Granada, Spain

So where were we? I'm writing this on a train, so I actually can't recall or check what I last wrote, but I'm pretty sure it was from Agadir as I was wrapping up my stay there.

I woke up early Thursday morning to catch a taxi to the Agadir bus station where I took a 5 hour bus to Marrakesh, the main city in the south. From there I got a train to Casablanca where I had lunch before boarding another train to Tangier on the northern coast that arrived at about 8pm. Next I took another taxi to the Tangier port, where I boarded a ferry to Tarifa, Spain. Another bus to Algeciras, where I caught a train to meet my friends in Granada, finally arriving just after 11am. There will be a lot of days like these. I'm trying to keep up with my tickets so they can tell the tale.

So I said I was on a train, and this one is headed to Madrid, although I won't be there for long. I'm meeting the friends I was with in Granada back in Valencia where they were studying. They're taking a bus, but the pass I bought made a combination of high speed trains the cheaper (and faster) option.

Been burying the lead here, but Granada was amazing. It is an Andalusian city, and the site of the last Moorish stronghold in Spain prior to the Reconquista. The highlight is El Alhambra. (which comes from the Arabic "Al-Hamra" or "The Red One") It's kind of a palace on a mountain. The Arabs like building things into mountains. It includes a beautiful garden, a palace built by the Moorish rulers, another built later by the Spaniards (they put their church where the most used to be - this will be a theme we return to again), and the ancient Kasaba (or castle) built to defend the city. I guess it should have been bigger.

The rest of the city was equally amazing with a very Arab "medina" concept of lots of narrow streets built into the mountainside in a criss-crossed pattern with shops selling many items I just saw (for cheap) in Morocco. And tapas. Lots and lots of tapas. Needless to say I'm loving Spain and will miss it dearly.

On the subject of missing Spain, I seem to have narrowly averted catastrophe in trying to leave the country in time to meet up with another friend in Venice. So there's a strike that's essentially shutting down the country on Thursday. I need to be in Venice by Saturday, but the only direct train to Italy from Spain leaves on Thursday or much later. So after a frantic half hour  at the train station trying to see if there were any other routes (there aren't) I stumbled upon an ingenious solution. Just take a ferry from Barcelona to Italy. One of the fringe benefits of my rail pass is discounts on those ferries, and one leaves on Friday (meaning it will actually run) and put me in Italy in time to meet my friend in Venice. Hooray for multiple modes of transportation.

Alright, I'm operating on 3 hours of sleep, as I'm combating both the Spanish style of beginning the night out at 1am and the effects of the daylight savings time switch so I'll leave it here and upload a selection of pictures.

Hasta luego.