Granada

We drove a few hours on highways along sunflower and olive tree fields from Ronda to Granada. After a nightmarish hour of being lost on Granada's narrow one way streets, we left our car a few blocks away from Plaza Nueva where we were staying at Hotel Macia Plaza (€60 per night).

After short siesta, we explored Plaza Nueva at the center of town and has tons of restaurants and bars. Dinner was great--iceberg lettuce and garlic salad, and an awesome cheesey eggplant stuffed with shrimp, hake and mussel gratin. After dinner, we had some sangria at a bodega down the street called Antiguedades II. Like many of Granada's bars, they serve free tapas (mini ham sandwich and fries) with your drinks.

In the morning, we took bus #32 from Plaza Nueva to the famous Granada Alhambra (€1). The Generalife stop is where the main entrance is. We got tickets for the Alhambra and Generalife (the gardens) about a week in advance on the Alhambra website (€10), which let us skip the long lines to get in. If you go in order of the audioguide, Generalife is last, but we chose to see the gardens first (though it might be better last). It is sprawling with many fountains and smaller gardens and a wonderful walk.

Within the Alhambra grounds is the Parador Granada, an expensive hotel and restaurant with beautiful views of the city. I was famished so we stopped for gazpacho and sandwich. Worth stopping for a coffee or drink, but don't eat there--there is a food stand with hot dogs and sandwiches in a plaza before Alcazar (audioguide #8). It was nice though, and we met a GSB'09 who saw Lowell's OA trips shirt.

We had a 1:00pm Nasrid Palace reservation--they have a limited number of tickets for the palace and you can only enter during a designated 30-minute time slot. The palace is an impressive Moorish structure with later Christian influences. There are numerous courtyards and gardens, and the facades and pillars have incredibly intricate designs.

We continued on to the Alcazar which is a cool military complex with awesome views of the city and rest of Alhambra. The Carlos V Palace, which was built when the Catholic Spaniards captured Granada, is another tour stop with a museum inside.

We were pretty exhausted after almost six hours in the hot sun and head back for siesta. After a nice drink on Plaza Nueva, we had paella, and went back to the bodega for more sangria.

Click here for more pictures of Granada.

Notes on Granada:
**Driving near Plaza Nuevo is a nightmare. Find out in advance about where you will be parking (hotel or public parks for €20 per day).
**Buy your tickets in advance for Alhambra! The line for same-day tickets was considerably longer than pick-up. We went during the day, but you can also get times at night for the Nasrid Palaces. Remember to bring your reservation number, credit card, and passport to pick up your ticket!
**Definitely get the audioguide (€3), there are almost no descriptions anywhere. We did fine sharing one guide, though you can't listen to it at the same time.