Granada

On our first whole day in Granada, we rode up to the Alhambra entrance on the bus and walked back down along the walls. Then we wandered through the Albayzin, the oldest quarter of the city and supposedly the sight of multitudes of crimes against toursits at the hands of gypsies and druggies. We were not victim or witness to any crimes, but all the warnings did make us a bit more alert I suppose. We got a later start due to the celebrating last night.

Last night we started with a half bottle of champagne at a bar with free tapas of chorizo and cheeze. Granada has a "free tapas culture" which means that at most bars you will get a free tapas with the first drink you order. This is an excellent idea, and Minnesota could really benefit from importing it. :) Anyway, we moved on to a second bar and had some calimari and salad as our second free tapas, with red, rose, and white wine de la casa. We ended the evening at what is supposedly one of the hippest and most interesting new tapas bars where we all had a third glass of wine and the tapas was some kind of tasty ground sausage with mushrooms and sauce. On the way back to the hotel, my mom decided we should sing something "really western" (We have frequently been awakened in Spain by drunken singing.) So she did a small rendition of ´yippie ti yai yay get along little dogies´although it was probably to early to wake anyone up. But it was a good way to celebrate hearing that I matched somewhere.

I´m not uploading any pictures today because the connection at this particular internet cafe is really slow - I feel like we´re sharing a single dial up connection, but I´m probably just spoiled. My parents are not happy with our hostal here in Granada - the shower was not consistently warm this morning for my dad, (mine was fine but I left it on the hottest possible) and there was no TP in the bathroom until after our celebratory excursion, so in Cordoba, where we go tomorrow after the Alhambra, we hope to stay in a Hotel that is a converted 16th century mansion near the mezquita.