Part II. A Fulbright “Spring Break”: Andalusia la Maravilla - Sevilla, Granada y Malaga

After a completely voluntary (no estoy quejando/I’m not complaining) 8.5 hour train ride from Valencia, I felt surprisingly refreshed, revived even upon my arrival to Sevilla. It was so nice to see the girls’ faces! Norita had just returned from a day trip to Cadiz and Chelsea was raving about yesterday’s trip to Cordoba.

Just in case I haven’t made it clear, lovely comrades, I absolutely love “hostel culture” (a term I’ve literally just coined). Despite my initial apprehension (attributed to fear of uncharted territory), I’ve had quite favorable experiences, particularly with fellow ‘backpackers’. 

We made some friends on my first night, including 7 young men from Barcelona with a wide range of academic (scholarly, vamos) interests (Hotel Management, AKA phenomenal chef; future physicists, economists and entrepreneurs. Interesting fellows, I must say.

Check it out! Talk about feeling welcome!

Our lovely hostel, The Garden Backpacker was strategically located near the city center. Top rated. Excellent Staff! Kudos to Ms. Dixon.

Dario is knowledgeable AND funny, apparently. 

PANCHO TOURS. Represent! In front of La Catedral

Easter Sunday in Sevilla was memorable! The Free walking tour I decided to participate in last minute was a great decision. Our tour guides, Pepe and Dario, were sweet and had loads of energy and interesting historical information. 

Pepe and I in Plaza Espana!

From what I gathered, the weather cleared up beautifully and just in the knick of time for my opportunity to witness Easter procession in Sevilla – quite a big deal in Spain. According to one of our tour guides, Sevilla is ‘the most religious city in Spain’. I felt this was quite a subjective ‘fact’, but wasn’t particularly in the mood for debating its validity. ‘You know what I mean, jelly bean?’ as Mom always says. In any case, a highly recommend Pancho Tours to anyone visiting Sevilla. They also offer tours in Cadiz, Malaga and Lisbon, Portugal! Another participant (Carys from the UK) and I were in a bit of a rush, but were really looking forward to seeing Plaza Espana, which was scheduled for the end of the tour.  Pepe, the sweet Sevillano that he is, offered to leave the rest of the group with Dario, (a human sparkplug, I tell you) so that he could lead us to our destination. We had but 20 minutes to get there, snap a few shots of the breathtaking scene (REALLY wish we could have stayed longer) and head back to the hostel to collect our things. Carys and I started out at a brisk pace on the walk back, which soon evolved into to full out sprint.

I. Can't. Get. Enough. of Plaza Espana

We made it! After quickly collecting my belongings, the girls and I were headed to Granada!

Our first full day in Granada was wonderful! The weather, my friends, was GLORIOUS! I could not BELIEVE the number of photos I’d taken in a single day (want actual numbers, people? 192). The sweet young man I met on my way to Florence was by no means exaggerating when he described Granada to me: “By far, BEST of Andalucia; Granada is better than Sevilla, Cadiz, Cordoba and Malaga combined.” He went on to say that I mustn’t leave Spain with out experiencing it.”

Indeed, it did.

La Alhambra from a afar. Next time!
La Mirador de San Nicolas

Check out the Ground we walked on.
Beautiful.

To our dismay, the girls and I were unable to book a tour for La Alhambra (It was unsurprisingly full when we attempted to make an online reservation one week before departure for El Sur/The South).

 While it was a bit of a bummer, we opted for the next best thing: Los Jardines de la Alhambra. They were captivating!

 The Arabic influence (from the Moorish Occupation) in Granada was striking and lovely.

The girls and I had a blast. I really appreciated the elaborate presentation of flowers and the miles of vegetation across the way! I was so proud of the Nora, a trooper, for walking the entire time with out a single complaint about her injured knee!

After the gardens, the girls and I (full of our latest memories of paradise in Southern Spain), we roamed into a Moroccan Teteria, where Chelsea persuaded me to reserve a spot to see real Andalucian Flamenco!

My new friends! Typical music of Andalusía is
Flamenco Puro (Traditional Flamenco)
and Flamenco Fusion (El Bicho is very popular at the moment)

“Addie, you can not leave Andalucia without seeing a Flamenco Show. This is where it was born!” La Rubia could not be more right. The Show (offered at the Lachien, which we mistakenly referred to as “La Leche”) was fantastic! La cueva, the cave, was cram packed! What a treat. And for 6 Euro, no less! No drink included, of course. “Hey, Addie. This is perfect for you! Now a free drink won’t go to waste.” It was our friend, Pepe’s 77th Birthday the night of the show. Pepe was el cantante, or main singer, which made the event all the more enjoyable. The guitarist and dancer equally talented and amiable! They made such a great team.

My Very First Time Tapeando

My goodness, I did not want to leave. Granada was just so easy to navigate and it gives off such a lovely city-town feeling (a nice combination: not too busy, not too quiet). Bars are constantly filled with (international and Spanish) university goers, most of which a local I met identified as “hippies”. Speaking of bars, I have great news! In Granada was my first experience tapeando (more or less, bar hopping; trying a different tapa and alcoholic beverage at every bar one visits. One can spend 20 minutes, an hour or more at each bar. It’s quite fun!) It was interesting.

Before departing for Malaga to catch our direct flight to Amsterdam, I chose to go hunting for a famous tea shop in the city center. Surprise, Surprise. Guess what, friends? I found it and became slightly infatuated with the place (See Medievo). I stayed for about one hour marveling at, inhaling the aroma of and learning about over 50 types of loose leaf teas. I even sampled hearty raw almonds (my favorite!). It was wonderful and kind of rejuvenating. Note: Gran Via Calle Colon is lovely!

After preparing a scrumptious low budget lunch with the girls, we prepared for departure. (Note: Pink Lady Apples are a WINNER. I’d never tried one.)

We made it! The Beautiful Sacromente

The walk down to Sacremonte: Albaycin 
(Barrio de Granada, Arabe y Judeo)

LUNCH TIME in the hostel. Low cost AND a laugh inducer, for sure.


Warning: Irrelevant comment.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided to take up a free American Sign Language Course online! I met a woman at the Flamenco Show the night before he really got me thinking about how beneficial it would be to teach my Pre-K’ers to sign during phonemic instruction. Any one interested?