Arab Aerobics

*This is a guest post written by my mom because I don't really have the time to do it. I added in some comments along the way.*

To sew up the circle, back to Granada today. We took the bus and saw many white villages with a fortress or castle perched up on a hill. Jeremy unerringly led us to the hostel where we had reserved bunks. The hostel personnel, however, were not unerring. They were overbooked and we either had to sleep on the floor or they would find a new place. We opted for the new place. It was up a very, very steep hill, and I was pretty crabby about the whole thing. As I get older, more and more I find myself taking this irrational negative stance to change. More on this later. (Jeremy: I loved the countryside that we rode through on the bus. The fields were golden or green (picture 1). The towns were all on hills and every building was white washed with red roofs. So cool! Getting to the hostel was not easy because the bus station was far away from the city and we had to navigate some very small, very twisty streets. I was a little depressed about not staying at the Oasis hostel. This same thing happened to me and Vanessa in Rome and we got stuck in a pretty bad place as a replacement so I wasn't happy about the switch either.)

The main thing to see in Granada is the Alhambra, a Moorish palace built towards the end of the Muslim dominance in Spain. Granada is a city that seems to me to have two very steep hills—the one with our hotel and the other one with the Alhambra (picture 2 is walking down the steep hill from our hotel and picture 3 is in the valley between the two hills looking up at the Alhambra). We were surely not going to be able to get tickets to see the Alhambra today so we were a little bit at loose ends. We had a somewhat enjoyable walk around the city. It was cloudy and we had been spoiled by the sun. In order to get tickets to the Alhambra for tomorrow, we found out we would have to get up early and stand in line as if we were going to a rock concert. After walking around the city, I wanted to scope out the walk and where we would stand in line, etc. Did I say it was a cloudy day? Did I say we were pre-locating the queue for tomorrow? Did I say it was a very steep hill? (Jeremy: Those elements, I hate to say, put me in a kind of bad mood. Definitely the low point of the trip for me. It's dumb that I let it get me down (I was in Spain for God's sake!) but that's what happens sometimes. The walk down from the Alhambra was cool with a big red wall though (picture 4).)

The other thing we did was eat at Baraka. It’s a middle eastern restaurant that had a good review in one of Jeremy’s books. Yummy. We met some girls from the U.S. who had eaten there three times! One of them looked like a younger Giada de Laurentis. I can no longer find where it said so, but I read that Baraka means “fine and beautiful blessing.” They asked us to take their picture with the cook who was cute, unassuming and charming. We ended up eating there twice ourselves. (Jeremy: The restaurant was good and located on the Moroccan Market Street (picture 5). Those girls we met were pretty cute and nice. The funny thing was that we were in the small eating area (enough seating for about 10) and those girls walked in and sat down. I didn't say anything (I was bidding my time, or I was being shy, take your pick). Mom leaned over and said, "Are you going to say something to them first or me?" Haha. I immediately struck a conversation.)

We walked back to the hostel via a weird route by the old city walls. I would have totally been lost but as I continue to say, Jeremy got us right where we needed to go. We stopped at a grocery store (we never knew when they would be open or when they would be crowded). We had taken to always having a supply of crackers on hand in case we were desperately hungry. I purchased the best orange of my life in this store. Then we surfed the internet at the hostel. Remember my book problem? Here is the first good thing about the change of hostels. At this moment, while waiting for the internet, I found that a previous backpacker had discarded two suspense novels! Yes, I could get through the rest of the trip! If I were like Jeremy and posting a list of books I read, I would be too embarrassed to list them. Not exactly fine literature, but, yes, they were awesome!! This saved me at least 10 Euros as well. Okay, if you insist, one was called Tell No One. But I’m telling you I couldn’t put it down.

After this we walked out at night to St. Nicholas Square. We had passed it earlier, huffing and puffing (me, not JJ) on the way up to the hostel. I am sure Jeremy would have piloted us to this square anyway, but missing the old hostel and staying at the new one was very convenient for this opportunity. This is the second good thing about the change of hostels. It was truly one of the sweetest moments of the trip for me. We had previously noticed a weird, large red carpet in front of the church. Now, at around 8PM, a bunch of girls were sitting above the carpet chanting while a whole bunch of other kids were playing soccer on the carpet. The square was full, but not too full, of people listening to someone play flamenco guitar and watching the Alhambra (picture 6). And the Alhambra is something to watch, glowing away on the hill opposite our hill. The music, the view, the company—very sweet. (Jeremy: It's funny how on my travels here in Europe and in the US with Mom and Amy, the things that end up looking bad at first usually somehow turn into the best parts. It really was magical sitting in the square looking at the Alhambra glow while the guitar was playing.)

After I got home I read that former President Clinton brought his family to St. Nicholas Square to share one of the places he remembered fondly from his student days.