Day 1 of The Great Andalucian Adventure has been, well, cold. And wet.
I left the rain and snow of Madrid on a 1:30AM bus to Granada. I got here at 6:30AM, in the dark, and apparently brought the rain with me. I couldn´t check into my hostel until 2PM, which gave me about 8 hours to kill in between. There wasn't even anyone at the reception for me to leave my bag with. So what did I do? I found a couch in the hostel's common room and napped for about an hour until I heard some rustling in the reception area.
Fortunately for me, the hostel I'm at is literally across the street from the parking lot and entrance of the Alhambra, Spain's most visited monument, making it pretty convenient to go visit that great piece of Moorish architecture in between arrival and check-in.
The Alhambra is everything you expect, with such beautifully detailed wall decorations and Islamic architecture, and all this with the Sierra Nevada backdrop, overlooking the white-faced Moorish homes. A postcard indeed, were it not for the rain! I did end up taking some nice pictures (to be posted at a later time), but I was so preoccupied with the rain and my baby (that is, my Nikon) getting wet. The Palace was beautiful, but my favorite was the Generalife (hen-er-al-leef-ey), which, translated, means "Garden of the Architect." It's meant to represent Paradise as described in the Koran (according to Rough Guides). If only it had been sunny! But, I was fortunate to have seen the place during the morning.
It ended up downpouring later in the afternoon. I first napped after the 3 hours in the Alhambra (the lady of the hostel let me check in 2 hours early...it is, after all, slow season). Then, as I was about to step outside to experience the Moorish flair of this Spanish town, it began to come down superhard. I went back to my room and read, then fell asleep again. I don't function so well in the wet and cold.
Around 8 it seemed to stop raining, light sprinkles here and there, so I ventured into town and went for some tapas at a place my guide book suggested. There I met four Americans and ended up hanging out with them the whole night. We ended up at a tea house where I had delicious Indian tea con leche. It was very yummy.
One couple had been on the road for 11 months, and were telling me of all their adventures all over the world. One of the guys was a freelance photographer and I asked him about the specks of dirt in my camera. He knew right away how to fix it. I was very ectatic that it as so easy to do (and he showed me how so I can do it myself next time!), all I needed was a blow ball, which I left at home. After 4 months of Kenyan dirt on my sensor, which essentially ended up in every frame of my 3000+ photos (more prevelant in pictures with sky or light areas), it is finally cleaned! And so close to me going home too, but hey, it is fixed, and I'm so grateful!
So Day 1 was cold and wet, but my camera is clean, so I am happy.
