Sofia Somewhere

A few weeks back, Marina (who was my roommate when I studied in Pamplona in 2008) and I were chatting, and she mentioned that she wanted to visit me in Granada before I left. I had exactly one free weekend left in May, so she bought some train tickets, and visited me. She had actually never been to Granada before so it was fun getting to showing her around. She took the overnight train from Barcelona at arrived in Granada at around 8am on Friday. After some breakfast (the both of us) and a shower (her), we started our day. Tickets for the Alhambra had been sold out online long before, but they reserve tickets that you can buy on the day itself. So first we walked up to the Alhambra and bought tickets for the afternoon (morning sessions were sold out already). Then we spent the rest of the morning walking around the Albayzín and checking out the view of the Alhambra from the Mirador de San Nicolas . View from the Mirador de San Nicolas

This past weekend was a long weekend or as they call it in Spain, un puente (literally, "a bridge"). Monday, the 8th, was a holiday - the Feast of the Immaculate Conception or la Inmaculada -  and it was an extra special puente for the Spaniards since Saturday, the 6th, was a holiday as well - Día de la Constitución Española  (Constitution Day) or la Constitución for short. As the name suggests, it's the day when Spain approved its new constitution marking the country's transition to a constitutional monarchy and democracy. Since the two holidays are celebrated each year, this special long weekend even has a name: Puente de la Inmaculada . If the 6th falls on a Monday and the 8th on a Wednesday (or a Wednesday and Friday respectively), they get a 5 day weekend. I'm not sure what happens though if the 6th falls on a Tuesday and the 8th on a Thursday! It's a pretty festive weekend; a lot of families go out of town (Granada in particular was packed with visitor...

From Córdoba, it was off to Granada! This was actually the one city I wanted to visit the most in my trip. I was really dying to see the Alhambra and all my planning revolved around this city. Anyway. When we arrived in Granada it was almost 9. We took the city bus from the bus station which was supposed to take us to the Cathedral (which is near Plaza Nueva, which is near our hotel) but for some reason, it took a different route. We ended up having to get off at the city center and walked uphill to Plaza Nueva. It wasn't so bad though and we found our hotel without much problem. We checked right in because the boys wanted to watch the basketball game. So after settling down a bit, Ange and I went out to buy dinner. We found a cheap kebab place nearby and bought some for all of us. Then we headed back to the hotel and watched a game with the boys. The next day we slept in a bit since we would be waking up quite early the day after. We looked for the Alcaicería and almost it! ...