Malaga: A lot of you might not know about the city of Malaga. I don’t blame you-it is kind of a dump. BUT it has a great beach. When Zach and I were planning which cities to visit, Malaga was where our plane from Oslo landed and though it wasn’t home to a lot of sights, we found a cheap hostel that was right on the beach which sounded VERY inviting (especially coming from the land without sun, Norway). However, when we got off the plane in Malaga it was not beach weather (to say the LEAST). It was cloudy, stormy and eventually very, very rainy. After struggling a bit to find our hostel (unlike Norway, nobody speaks English in Spain) we finally made it. We went down to the beach and it was nice except for the fact that there were sewage plants there and large industrial ships popping up on the shoreline all the time. It was super random.
Our hostel was great, though and the dinner that we ate there provided us with a way to meet a lot of people. We met Tatyana (California), Shea (Iowa), Lorelle and Max (Vancouver) and Marek (Maine). We had so much fun meeting them and actually had the chance to hang out the next day because it continued to rain. We tried going on a free walking tour, but when we went to meet our guide, Zach and I were the only ones without an umbrella and we definitely would not have lasted without one. To say it was pouring rain would be an understatement. SO…we ran back to the hostel, got some groceries and hung out under the veranda with Lorelle and Max. I can’t really remember what we were talking about but I just remember laughing a lot. Later that night, five of us went to the beach and had lots of fun singing, playing the guitar, sharing stories etc. Marek is officially one of my new favourite people. Trying to describe him would not do him justice, but let’s just say that he has made his way into my quote book multiple times. To give you a taste, one of my favourite lines from him was “Tobacco is literally wacko” (said completely seriously). Ahhhh so that was Malaga. Rainy, sort of boring, industrial beaches but….a lot of great people!
Sevilla: Sevilla was our next stop, and I was very excited as my friend, Sophia studied there for a few months and gave Zach and I a list of fun things to do! We walked from the train station to our hostel (which is always a joy in 32 degree weather with our backpacks on) and it took us about 45 minutes.
Unlike Malaga, Sevilla was VERY hot! Once we found our hostel, we were pleased to discover that it was in a prime location! It was right in the centre of old town and only a few blocks away from Sevilla’s very famous cathedral. After a quick siesta, we headed to the “Alcazar” (which I like to call Alcazam) which essentially is a Moorish castle built a very, very long time ago. There were beautiful gardens (complete with peacocks!) and Zach took about a million photos.
That night we went out for a lil’ sangria and beer. It was so cool to see everyone out with their families. Even little kids were out until after midnight. Spain definitely has a different energy from Norway and it was easy to see this in Sevilla. Spaniards are much less rigid in their schedules, spend a lot of time with their families, eat dinner at 9:00 and don’t go to bed until 3 or 4. For the youth, it’s more like 6 AM. Zach and I didn’t do too much partying because we wanted to be ready and rested for the busy day that was ahead.
We started off our second day in Sevilla by going to the main square next to the cathedral. While waiting to get tickets, we were approached by a guy who asked us if we wanted to go on a walking tour. We thought “why not”? and decided to follow him. He led us into this abandoned back alley and Zach and I started getting a little sketched out. SO…Zach let me walk next to the guy while he trailed behind so that in case I got attacked or “stabbed in the face”, he would have time to run. Fortunately, this was not the case and we eventually heard the voice of our tour guide for the next three hours. Medi was our guide-originally from Morocco and absolutely hilarious/wonderful. He took us around Sevilla, into Tirana and showed us a lot of things that Zach and I would not have had the chance to seen. Here are a few pictures…
We made dinner at our hostel that night and then to a traditional flamenco show. It was a very intimate setting and was very cool because there was live music and flamenco is a very different type of dance form that I hadn’t seen before. We were hoping to spend the rest of the night on the hostel terrace, but it was closed so Zach and I went outside, sat on the ground and people watched. Good times. I really, really LOVED Sevilla and I think it is definitely my favourite city in Spain. However, we couldn’t stay for too long because the next day, we were headed for Granada!
Granada: Getting from the train station to our hostel in Granada was pretty easy making us both happy and we were even happier when we walked into our hostel and saw Marek there! All three of us went out to eat, then for a beer and tapas. We just laughed and talked for a few hours which was really nice. I really hope that I see him again someday! We were tired that night so we just stayed in for the night and enjoyed our complimentary drink from the hostel bar on the patio. The next day, we got up early to go to the “Alhambra”. Thankfully, we ordered our tickets in advance so we didn’t have to wait in a long line to get in. The Alhambra is another Moorish palace and fortress complex. It was very cool to see and I would tell you more about it, but Rick Steeve’s (the tour guide that I carry around with me everywhere) would be much better at explaining it. It was cool to see, but it was very hot outside and we were tired by the time it was done.
On the way back, I bought some pants that make me look like a hippie but it’s fine, and we had a quick nap.
For dinner, we went to an Asian restaurant to have sangria/beer and…Chinese tapas. Super random, but the best sangria I’d had thus far!
We weren’t quite full so we ventured on over to another tapas bar and had margaritas. Mmmm…..they were delicious and they came with a great tapa!
For all of those who don’t know what a tapa is, basically it is like a little meal that comes for free with your drink. It was super random because the bar had a mid evil theme to it which was really weird...Then, it was back to the hostel! Granada was super cool and I would definitely go there again because it was a much bigger city than Sevilla, so I didn't get to see a lot of it.
Stay tuned for the next post on Madrid/Barcelona!
Sending love to you all!
A
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