Grungy Granada

So day one in Granada got off to a grungy start. Not 'dirty grungy.' More like 'Seattle grungy.'

My hostel seemed to largely be run by punk rockers, hippies, and hipsters, so I was curious what their walking tour would be like. Let me just say, it didn't disappoint. First stop on the tour was a little square that our guide said was 'a really great spot to smoke some hash, as long as the neighbors don't call the cops on you.' It seemed like the square was a building a few hundred years ago that slowly wore down to a couple low walls that had been covered in graffiti. Afterwards, he took us through the Albiyazin, which is the cities old Moorish quarter. Here was equal parts grunge and history, as he walked us through everything from the local graffiti scene, to the history of the wells in the area and why they all had turtles in them, to where all the gypsies and hippies would meet up to drink and smoke hash at night, to how to differentiate between a house that was built by Christians and one that was built by Muslims.

Mmm...pastries.

Halfway up the Albiyazin (it's built on a hill overlooking the city), we stopped at a bakery for a snack and I got some horchata and some Poin...Ponino...Ponioloino...*googles* PIONONO, which are like a cross between a vanilla-flavored tiramisu and a small cinnamon roll, then headed further up the hill to Plaza Sant Nicolas. The plaza is named after a church there that was fire-bombed by anarchists while Franco was in power, but the real draw is the view of the Alhambra, Granada's premier castle, palace, and tourism magnet. We hung out here taking photos for a while, the started back down the hill to the city center, where our tour guide took us through a food market and fed us some ham, cheese, and olive oil  (at this point I'm not sure why these three foods aren't on the Spanish flag, because they're amusingly ubiquitous in this country). I grabbed a bottle of olive oil and some local wine, then we continued on for a quick tapas lunch before heading back to the hostel.

The Alhambra from Plaza Sant Nicolas.

We got back around 4, so I just hung around for a couple hours before heading to dinner. Got a recommendation from the front desk and wandered over, but got there while they were still opening up so I wandered around the block for a few minutes, came back, and found them PACKED. Apparently it's a good place! Ate my fill of tapas, then skidaddled, as they proceeded to get more and more packed as the night went on. Pretty sure I accidentally hip-checked a small child in the back of the head in the process of getting out the door. Oops.

But at least I had snails.