Day 86: Granada Caves, Hikes and the end of Marisa's Spanish Getaway

Streets of Granada

Alleys of Granada

We woke up at the crack of dawn and set out on a walk around Granada city. One of my close friends
from high school studied abroad in Granada the previous year and had some great suggestions for us.

One of the things on the list was to take a walk up to the Sacromonte Caves above the city.

FUN FACT #60: I have not been able to find too much about these caves, other than they date back to possibly Roman times. In the 1590s, when the Moriscos (those of Moorish descent) were expelled from Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, they took refuge in the caves in the hills above Granada. Since the 1960s, these caves became re-inhabited and sort of taken over by "hippy" types.

View of the Alhambra from the Caves

The city itself was dead as it was only 8am on a Sunday, so we walked through as the sun came up and hit the beautiful Alhambra buildings. We made our way over to the caves, which happen to reside just above some really gorgeous houses that have an amazing view of the Alhambra and Granada below.

Houses built into the mountain. The Caves were located just above these.

Although everything inside us told us to go further up the hill and explore the caves, we were not exactly keen on waking up anyone who might be living there. So we explored a bit and made our way back to the hostel. We got some breakfast and some Subway for the road (our sandwich artist had lived in Vermont for a few years! So cool!).

The small town we find to go hiking near.

We had a vague idea where we needed to go to go hiking, but not an actual location. As classic Vermonters, we looked out the window, said "I see mountains! Let's go there." We found a cute little town just outside of Granada that had some amazing views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The three of us got out of the car and set off on a path through olive trees along a mountain ridge with beautiful snow capped mountain views. It was an amazing afternoon. 

Olive Trees on our walk

After a while, we decided we should probably try to find our way back to Madrid (we did have to return the car after all...) So we packed back up and hit the road back to the city. 

Sierra Nevada Moutains

The next morning, Kief took the metro back to the airport to head home. Only more adventures ahead for her as she was to take a road trip out to Colorado to start her new job. GOOD LUCK KIEF!

From left to right: Me, Kief, and Lizzy

DAY 85: The Alhambra and Granada

Fountain in Generalife

We woke up at the crack of dawn and hit the road bound for Granada. And when I say the crack of dawn, I mean we actually drove through the mountains as the sun rose. It took us about 2 and a half hours to get there, and the ride in was absolutely breathtaking.

FUN FACT #57: Granada has a population of about 475,000 people and is nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Andalusia. At an elevation of only 740 meters above sea level and is only about an hours drive from the Mediterranean.

This is my kind of city. With deep rich history and beautiful buildings, it's Granada's natural scenery that set it apart from the rest of Spain for me. The snow capped mountains surrounding the valley it resides in were truly amazing to look at.


Our biggest draw to Granada (as it is for most people who visit) was the Alhambra.

View of the Fortress and City from Generalife

FUN FACT #58: The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex in Granada. It housed the sultans and leaders of the Arabs until it was taken over by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and continued to house him and his family.

I could go on and on about the history of The Alhambra, but I'll spare you and try to give you just the best bits. There are three parts
of The Alhambra- the fortress, the palace, and the Generalife. The fortress was a castle built to protect not only the sultan and his family, but the greater city of Granada as well. It's position on a hill overlooking the city made it useful for this purpose. Along with the fortress was the main palace fit for the sultan and his consorts and family. These happened the be the most beautiful of them all. Generalife was the area in which there were vast gardens and fountains which we equally as gorgeous.

Fountain of Lions in the Palace

Me in the Palace pillars. 

Lizzy had been to the Alhambra previously when she visited Spain over the summer. So while Lizzy took a much needed nap in the car, (she had been driving a lot during the past few days) Kief and I toured the Alhambra.

First we took a tour of Generalife with our stupid and dorky
headphone devices that explained every room and garden we walked through. The tour company that we booked our tickets through gave us each a touch phone that allowed us to look at the pictures of each room and select when we wanted to listen to their commentary. Although we looked pretty dumb, it was better than some people who had to hold telephone looking devices circa 1995 up to their ears all day. Kief's phone kept malfunctioning and would burst into Bach's classical music every 10 minutes. Annoying as this was, we couldn't avoid the "classic pun" of "IT'S BACH!" and giggling our way through the gardens.

View looking back on the Fortress and the city. Those maze looking walls were formerly soldier barracks.

After the gardens, we continued on to view the Fortress. The was pretty cool as we learned a bit about the soldiers and their lives as they defended the Alhambra. That, and the view wasn't bad either.

FUN FACT #59: When the Holy Roman Emperor conquered the city in 1492 (when Columbus sailed the ocean blue!) he decided build another building within the Alhambra that he could live in. Like the other 400 up there didn't fit his style... Anyways, he had this monstrous building erected that sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of them and didn't even finish it or live in it. COOL BRO. It wasn't completed until the 20th century, and now houses a museum.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's Palace view from the inside.

When we finished with the fortress, we walked around the Palace of Charles V. Although the building is really cool, it seemed a bit strange amidst all of the Muslim influenced buildings in the area. The building itself is the giant circle that feels a bit like a bull fighting ring. When you stand in the center of the yard, you can whisper and hear the well beneath you echo back your words.

We quickly walked through the museum and then took a nap on the rock wall alongside the building for 20 minutes before our tickets allowed us into the Palace. This place was so COOL! All of the ceilings looked like they had stalactites hanging from them, and they were all painted. Back in the 1200s, everything was painted bright and vibrantly, but now most of the colors have faded unfortunately. Kief and I walked around and enjoyed the architecture while trying to avoid being seen in people's selfie stick photos.

View out the window of one of the palace windows- taken with my iphone

When we finished, we rejoined Lizzy back and the car and ate our picnic lunch in the parking lot. Then we continued on to find our hostel- which was almost as difficult as it had been in Cordoba, only this time we didn't get stuck between buildings. Fortunately, we finally made our way and found that our room was all ours! No extra guests!! What is this magic!?!?!

That night we walked around Granada in pursuit of drinks and tapas (which is what Granada is famous for). For every drink you buy, they bring you an appetizer! It was so great. We found a quiet little bar and Lizzy taught us some games from when she was a kid. We returned back to the hostel to keep playing and then hit the hay. It was a great day!

Myself and Kief on top of the Fortress walls overlooking Granada!

DAY 84: Road Trip to Cordoba!!

check out dat HUGE bull!

 Early on this Friday morning we picked up our rental car and set out for Cordoba!!

It was about a 4-5 hour drive, but the landscape was absolutely beautiful. We had only made one CD, which we listened to like 3 times on the way down, but it was still pretty fun. We pulled off the highway on this gorgeous piece of land to have our picnic lunch and take pictures of the bull and set back on the road.

FUN FACT #55: Along most of Spain's highways, one can see giant billboard outlines of a bull. The Osbourne Bulls were originally used to advertise Brandy starting in 1956. In 1994, a law was passed that prohibited all road side advertisements, but the Osbourne Bull had become an icon. The people asked that the bulls stay, although all writing in reference to the Osbourne Company was painted over. So to this day, the 46 foot tall black silhouettes of bulls can be seen all over Spain.

Inside Mezquita!

We continued to drive on to Cordoba to see the famous Mezquita. For any of you who don't know, I had been to Mezquita previously, but Lizzy and Kief really wanted to see it. To shorten my long explanation of the history of this place that I gave earlier in my blog, it is essentially a church that was taken over by the Arabs and built into a Mosque which was then taken back by the Christians to become a Cathedral again. For more information and pictures, look under September- Day 7: Mezquita.

The three of us had a lot of fun running around in the columns of Mezquita. When we finished, we took a walk out onto the Roman Bridge of Cordoba and around the city before getting back in the car to try to find our hostel.

FUN FACT #56: The Roman Bridge of Cordoba was built in the 1st Century BCE. It leads across the river directly to the Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba.

Us on the Bridge facing the outside of Mezquita

I have never driven a car in Spain. And after this trip, I will never want to in the future.

Us on the Bridge facing the river

It took us about 3 hours to try to find our hostel. We were using the crappy maps on our phones to try to finagle our way through the back side streets of Cordoba. And let me just say- things did not go well.

We found our way to a fork with a sign directly in the middle marking that it was a dead end. With a 50/50% chance of going down a dead end road, we picked the wrong one. While Lizzy did her very best to try to get ourselves our of this curved and very narrow street, we weren't ending up anywhere. Unfortunately, I do not know how to drive a stick shift and Kief was not insured on the car, so Lizzy was the only one of us who should have been driving. But after 45 minutes of being unable to move and clogging up the street (as this street was so narrow, no one walking could get around us!) two gentlemen kindly offered their services. One gave directionals while the other drove, and they managed to get us out of the dead end. PRAISE THE LAWD!!

Selfie inside Mezquita!

After an hour and a half of being stuck in side streets, we decided we needed wifi. We managed our way out of the worst of it and continued to drive around for 30 minutes looking for a McDonald's. Again, PRAISE BE THE LAWD! We were able to find one. But once found, we faced with the stupidity of our actions as we would have been better off staying in the car park we started in next to Mezquita. So we made our way back to the Cathedral-Mosque, parked the car, and carried our stuff to the hostel.

We made dinner and drank a much deserved glass of wine before hitting the hay. We had another long trip to take in the morning- next stop GRANADA!

DAYS 80-83: Hiking, Thanksgiving, Temple of Debod, and The Prado with Kief!

Left to Right: Me, Kief, and Lizzy

After we returned from Barcelona on a Sunday night, it turned out that the kids did not have school on Monday due to Madrid City's holiday! So lucky for Marisa, Lizzy and I did not have to be with the kids as their parents also had the day off from work. Now Kief just finished hiking the Appalachian Trail, and although Lizzy and I are no where near the hiker she is, we thought it might be fun for her to see a bit of Spain's beautiful mountains.

We took her on the same Elephant Rock hike that we had gone on Angela's birthday hike. Unfortunately, we still were unable to make it all the way to the rock. But we did hike much further than we did previously as saw some truly amazing views. We had a really fun day, and when we returned, Kief met all the kids and we had a really pleasant evening with my Spanish family.

On Tuesday, we decided to make Thanksgiving for our Spanish families! Although it was around 2 weeks early, we weren't sure if we would be able to have Thanksgiving while we WWOOFed, so we decided to do it while we were with our families- because that's what Thanksgiving is all about!

Lizzy and Marta

The 3 Princesses- Anna, Marta, and Paloma

FUN FACT #52: Because our attempts to get a long term Visa to stay in Spain for 9 months failed miserably, we were required to leave the Schengen Area (mainland Europe) after a 3 months stay. Once we have exited this area for 3 months, we may reenter for another 3 months before the process begins again. Essentially, as an American, you are only legally allowed to be in Europe without a Visa for 6 months out of the year, each separated into 3 month increments. Although we could probably stay in Europe and no one would notice, if we did happen to be caught, we could be Blacklisted, which is not something we are willing to mess with.

Left to Right: Marisa, Luis, Pilar, and Angela

Because Lizzy and I are desperately poor, we were looking for options to stay in Europe for the three month time period between November 20th and February 18th. Luckily for us, the U.K. and Ireland are not part of the Schengen Area, so it would be legal for us to stay there for 3 months until our return to Spain, which is exactly what we planned to do. We have many friends who have WWOOFed and had an amazing experience, so we decided to give it a try.

FUN FACT #53: WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms.  Once you sign up with the WWOOF website of the country of your choice, you can then look up different farms to find a place to stay and work for free. Essentially, you work a certain number of hours daily gardening, farming, or other activities in exchange for food and housing. It's kind of like indentured servitude... but it's a great way to get to see the world and learn new things on a budget.

L to R: Jaime, Lucas, Danny, and Lucas

We would be leaving the next week for Scotland to WWOOF there until Christmas where we would meet my parents, and then move to Ireland to continue WWOOFing.

So this Thanksgiving dinner was early, but just in time for our departure in just a week's time. The three of us cooked most of the day (With Kief cooking a bit longer as we picked up the kids for lunch). We had dinner at Pilar and Luis' flat, and Angela and Alvaro and their three kids came to join us. We had an adults table and a kids table, so when the kids finished their meals they could go play. It was a great meal, and the kids were hysterical as they dressed up in costumes when it was over. It was a really nice time, and I was overcome with how great our experience has been with these two families.

On Wednesday, we walked around Madrid and went to see the Temple of Debod.

FUN FACT #54: The Temple of Debod dates from the 2nd Century B.C. and was built in Egypt. The Egyptian government donated the Temple to Spain in appreciation for Spain's help in saving other ancient monuments in the country. It was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid city in 1968.

The Temple when it was still in Egypt

The temple was built in a park in Madrid and has free entry to see the interior carvings. I'm told it is quite beautiful at sunset, although that is not the time we were available to go. It was quite cloudy, but it was a really interesting thing to see- such an ancient building in such a modern city.

That night, we decided to see the Museo del Prado, or Spain's National Art Museum. It had free entry between 6-8pm on week days, so we took advantage of a cheap night out and went to check out what the museum had to offer.

Temple of Debod in Madrid today, photo from Google.

FUN FACT #55: The Prado was founded in 1819 and has 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings. Among these are paintings done by El Greco, Francisco Goya, and Diego Valazquez.  


Unfortunately, like The Louvre, we did not plan our visit well. We got incredibly lost and started to make a game out of the paintings we saw, which made us a little goofy. But before we left we were able to see Valasquez's painting "Las Meninas" which truly is breathtakingly beautiful. It made the visit definitely worth it. 

"Las Meninas" by Diego Valasquez

Afterwards, wee took Kief to our favorite place to eat- Mercado de San Miguel. We had fun trading off getting the food from the different vendors. 

On Thursday, Kief spent the a typical day with Lizzy and I as we got the kids ready for school, dropped off Paloma at day care, picked the kids up for lunch and brought them back to school, and picked Paloma back up from day care. That night was my final evening of English Tutoring for two of the neighbor's kids while Kief had fun playing with Jaime and Marta. It was a nice finish to our week in Madrid. Tomorrow- Cordoba!

DAY 79: Park Güell, The National Art Museum of Catalonia, and Estadi Olímpic

View from Park Güell

 Today we decided to take another long walk to Park Güell.

FUN FACT #50: Park Güell was a failed housing development on the outskirts of Madrid. It was originally built by a man named Count Esubi Güell, hence the park's name. Only two lavish houses were built however, until Antoní Gaudí moved into one of them with his father and niece. He continued the building of the area with his own interesting style. He designed a few fountains, buildings, balconies, and bridges on the plot which makes this a semi-museum dedicated to him and his work.

Marisa, Me, and Lizzy.

Kief and Lizzy under Gaudí's bridge/walkway

After another picnic lunch overlooking Barcelona (this time on another side of the city) we went to take a tour of Gaudí's former home. His house had some decorations that were of his own creation, as was most of the furniture. It was a very interesting house, and I learned quite a bit about Gaudí's life and his works.

When we had finished walking around the park, we continued on to El Estadí Olîmpic, otherwise known as the Olympic Stadium of Barcelona.

FUN FACT #51: The Olympic Stadium was originally built for the 1936 Olympics, which ended up being held in Berlin instead. Since then, it was renovated in the 80's and used for the 1992 Olympic Games. It is located on Montjuic, the highest mountain in Madrid.

We walked around for a bit and looked at the Stadium (which looks a lot like every other stadium I've seen...) which holds about 65,000 people. We continued on to see the sun set at the National Art Museum of Catalonia which overlooked the city (again). The sunset was gorgeous and afterward, we meandered our way back down into the city. We picked up our bags from the hostel, got some much needed Subway, and took the train back to Barcelona.

The Three Musketeers at the overlook of Barcelona from the balcony of The Art Museum.

The kids were soooo funny when we got back- they were crazy wired and so excited to meet Marisa, it was very funny. Pilar and Luis were so kind and bought a small air mattress for Kief to sleep on. We both slept hard that night and were prepared for a fun week in Madrid!

The National Art Museum of Catalonia

DAY 78: La Sagrada Familia, Tibidabo, and a Barcelona Night Out

We rolled out of bed fairly early so we would beat the line at La Sagrada Familia! Here's a few fun facts for y'all.

FUN FACT #45: The construction of La Sagrada Familia began in 1882 and continues to this day. Antoni Gaudi was the architect until 1926 when he was hit by a tram. Ouch.

FUN FACT #46: Gaudi believed that no man-made structure should be taller than any God-made structure. So La Sagrada Familia's tallest tower is 984 feet above sea level, the same height as the tallest mountain in Barcelona, Montjuic.

FUN FACT #47: La Sagrada Familia design was inspired by nature. Gaudi designed each of the columns as trees whose branches fanned out to become the ceiling of the Cathedral.

I have to say, I was rather blown away by La Sagrada Familia. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. The front entrance really does look like its melting from far away, but as you get closer, you can see all of the really intricate work done on the facades. It's really quite stunning.


We were being kind of cheap, so we only bought one audio guide and had one person listen and repeat to the other two. (Yeah, we're THAT cheap.) There were a decent amount of people there, but not so much as we were unable to appreciate this cathedral's wonder. The ceilings are ridiculously high and actually do look a bit like trees with branches. The stained glass was my favorite part- it was arranged as a

beautiful rainbow with abstract patterns.

We walked around the Cathedral for quite some time before we decided we had seen enough. We then set off on what turned out to be quite the hike to a place called Tibidabo.

FUN FACT #48: Tibidabo is a mountain overlooking Barcelona. It is 1,680 feet tall and has a church and amusement park located at the top.

FUN FACT #49: Tibidabo Amusement Park is the oldest amusement park in Spain! The cathedral located also on the top of this mountain is called Sagrat Cor Church, which began construction in 1902 and was finished in 1961.

Photo by me!

Photo from Wikipedia

The walk took us about 2 hours from La Sagrada Familia to Tibidabo Mountain, which once we GoogleMapped it discovered to be about 9.9km or 6.15mi.  On our way, we grabbed sandwich supplies and ate lunch on a smaller mountain near by. We played lots of 20 questions Gilmore Girls and F.R.I.E.N.D.S versions which helped pass the time. When we reached the top, it was unfortunately a bit cloudy, but we could still see the view of the entire city below us. It was slightly strange to be standing on the steps of this monstrous church with kind of a tacky amusement park slightly blocking the view of the city below. But it was a very beautiful church inside and we enjoyed walking around the balcony. Our feet were sore, so we managed to take a bus back to our hostel and took a quick nap.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. It was far too cloudy the day I went to take a picture that captured how gorgeous it was. 

Once we had rejuvenated from our long day (and Kief's jet lag) we decided to check out the night life in Barcelona, which can be said to be rather infamous. We hit a bar devoted entirely to shots- and what I mean by that was there were no other drink options. The place was packed with people and we tried to pick out a shot title from the chalk board on the wall. This board showed easily close to 100 different kinds of shots, but did not tell you what was in them. So we took our chances and ordered the ones with some great names, like The Willy Wonka, The Cabbage Patch Kid, and The Tellytubby. At one point, we ordered all the same kind which they ended up lighting on fire! Lizzy got this really cool picture of it. We didn't stay too long as it was slightly claustrophobic.

Afterwards, we continued onto a place by the beach. There were a multitude of bar/club options, but we ended up choosing the one with the cheapest cover charge (for that very reason). We had a great time dancing the night away and running knee deep in the ocean afterwards. Kief, of course, showed of her Spanish speaking skills with the cab driver on the ride home and then we were safely in bed. It was a great day.