Granada, Spain

I found Granada to be such a beautiful city, especially the Alhambra which contains the Moorish Palaces, old military fortress and very beautiful gardens. It was so amazing to see archaeological remains of the palace architecture as well as the nearly 1,000 year old palace overlooking all of Granada. It is so hard to believe a structure made of bricks, rocks, sand and possibly clay still standing strong after so many years. The view was gorgeous and the gardens were so beautiful full of flowers, trees and fountains. The Palace itself was so miraculous with detailed Moorish carvings along the interior walls, ceilings and courtyards.

It was very interesting to hear about the Muslim and Christian history of the Alhambra (through an audio guided tour). When I have some more time I will update this blog to include some of the interesting historical facts I learned.

The night life in Granada was fun as I went on a Tapas Tour with some of my hostel mates. I really love the idea of Tapas and think the United States should adopt the concept which is very popular in Spain. Tapas is when you receive a small plate of free food with the order of any beverage in a pub/bar. The best part is the drinks where anywhere from 1-2 Euros. So you could have free dinner buy purchasing a few drinks. On our tour we hit up 3 Tapas bars and I met some great people from Australia, England and Brazil, drinking some tasty Sangria and Spanish Wine.

During my last night in Granada the hostel cooked up an all you can eat buffet full of great vegetarian options for only 5 Euros. This was amazing because as a vegetarian I have had a difficult time finding a decent meal in Europe, especially for a price within my budget. I literally felt like I was eating a home cooked meal which consisted of Cesar salad, vegan minestrone soup, pasta with marinara sauce, pasta with a white cream sauce and a rice dish with oysters (although I avoided the oyster dish). I ate so much food that I could barley move afterwards but it felt great to eat a full course meal. Everything tasted amazing! Many thanks to the best hostile in Granada, The Oasis!!!