Eurotrip '05: Grenada

Fri, July 22, 2005 (Day 52)
Ok, so I've been a little slack on the whole journal writing thing. Let's just say that this fact is indicitive of the spectacular time had in Grenada, Spain.
Arrived late Tuesday (19th) at our rather unique hostel, the Rambutan. Before I go on, I think I should say a few words about this place and how we arrived on it...
So we're in Valladolid and we're looking for a place to stay in Grenada. We run a search, and we get 3 hits. The first is dirt cheap, looks pretty low end, but is probably fine. The second hit is a fair bit more pricey, but has all the luxuries of any high quality hostel. Then we get to the description of the 3rd hostel. We read the first line..
"controversial guesthouse in granada."
We're all like... what the hell?? We read on..
"the place to find flamenco guitar and dance lessons, mexican food in drag, tapa crawl, a bike that needs to be fixed.."
So we had a cheap hostel, a nice hostel, and a weird hostel to choose from. We looked at each other, paused, and unanimously said... WEIRD!!
So the Rambutan hostel it was! We arrived after a lenghty up-hill walk using the very bizzare yet geographically precise directions provided. Had a few beers and got to know our fellow hostel mates and staff. I could tell from the start this was going to be an interesting time. My initial impression of the place would be: Hippy Love Nest meets Quaint Spanish Country Hostel... very interesting. My only beef was the lack of A/C, and today was in the low FORTIES Celcius! Yikes! Even at night it doesn't go below 30.
Slept till 11am the next day (Wed, the 20th), grabbed some lunch at a pub in town and headed on down to the train station to meet with Krista. She had luckily gotten her bags in Valladolid, but unluckily gotten on the wrong train to follow us and ended up heading NORTH instead. Eventually she got straightened out, overnighted with Yolaunda in Madrid, and was on her way. She arrived, and we attempted to book our subsequent train for Friday to Alicante (located on the Eastern Mediterainian coast, where Ginny's friend Laura lives). Unfortunately, we were flat out denied, and told everything was sold out. (I refer you back to my Barcelona entry for notes on the Spanish train system). We were told we could only go as far as Alcazar (due south of Madrid). Shite!
Disgruntled, we headed up to the grocery store to stock up on food and water for the next few days. During the walk, I noticed one of those digital thermometer displays over a drug store. It was reading 44 Degrees Celcius. It occured to me that this was the hottest temperature I've ever experienced. And let me tell you, it was frickin hot. We got our grub, and due to the immense heat, decided to splurge a little and take a cab back to the hostel.
Once home, we called Laura to ask her for advice on how to get to Alicante given our present situation. Bussing appeared to be out, as there were no decent routes between the two cities. We hoofed it back down to the train station once again to see if we could possibly finagale a closer destination. That way, Laura could possibly meet us there and drive us the rest of the way to Alicante. We approched the window, and asked the very same man whom we delt with earlier in the afternoon if there were any tickets going to any place near Alicante. He laughed at us and told us there were seats available on the direct train to Alicante!!! WTF??? OK!!!? I have no idea what happend there, but hey, I just smiled and took the tickets.
That put us in better spirits, so we decided to get on the booze. We headed home, had some dinner, and headed out to hit the town for beers and tapas. In case you don't know what tapas are (as I didn't), in Spain (particularly the south) when you order a drink at a bar, it is customary to get a small appetizer with it for free. What we didn't know is that in Grenada, "small" is not exactly accurate. We basically got to choose a small dish (hamburger, chips, calamari, chicken, fish, potatoes) with each and every 1.40euro beer we purchased!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! Free food with every drink! Eventually, you get so full, you don't even eat the tapas any more! We definitely didn't need to eat dinner beforehand! All I could think about the whole time is how much my buddy Bri (with the bottomless stomach) would be in heaven in this place.
We ate and drank to our fill.... funny incidents involving weird foriegn guys hitting on the girls and spilt drinks on the bar floor enused. When it was all said and done, we hiked back up the summit home.
The next day (21st) was Alhambra Day. For those who may not know (as I didn't), the Alhambra is a huge 13th-15th century Islamic fort perched atop a huge hill in the middle of Grenada. This place was a large factor is us deciding to head down to southern Spain, so of course, we had to visit!
I must say... the architechture was absolutely amazing (as everyone said it would be). As well, the gardens inside the fortress were unbelieveable. On top of it all, you can't beat the view of Genada! Nuts! We even managed to pick out the Rambutan on the hillside adjacent to the temple as well! We spent a full day there wandering through the endless rooms and gardens, and I fell like we barely scratched the surface... but a full afternoon in the forty degree sun was enough for this muchacho.
Headed on home out of that and spent a nice relaxing evening at the hostel laughing at John (a particularly "unique" hostel employee) and listening to Keith the odd Brit and Elizabeth the Torontonian babble on about whatever was on their minds at the moment. I eventually went on to bed, but apparently I missed some hot accordian action in the wee hours. Ah well!
Up at 06:30 the next day (Friday the 22nd) to catch our 07:55 train to Alicante.
Goodtimes in Grenada, as long as you can handle the heat!
QOTD: "She was beautiful.... only on the inside" - John the crazy hippy hostel worker
"Ahhh... that's special" - Elizabeth re: anything
"Do you want a kitten?" - 'Angel', another hostel worker, offering us one of the kittens that the 'hostel-cat' gave birth to during our visit.
"Do we want Cheap, Normal or Weird?" - Us
"My shirt stinks. I found it in the bin, and I haven't washed it" - John
"Have you seen my shirt?" - John
"We should shower together, to save water" - John, to Krista, moments after saying how much water there was in Grenada.
Guy #1: "I've got money."
Guy #2: "He's got money. And I'm crazy." - The pick-up lines used by the guys trying to hit on the girls in the tapas bar. Steve and I watched and laughed from the other side of the bar.