Tu hablas?

The Spaniards are so friendly. Can't get over it.

Last night was fun. The tapas tour starts every night at 9pm, but we were delayed two hours because we had to wait until the end of the Real Madrid/Barcelona game. I love watching futbol. I do. But these two teams are playing four times while I'm here...and I'm a little over it. When I watched in Madrid they tied. When I watched in Barcelona, Madrid won (would have been much cooler to be in Madrid). And then watching in Granada, Barcelona wins (after I just left Barcelona).

I was rooting for Real Madrid in Madrid, Barcelona in Barcelona, and I didn't really care who won last night. Everyone here were rooting for Barcelona. I must admit that I've developed a little crush on the Madrid coach. Google image search Jose Mourinho if you're curious. So cute.

Anyways, once the game was over we headed out with our hostel tapas tourguide Christian - an Italian from Milano that has lived in Spain for four years, Granada for one. He was really nice and friendly. There were seven of us, including Christian. A guy from Israel, a guy from Scotland, and then three Brits. They were all very nice. Although the guy from Scotland is my bunkmate and also snores...

We went to two tapas bars. Everywhere here you just order a drink and the tapas are free. I had the 1925 "reserve" Alhambra beer, very good. It comes in a pretty green bottle with the label as part of the glass (not glued on). If you know me well you have already guessed that one of those bottles is already in my pack as a free souvenir of Granada.

Christian communicated to the bartenders that I didn't eat meat so they made sure to bring a veg option, which was nice. I felt bad for the girl that was allergic to gluten. She was too embarrassed to say anything.

On our way to a cocktail bar we ran into several of Christian's friends who were heading to a house party. He gave us the option, and while I wanted to go to the bar, everyone else was into the house party. It was a hike up to the top of Granada (it's extremely hilly here) to this house. Among the group of newfound friends was a Brasilian who has lived here for a year, about to head home. He was super nice and shared his 40 with me (and not with any other tourists). I couldn't say no. Once we finally got to the party it was a super cool old house with a little open-air foyer with old columns. Christian said it was from the 17th century, like our hostel. No one at the party was from Spain. They weren't tourists per say, they all live here but are from all over the world. Only thing they had in common was that they were hippies. Lots of dreaded hippies in Granada in fact. Dreaded as in dreadlocks, not as in a sense of fear or apprehension.

After about 10 minutes I decided I wanted to go home. Since it was an impromtpu house party none of us were prepared with BYOB so it got not-fun pretty quickly. My bunkmate (forget his name) and I headed home sans map. I had one in my bag but we just headed downhill towards the Alhambra and were able to find our way. This morning we found out that everyone else left about 20 minutes after we did because the cops shut down the party. Definitely more quiet here. On the walk home all the restaurants were closed, was surprising to see after being in Madrid & Barcelona. But also a nice change of pace.

This morning I got up and decided to just wander around all day. Even with a map you'll get lost so for the most part I walked around without one, and backtracked a few times so as to not get too turned around. The Alhambra was my guiding light, as long as I knew where it was I was ok.

I managed to find the Mirador San Nicolas which has a great view of the Alhambra. I've been told I need to return there at dusk or once it's dark.

Granada is full of souvenir shops, more than you'd imagine for the size of the town. There are also lots of tea houses and shisha bars.

After hours of walking and once I was ready for a snack I stopped into a bar on a little alley near the Plaza Nueva. I didn't want to be on the square with all the tourists. This little place was fabulous. Not only were they showing a more local futbol game, but they also were playing Spanish music!

I ordered a 1925 reserva and they brought over a free tapa, which of course had meat. So I asked for the tapas menu and ordered some cheese and the tortilla espanola. Probably the best tortilla I've had. When I ordered a second beer I was hopeful that they weren't going to bring me another free tapa. But they did. So as politely as I could I said no thank you, and explained that I was a vegetarian. He smiled and said - 'yes I could see that since you didn't touch the last tapa and ordered the two tapas we have without meat. So I had the chef make you a mushroom and cheese sandwich.' This blew me away. In Madrid and Barcelona I told the waiters I was a vegetarian but they would often still bring me the free meat tapas. Which is why I didn't bother saying anything here. The fact that he could tell and went out of his way to have the chef make something special for me was above and beyond nice. It was also delicious.

The tapas are a bit different here - instead of a slice of meat, cheese, or even a hotdog on a slice of bread like in Madrid & Barcelona, they give you a little bagel looking sandwich.

I've also decided that all the sneezing is seasonal allergies. You can't smoke in bars or restaurants here which is much appreciated, but pollen is flying around everywhere.

Last night other hostel guests told me about a flamenco show nearby that was only 6 euros. While I've been saving the flamenco show for Sevilla (since I'm told that's where it started), I figured it couldn't hurt to check this one out since it was so cheap in comparison to all the other ones I've seen.

It was fun. Tiny tiny place and about 50 of us were packed in tightly. I shared a table with a nice girl from Hong Kong and three Aussies.

No new roommates today. Just me and now three guys. All very nice but the snoring is too much. At least I'm the first one to bed tonight so I'll hopefully get some quality sleep before they stumble in.

Off to Sevilla in the morning!