| Erin's Granada Journals 6-11-02 This was the day to move on to Granada, so we got up a little early, packed up and had a quick breakfast. We thanked George for his wonderful hospitality and he walked us down to the bus stop, where we caught a bus into Malaga and the train station. It only took about an hour, and we hurried into the train station to get our tickets for the train we wanted, which would leave in 20 minutes. After 10 minutes of waiting for our number at the ticket window though, we were starting to worry - the agents seemed slow! Finally we got up and asked for our tickets to Granada, and the ticket agent looked very confused and asked why we didn't just take the bus? One left every hour, took about 2 hours less than the train route we'd selected, and was about half the price! So we thanked him and took off back to the bus station. After a little confusion, we found the right bus and got on for the 2 hour ride. It was uneventful and a pretty ride through the mountains, which made me glad we weren't on trains and heading through a bunch of ear-popping tunnels! We read and napped, then found ourselves at the Granada bus station, which was further out of town than the train station. We didn't know where we were going to stay, as usual, but we did have a general idea of the area to head for. But a guy at the station picked us out as poor and in need of accomodations, and showed us the way to his hostel. We got on the city bus, since this guy's place was in the same area we wanted to be anyway. Upon arrival at what we thought was the right stop, we looked around for a pay phone to call a few of the other hostels to compare prices, but absolutely couldn't find one. So we followed directions to the hostel and ended up checking in to the one right next to it! It was a nice cool room with its own bath, tv, and refrigerator (wow!), so we took it. We checked in and dropped our bags off, feeling grateful to have found a place again. Then we went out to get more info, since our planned stay in Granada was shorter than in other cities. We ended up down by the local artisans' market and wandered there for a while, checking out all the fun touristy stuff. We looked for internet places, groceries, and nice spots for dinner. We went back to the room for a nap before dinner, but ended up falling asleep for quite a while, and decided to eat cereal in bed and read instead of going out. We called it an early night at 1am. |
| Granada lies in the valley below the Alhambra, shown here |
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