I intended on having a train take me from Seville to Granada, but they were working on the line between the two cities, so I had to take a bus instead, got there either way, and was stoked to see what Granada had in store for me.

I booked another “Oasis hostel” as the one in Seville had done me right. The oasis here didn’t fail to let me down either, I even picked up a frequent stayers card. I loved it, I got there went to the store to pick up the daily wine dose, I was getting a little tired of wine though… So I went with “Tinto de Verano” it is essentially red wine with Sprite, god damn delicious and quite refreshing. I sat up on the roof and got to know some of the people staying at the hostel. Quite a few Americans, and some Aussies. I went to go get drinks with two people from the hostel, they were both Americans, one was from Seattle and one was from North Carolina. It didn’t take me long to realize that they both sucked ass haha… I needed to escape their American ignorance and major lack of respect for other cultures. As I was walking out of the bar Laura, the Brazilian that I had met in Seville walked in. This made the transition from one group to another quite easy, had drinks with her all night instead. She is from Brazil originally, but learned her English in Ireland mostly, the accent was very…entertaining…I guess would be a way to say it. Haha

I was loving Granada already, turns out when you order a drink it has to come with a tapa. That is the law, the fucking law!!! So for two bucks I’d get a mug of Tinto along side some chicken n rice, pork and Pineapple or various other tapas. This place was built for me, I only booked two nights, and after the first knew I needed to extend my stay, this place was just too rad to leave.

Woke up the next day and took a sweet hike through the Sierra Nevadas. I was/still am a little confused, I thought we had the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the states, is there really that many mountain ranges in the world that we have to use the same names? Come on… Anyway the hike was epic, we all had lunch mid trail, I pounded a full liter of white wine throughout the hike, I guess it wasn’t entirely a full liter, two chicks from England (Kara and Hannah) helped out a little bit, I took full advantage of the siesta hour that day. I was awoken from my Siesta by a familiar voice saying “Goodday Conna!!” Three of the five Aussie dudes that I had met in Lagos were staying in the same room as I was in here in Granada 

Chilled on the roof that night watched the sunset and proceeded to star gaze until 4:30 AM with the British chicks and a few other people from the hostel. 

Late night Kebabs are my fuckin jam over here…Most places have 4 PM to 4 AM hours haha built for the party!

Got up before noon the next morning and went and walked around the town with Liam, (party dude from Aussie land) It was sweet, loved the layout and vibe of the city. There are so many shops selling loose leaf tea that you can seriously walk down some streets and that was all you’d smell, bomb ass blends of different herbal tea. Deeellux

That night at 6 PM I took the free walking tour that was put on by my hostel. It was a good time got to meet even more people staying at the hostel.After the walking tour a bunch of went to get drinks and by virtue of the law some tapas.  

Eventually a bunch of us played kings cup on the roof and wound up partying at the bars. We all got TWISTED. On the walk home I helped some lady break down the patio of a restaurant at 3 AM, my Spanish is better when I am drunk… Or so I think haha…I remember one of Asian twins that I met on the hike was yacking it out all over the side of building, poor bastard, the non-yacking twin brother looked to me with pleading eyes and asked for help, to which I said, “nawww, you got this one man!” Gave him a thumbs up dashed on back to hostel and racked out. Solid night.

Got up the next day feeling like I’d won the fuckin’ lottery. Stoked as could be, I swear partying over here has been like playing Russian roulette, I’ve only taken a bullet one time of out the 32 mornings of this bender, I am gonna keep takin my chances!

It was my last day, so Stacie, from Australia and I went to the famed Alhambra of Granda. Another Moorish compound that was built 600-800 years ago. It was so detailed in intricate, pictures can’t really do it justice, almost every single piece that comprised the Alhambra was carved wood or stone. It would take a skilled artisan years and years to do just one wall or door. They still aren’t certain as to how some of it was constructed. It is an extremely awe inspiring marvel that even the Christians didn’t even have audacity to tear down or build over, which is saying a lot. Instead they built a Cathedral within the very walls of the Alhambra. This Cathedral didn’t get enough use, due to its location on up on the hill. So they decided to convert a Muslim Mosque into a Cathedral, in fact it was the Cathedral that Liam and I explored a few days ago (photos near the top) This Cathedral also contains Moorish details, just like The Cathedral of Seville, very evident across all of the south of Spain, if you look for it. 

I am actually pretty upset that I didn’t take a photo of another thing that demonstrates how much time it took to build these buildings…As we were heading out I noticed that one building, had iconic columns on the bottom level while the top had corinthian columns. I am certain that the original designer wouldn’t have mixed the architectural order of the building like this. It took the lifetime of several successive architectural designers to design and build this place, it was honestly amazing.

That was Granada, I grabbed a Kebab and rolled out to the train station, headed to the little Spanish village of Ronda. Pumped to see what I stumble upon next.

-Cbutter