spices and flavors. We had internationally flavored burgers, different tapas, kebab, hummus etc etc… drool. 

The first day we hit the ground running and went to see the beautiful Alhambra, a giant castle complex. We managed to see it from every view possible too - inside, later  that night on the most gorgeous terrace bar all lit up, from the famous mirador while the sun set - and every time it was still beautiful, perched on the hill, framed by mountains and guarding the white buildings of Granada below. A mistake we made was that we didn’t get an audio guide for the Alhambra, so lots of the historical significance was lost on me. 

The second day there was a true vacation day. We joked that people were going to ask us what we did in Granada and our answer was going to be “Took a bath.” And we did. We spent two hours lazily switching from warm to freezing to hot pools in Arab style baths called Hammam. We drank amazing mint tea and laid on a giant stone to nap and think. It was one of the most relaxing experiences ever. You should look at pictures here.

That night we wandered the city, from tapas bar to tapas bar and in and out of stores selling arab wares. We walked in one to look at belly dancing costumes and the shop worker told us to go ahead and try them on! It was SO fun. And he was very nice; we weren’t even asked if we wanted to buy them. 

It was sad to leave Granada. I definitely want to go back there. The people were so nice to us and it was so different from any place I’ve ever been. 

After hoping on a short hour and half bus ride (my new favorite form of travel) we got to Malaga, again completely different in character. It reminded me of being in Miami or somewhere in California, only with more history. There were long pedestrian streets lined with high-end shopping and lots of tourists. The beach was great, especially the second day when we rented chairs and an umbrella. Lots of napping ensued - well, until we woke up to yells of "levantate!" "get up!" as the waves came up to our feet and towels. The downside is that the sand is chalky/dirty as opposed to the nice stuff we have in Fort Lauderdale. 

The highlight of Malaga for me was our hostel. We stayed in a room with two Canadian girls, two French guys and a Finish girl. We spent a bit of time with them, at lunch and on the beach. English was our common language and everyone was very nice. I tried learning some French words but it still stand by the statement that I can’t physically make the noises required to speak French. The hostel also had a classy terrace bar. What was so strange/cool about it was that the clientele were not the people who stayed in the hostel, but well off looking business people from Malaga. 

I have to rave a little bit about the dinner we had our second night in Malaga: cheese. As a cheese buff with Caitlin as a cheese buff friend we had been searching, craving some good cheese this whole time in Spain. And we’d had a lot. But there is just nothing quite like being presented a plate of six strong quesos accompanied with grapes, olive oil and bread and getting to eat it all, for only nine euros. 

Our last day we went to the Picasso museum. I came to Spain not really liking his work but I will leave with a better appreciation of it. His paintings are more than broken lines. 

It was a lovely mini-vacation. We might not have seen all of the monuments/sights in the cities but it was worth it to relax as opposed to running from cathedral to cathedral.