Alhambra

There's not much you can say about the Alhambra that hasn't been said or written before. The name derives from the Arabic for red and translates into the red one. It sits high atop overlooking the windy streets of Granada.

Tickets are sold online and have been booked up until May 10. The only other choice we had was to get up at 6am and walk up the hill to stand in line for the 600 tickets sold at the box office daily. A total of 7000 tickets per day are sold. We stood in line for a chilly 1.5 hours and by 9am walked into the fort. The woman in front of us had a motormouth and couldn't stop talking about all the great places she'd been and the toilet at her hotel. Apparently it's like a car wash, you don't have to do anything. It wipes and blows air and licks you clean. Chris decided to ignore her completely. According to him she was definitely addicted to perscription painkillers.

he view from the top is dazzling as all views from this angle seem to be. The Nazrin Palace was the residence of the sultans and is the best preserved site on the grounds with is multitude of engraved arches, fountains, flowers and watery reflections. It is in this palace that King Leopold gave Columbus the means to travel to 'discover' the New World.

The following day we climbed into the Sacromonte hills where we encountered the dwellings of the gypsies. The modern day 'gypsies' are the equivalent of the hobos back home. Dreadlocked, tanned and pierced they carved their homes out of the soft hills with fences build of wine bottles.

Granada has an interesting hilly arabic neighbourhood filled with graffiti and stores stocked with shishas. The dive bar of our dreams was two doors from our hotel at the base of the winding streets leading to the ever popular St Nicolas square where we ate our picnic dinners while the Alhambra stood lit up on the hill of trees across the rooftops. More pictures here.