Almeria and Granada

Making the decision to leave Bornos seemed momentous but what came immediately afterwards was really a bit of an anti-climax. The only really pleasant surprise I received from leaving Bornos was the realisation that my Spanish had actually improved a little in the two months I spent there. I had a great days ride to Almeria through a variety of scenery but no particular adventures. The youth hostel at Almeria is not a particularly sociable place so it was back to just being me again in a comfy but sanitary hotel style room. Even my first hot shower in two months was an anti-climatic experience, I guess you can over anticipate some things. There's not much to see in the town either. Like Granada it also has an Alhambra, a palace/fortress from Moorish times which I enjoyed seeing but as the free entry I obtained tells you it is not nearly as spectacular or ornate as its counterpart in Granada.

The next day I took a train to Granada and enjoyed a great ride listening to Frank Sinatra and co played over the trains PA while taking in the magnificent snow covered Sierra Nevada. Predictably Granada was several degrees colder than the shorts and t-shirt weather of seaside Almeria, it even snowed briefly on my first night there. Luckily I stumbled upon the warm environs of the Mokuto Guest House. The first night I was there we had international tapas, where everyone made something small to share. At first I was thinking, "what really is Australian food and how am I going find anything remotely Australian in a Spanish supermarket?". I toyed with doing shrimps in a fry pan in place of the BBQ but eventually I found some Bovril, a sort of British equivalent of vegemite only sort of runny and decided to do vegemite and cheese on toast. There was no grill so I had toast the bread in the toaster, add vegemite and cheese and then melt it in the microwave. Unbelievably it worked and tasted just like vegemite and cheese on toast to me (I hope it's not because I've been away to long). What's more, as I served it up I realised that it's the perfect Australian tapas. In the next days at the hostel they also took us on a Tapas tour and made Paella a traditional Spanish dish with rice and seafood. It was just a wonderful homely place where the guests seemed to become an instant community. I would rate it as the best hostel I have stayed in my whole trip and recommend it to everyone visiting Granada.

Of course just about everyone had the Alhambra on their to do list so I headed up there with Patrick a philosophy student from the US and Max an architecture student from Germany, could you have more appropriate company to visit such a place? We spent a good few hours wondering around the magnificent buildings and the extensive gardens. It seems like it must the biggest palace complex in the world, it used to be a city in its own right including a military barracks. Like all the best monuments the grandness of the place and its ornate decorations have to be seen to be understood. Interestingly both Max and I thought some of the architectural features reminded us of Japan. I still don't really know if there was some sort of significant link between the Arabic and Oriental cultures of the time but would love to find out (email me if you know).

Max, Patrick and also Carla were planning to go to Morocco and we'd all been wanting to find a group to go with so it seemed like a good plan. However I wanted to see Malaga but Max had already been and didn't recommend it so the others weren't keen. They all wanted another day or two in Granada though so took I off for Malaga and hoped but distinctly skeptical that we could arrange by email to meet again in Algeciras or Tarifa.