We made it to Granada! It´s just like I remember it- the tile sidewalks, the purr of mopeds around every corner, the smell of dry air and stale cigarette smoke, and the carefree lifestyle that I so badly want to take home. We arrived last night after a full day of traveling (Edinburgh to Malaga, Malaga to Granada) and headed out for tapas. After two pitchers of sangria and a delicious tortilla española, we were ready to crash. We spent today reaquainting ourselves with the city, showing each other our favorite places, and reminiscing about our time living here.
Before our homecoming to Spain, we spent a long weekend in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It´s currently competing with London as my favorite city in the world. There is a charming combination of history and modernity in Edinburgh that I´ve never experienced. The old castles and graveyards could illustrate any fairytale storybook, while the high fashion and public transport are similar to any other Euopean city.
The city sits on a hill, with Edinburgh Castle marking its highest point. We saw most of the city on a three-hour walking tour. Our guide was an animated Australian man who explained every major site in the city, acting out stories of love, war, and thievery. Apparently, Edinburgh used to be body-snatching capital of Europe (lots more of those little anecdotes to come in a future post). We also did some exploring on our own and stumbled upon the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, which were absolutely gorgeous. We did a pub crawl on Sunday night and made some friends from England who will be visiting Chicago this summer!
Our hostel was not quite as charming as the city. It was in an old, converted church with all of the original stained glass windows and stone walls. Sounds cool, right? Well, it would have been if our bedroom had a ceiling, but it did not. The sanctuary of the church housed 16 dorm rooms with 6 people in each and none had ceilings. I don´t know if the vaulted ceilings of the church were too tall to allow proper walls or if they wanted us to appreciate the gorgeous stained glass. Either way, I´ll sacrifice the beauty for some peace and quiet!
Well, the Spanish sun is calling. We´re off to have lunch in our favorite park, Garcia Lorca. We´ll be thinking of all of you while we sun bathe!
Katie
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