spain

got home from a little adventure last night. so to recap, i thought i'd divide the different places we went into separate posts: one for spain, one for gibraltar and a 2 or 3 for morocco.

chad and i left on the 11th for madrid. our goal was morocco, but since flights to madrid were pretty cheap, we decide to fly there and work our way down to the southern coast - arriving in morocco by ferry.

my first impression of madrid was not spectacular. although that might have been because i was tired and semi lost, walking around with all my stuff. at least it has a decent metro system. we made it to a large park where we sat around for a bit and decided to go straight for granada via bus.



the bus to granada was about 5 or 6 hours. we arrived well after dark, and were greeted by a helpful information desk that pointed us in the direction of a cheap hotel. we then wondered around and got dinner before calling it a night.

the next day we were up early to visit the alhambra. its a pretty spectacular fort/palace perched on a hill over looking the city - and apparently spain's top tourist attraction. i enjoyed granada and wouldn't mind seeing it again some day if i get the chance.

alhambra:




granada:




after the morning checking out alhambra we made our way to the bus station, ultimately headed for gibraltar, but we had stop in a town about 10 minutes away and catch another bus back to the spain/gib border. unforntunately the ride from granada was way longer than it needed to be - made too many stops and for some reason spain decided it would be a good idea to put round-a-bouts on the high way. frustrating at best. we made it just in time to catch the last bus and walked into gibralter (across the runway!) somewhere around 11 or 12 at night.

so the trip started out with lots of travel and long waits in bus stations. not a great beginning, and there would be more of the same in the coming days. but i got just enough glimpse of spain to appreciate it and want to come back again sometime. although not necessarily madrid. (by the way, we came back to madrid on the way back and got to check it out a little more. more on that later).

waiting for the last bus to La Linea (near the gibraltar border):