We went straight to the Alhambra to get in the ticket line, which was already pretty sizable, even two and a half hours before the box office opened. It was dark and cold, but the ridiculously steep hike up to the ticket line at least warmed us up for a little bit.
The wait ended up not being all that bad, as we conversed with this guy, Ross, who was behind us in line. He's from Scotland, so we could actually communicate in decent, not-broken-down English. He was super nice, and was genuinely interested in learning about all things USA. When talking about stereotypes of the South, he said something really funny...I think it went sort of like, "When I picture the southern United States, all I see is Jesus driving a pick-up truck from a gun range in Alabama to a liquor store in Georgia" (more or less). So yes, we enjoyed chatting with him.
We couldn't get the main, all-inclusive Alhambra tickets, but we did get tickets to the gardens and two of the main attractions there (a smaller palace and the fortress). Everything was SO BEAUTIFUL. We were all sneezing and whatnot from the massive variety of plant life, but it was super enjoyable nonetheless. It was hard for me to pick which pictures to share on here, but here are just some of my favorites.
I know, I look weird
Basic Texas girl with yellow roses pic
Kitten!!
Baby magnolia! Also, check out the flowers that are just like the ones we have at home.
After a few hours of exploring the Alhambra, we went back into the center to get some lunch. Feeling nostalgic of Rome, we went to a Sicilian-style pizza place that was pretty good. Obviously not the same as Good or Mondo, but still yummy.
We did a little more shopping (and I may have gotten something really cute for my favorite baby), and then we headed back to the hostel to rest for a while. Here are some pics of the front desk and lobby...so chic!
Around 3 or so, we headed out to find the Rotonda de Hipercor where we would all meet our BlaBla Car drivers (Katie and I at 4, Gina and Tiffany at 7. They wanted to know where to go, though, so they came with us). It was almost tragic, as none of our phones told us the right place to go to. I ended up having to rip free Wi-Fi from some sketchy pool hall or something, and Katie got some girls (who only spoke Spanish) to take us to the place. It was super nice of them to do that, as we really only asked for directions, but I'm very glad they led the way. Once at the rotunda, we quickly found our driver, Rafael. There was another lady in the car too, and they were both very nice (but didn't really speak English). We dropped off the other lady at some gas station after about 45 minutes.
The weather was very weird the whole time: sometimes drizzling, sometimes pouring, sometimes sunny, etc. At one point, I happened to look out my window and saw what was maybe the most amazing thing ever. It was this gigantic, totally full, unobstructed, super bright rainbow! I immediately woke Katie up so she could see it too. We took pictures, and only when looking at the pictures did we realize that it was also a double rainbow! The top rainbow was pretty faint, but definitely visible, and also totally full. I wish the reflection of my phone wasn't in this picture, but you can still tell how completely astounding it was.
We got dropped off almost right at our hostel, which was really nice. We spent most of the evening just relaxing until Tiffany and Gina got back around 10:15 or so. Gina and I had plans to go see our friend Ricardo DJ-ing (I know, so ridiculous-sounding). We thought it was going to be like a bar/club situation, but it was actually like a nice bar/restaurant where we were definitely the youngest people. So it was weird, but pretty fun, and he actually played some really good music.
By the time I got home, I had been awake for about 23 hours. Naturally, I was very, very happy to finally get some sleep.
Love everything but especially love the flowers!! Those are impatiens under the trees. And i totally love the front desk and lobby!!
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