Granada

On a whim, myself and two fellow travelers decided to take a five hour bus ride to southern Spain. Our destination...Granada and the renowned Alhambra. The prior night to departure, we booked a hostel and bought our bus tickets. Eight hours later we were off. My general observations of Granada were their tapas are bigger and better than Madrid, the people were very friendly, they had the most graffiti I have seen thus far, and it kind of had a Berkeley-esque feeling (lots of dreads and dirty young people). By and large, I loved my short trip. Below are some pictures...you know the drill at this point:

da trio.

"the wall" (corny pun intended)

albaycin...aka really old arab buildings

pillars

arab sunroof.

alhambra.

alhambra w/people.

alhambra [from generalife]

generalife

generalife dos

me gusta arches...

rotunda @ alhambra

alhambra again

church art

green

typical granada; typical spain (minus madrid)

their sierra nevadas

a fellow thinker.

mas agua.

*granada likes water for decor
**environmentalists...be up in arms

one will randomly come across a building like such when wandering

alhambra reserva--by my friend pete's recommendation this delicious treat was throughly enjoyed. he claims it is one of top two beers he has tasted. i would say top five. either way, much like my experience with neck warmth, AR (my shorthand for alhambra reserva) is simply divine.

Final thoughts:
1) we went to a mass (in Spanish)
2) gypsies are not all they are cracked up to be...here i am looking for some collective group of outcasts with really cool/colorful beads, ribbons, and eventful maneuvers to steal your stuff. most are just old, barefooted women begging for money outside churches. what a letdown.
3) we saw a gypsy hit a guy with her cane outside the church where we attended mass. then there was a long and loud fight between the man and the gypsy...during which, a local came up and talked to us (in Spanish) about Romanian immigrants and how they are trash and what-not. i sat there listening to him and swear you could have plugged in mexicans in every place and the conversation would mirror something one MIGHT hear in the states.
4) my theory: when all is said and done, immigration will be what historians in the future define as the central issue of my generation (not just in the US).
5) to repeat: AR is delicious
6) the alhambra is incredible. i am still not sure how it was ever taken over
7) our hostel was colder than outside
8) as always, we walked a lot...