Saturday before Semana Santa (Holy Week), I flew from Santander to Málaga, and arrived in the middle of the night. This was a disaster as Málaga has no public transportation at this time. Outside the airport, I stood in front of the taxis and approached an old couple who agreed to split one with me. However, when I got to my hostel, there was no one there to check me in, even though I'd previously told them when I'd arrive. So that I wouldn't have to sleep on a bench in the bus station, I found a cheap(ish) hotel and stayed there for the night before meeting the girls the next morning. The girls I traveled with the rest of the week were Andrea, who studied Spanish with me at OBU; Kelsey, her roommate; and Sarit, who went to college with Kelsey. All three of them are English assistants like me, but they are teaching in Galicia.
Granada
Granada has easily become my favorite Andalusian city. The girls were really chill, and our hostel was comfortable enough, albeit a little out-of-the-way. We spent our first day simply strolling around the various neighborhoods. Granada is known for the Alhambra, a historic Moorish fortress. We'd tried to reserve tickets to get inside, but they were sold out over a month in advance. However, they're required to sell a few hundred at the door each morning. The guidebooks suggested arriving at 7:30am. Foreseeing that it wouldn't be that easy, I left the girls to sleep in, and got in line at 6:20. There were already around 70 people in front of me. Within a quarter of an hour or so, the line doubled, and by 8:00, there were thousands, but only the first 300 of us got tickets. The girls met me in line later, and were extremely thankful.
We spent the whole afternoon in the Alhambra. I must say that although the Palace was spectacular, my favorite part was the Generalife gardens. Later that evening, we saw a flamenco show in the gypsy barrio Sacramonte along with dozens of middle-aged Russians. I'd always expected flamenco to be smooth and flowy, but it was completely different: fast-paced, intense, and loud.
Throughout the week, I saw a mogollón of processions. The processions include the capuchinos (the ones who resemble KKK members; they go by several other names as well), pasos (floats of Mary or Jesus carried on the shoulders of several men), and sometimes penitents (carrying crosses) and/or veiled women. Over the course of the week the Jesus pasos play out the various scenes of Passion week. The processions are a big deal in Andalucía. In each city, there were several processions happening day and night. and we were bound to run into them if we wanted to or not. The capuchinos wear different colors, depending on the cofradía (religious brotherhood) they belong to.
Another thing I must mention about Granada is the amazing tapas. Throughout our stay we took advantage of this free food that comes with a drink. In Bilbao, we probably would have paid five times as much for all we ate.
Córdoba
Though we only spent a day here, I enjoyed Córdoba as well. When we arrived, the Mezquita was closed, so we explored the rest of the city, including a synagogue and Plaza de los Capuchinos.
A highlight of Andalucía was discovering new foods and drinks that they don't have up north. Below I show fino (a kind of sherry), olives that I actually liked because they didn't taste so olivey, and salmorejo (a cold, tomato-based soup, served thicker than gazpacho).
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The next morning we saw the famous mosque-turned-cathedral, la Mezquita. Inside was an incredible blend of Christian and Muslim language, architecture, religion, and art.
Sevilla
I have less to say about Sevilla because comparatively, we didn't see much of the city. We spent our first day there reminiscing with some people that Sarit and Kelsey knew from their university.
We watched another procession, and then we met up with our Couchsurfing host, who lived a good twenty minutes outside of the city by car. He was a great guy who showed us good times, despite the rain that ruined our plans for seeing the rest of Sevilla. We did, however, see the really cool Plaza de España, which artistically recognizes each of the provinces of Spain.
Ronda
From Sevilla, we headed back to Málaga so the girls could catch their flight, but I still had another day to kill. I got ripped off by the same hostel as before and checked into another hotel. I spent most of the evening exploring the city of Málaga by night. I walked to the beach and then tried to track down some processions before having a drink with a girl from Couchsurfing. Needless to say, Málaga doesn't even deserve its own bold paragraph heading in this post.
The next morning, the day of my flight, I could either take a bus to and from the white hill town of Ronda or stay in miserable Málaga. I chose the former, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. The city was beautiful and had amazing views. And, this being my first time to do a solo excursion, I felt uncontainable and free to follow every whim. Whimsically, I found a trail that led to the bottom of the gargantuan gorge, and followed it deep below the gradually growing flurry of touristic traffic above. I only spent three hours in Ronda, but I don't regret a minute of it.
And there we have it. I spent the rest of the day traveling back to Bilbao and enjoyed a peaceful second week of vacations.
