alhambra

The frat guys i met on the train were, apart from being huge dorks, pretty solid dudes. I went with them to the hostel they were staying at, which was actually the one i had been planning on staying at, and we were all able to get beds. fortunately i wasn't staying in the room with them, because. as nice as they were, i'm not sure i could have put up with any more mentioning of their MIT frat parties or the significance of the beaver on their graduation rings.

The hostel was just called Funky's or That's Funky, depending on which sign you believe, and I really liked it. I used to think that hostels were only frequented by people in tie-dye hemp pants and yellow tuxedo jackets, but it turns out i was only kind of right. Many of the people there were very nice, the staff was friendly and helpful, and they served pretty decent paella for 5 moon dollars.

My first night i just went out with the frat dudes and a couple of other people to see the town. I wanted to go to this dance club in a cave (!!!) that we had been told about, but no one was enthusiastic about coming with me. Instead we just ate tapas and got incredibly full until 3am.

I had meant to go to Alhambra, which is an enormous palace started by the moorish sultan of spain but quickly occupied and improved by the christian spaniards. It was the last muslim outpost in spain and the place where christopher columbus got his approval to sail to asia, the next day but instead i slept late.

I pretty much just sat around the entire next day and ate really cheap sandwiches until i went to bed, because i was determined to make it to Alhambra before i left in the evening of the next day.

That morning at 6am just as I was waking up, the guy sleeping below me (bunkbeds are only fun when you're 10) also got up because he had decided to go as well, so it worked out pretty well. We walked up to the top of the hill the palace thing is built on and were almost first in line, until i realised that i didn't have any money and the sign said cash only, so i had to run back down the hill, find a bank machine, and then march back up the steep hill in the 30 minutes before the place opened. It sucked but i did it. of course, as soon as i went to pay i saw that they also accept credit and debit, even though the sign says they don't, so what the hell, spain?

The palace and kasbah were fantastic. It was like all the stuff in morocco, except a lot bigger and better maintained. It was also nice to actually be able to look at all the tiles and carvings without having some dude run up to you and ask if you're lost or would like to buy hash and/or rugs.

after that, i walked to the train station to see if i could get the overnight service to barcelona, but they were sold out, so i had to walk another half hour to the bus station (i had already come so far, it would have been surrender to take a bus) where i bought a ticket for a 13 hour bus ride of pain. I wasn't looking forward to it at all.

I went back to my hostel, ate another sandwich, had a siesta, and met a few other people before i decided it was time to get a donair and head to the bus station. I was running late when i found a donair place, so when i saw that it was more expensive than any of the other ones i'd been to i couldn't take the time to find another one. it was also probably the hippest donair place i'd ever been in, and the young staff all seemed stoned. They made me my sandwich and i got a cab to the bus station because i was scared of getting trapped in granada and losing the 70 euros the bus cost me. When I finally got on the bus, i opened my donair and it was the best donair i had ever eaten. they put in everything for the price of the normal one. god bless spain.