Ambled Over to La Alhambra of Al-Andalus

On Saturday I took a semi-organized trip to Granada. The cost was five Euros, which covered the busride there and back. I brought along a travel guide and a bottle of water, and read and slept on the way there. It took about four and a half hours to get to Grenada, stopping at some sort of truck stop about halfway through the trip. Once we arrived and debarked, everyone was pretty much on their own.

Luckily I had been talking with some college students working at the base over the summer at the children's camp, and they were nice enough to let me tag along with them to the Alhambra, a relatively short bus ride away. I had read about the long lines for entry during peak tourist season in the guide book, and figured I might be out of luck to get into the part of the Alhambra that most people want to see, The Nasrid Palaces (Palacios Nazaríes), as I hadn't really had any firm plans of what I was going to do in Granada, and hadn't reserved a ticket to the Alhambra. Fortunately, after about a twenty-five minute wait in line, an awkward conversation in Spanish with an attractive French woman, and ten Euros, I had a ticket, but couldn't go into the Nasrid Palaces until the preset time, 1430.

We wandered around the area, ignoring the rosemary-armed gypsies, stumbled across a wedding party, some views of Granada below (no real landmarks in their downtown), and a hotel that we thought was a mosque. We walked around the Charles V (Carlos I) Palace and its free museum. The people I was with had 1400 tickets, so they went in while I enjoyed a bocadillo (Spaniards love their simple sandwiches, Spanish ham and a baguette), and the view, but not the searing heat.

I was impressed by the craftsmanship, and the amount of labor and attention to detail it must have taken to construct those palaces, and at the same time, pretty disappointed that no one will ever again see them in their prime, you'd think if you reconquered your country you'd want to keep all of the free artwork the previous occupants left you, but judging by some of the haircuts and clothing I've seen the Spanish equivalent of white trash wearing (mohawked mullets on women, and men with capris and pink "wifebeater" shirts), sometimes bad taste knows no borders.

I didn't buy any souvenirs there, nothing really caught my eye (I don't really need any swords or pistols). I would consider going back to the Alhambra, but never again in the summer, at least not during the day. After we left the Alhambra we took a mosh pit of a busride back down to Granada and wandered around the city a little bit. I looked at a bank thermometer, 41 degrees celsius, 105.8 Fahrenheit, I have no idea if it was accurate, but it was believable.

We left Granada at around 1730, finally returning to Rota around 2200. It was a pretty tiring trip, but it felt good to get off-base.