When I left Anne's place I
took the bus to Granada where I stayed the whole weekend before I took the bus to my next host
Alain in Orce.
But after two weeks in the mountains
in Andalusia I saw that I was not used anymore to the city life... It took me a while to got used to the
noise and lots of people. Therefore I was very happy when it
started to rain very heavy in Granada because the city life came down.
And after the rain comes sun!
and I enjoyed
strolling through the small streets in Granada and smelling the fresh washed city after the rain shower. Priceless!
But be aware of the dog shit on the
pavement when you admire the beauty of Granada...
In Granada I also caught up with Anne
and we had lunch together.
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| Granada after a heavy rain shower. More as just the Alhambra. |
A kind of "home sweet home" in the Itinere Hostel
I check in again in the nice Itinere
Hostel in Granada. I just love the atmosphere there and talking with the stuff. They most of the stuff is doing the
same what I am doing: work for food and accommodation and travel from one place to another.
It is also a very creative place
because the decoration is very artistic.
Interesting was that almost I was
cooking in the kitchen and the stuff but not many of the other guests. Maybe because Spain is very cheap for having dinner in a restaurant.
I prefer to prepare my food on my
own, store it in the hostel and have a chat with the people there.
Appreciation of small and calm villages
After I checked in and having a chat
with the nice guy behind the reception I went to the supermarket and bought some food for the weekend.
On my way to it and in the
supermarket I was really overwhelmed by the noise, mass of people and the different choices of the same products. I felt like the guy in the following movie here. I
had never reckoned with that.
In Ferreirola I loved the silence and being
surrounded by just a few people.
I remember when I arrived in Kinsale in the hostel where I worked and I sat with Declan the Drama School student in the living room when he said:
"Silence! I love it." I couldn't understand him. He couldn't understand me and why I said that I like Cork. He just said: "Why do you like it? It is just noisy and
crowded."
Well, now I can understand him and
appreciate to have the silence in a small village.
Even I don't get everything there but
I also see that I don't need that much...
Enjoying the city in the darkness like cat
After my overwhelming shopping
experience I cooked something and went out in the city when it got slowly dark. I felt a bit like a cat who explored the night life...
I strolled through the small streets
in the Albaicín quarter which is the oldest one in
Granada. I went there from shop
to shop and felt again like being in an oriental world.
I bought again a beer can and just
enjoyed the atmosphere in front of the Alhambra before I went back to my hostel.
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| The street lamps give a faint glow which has a romantic style and a bit of Jack the Ripper atmosphere ;-). |
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| Typical shop in the Calle Elvira. |
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| Having a rest in front of the Alhambra a la Espana with a beer can. |
Granada is more than just the Alhambra
On the next day I went up early,
bought some fresh fruits and dried fruits on the market and strolled through the city to places where I haven't been before.
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| Fresh Nisperos and dried fruits and nuts from the market. |
I found also a nice chocolate shop
where I bought a chocolate bar with beans from Madagascar for Anne. Madagascar because her descendant the pirate Captain England.
I went very slowly and enjoyed the
atmosphere as you can see in the following photos.
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| The imperfection is the beauty... |
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| Walk along the river Rio Genil |
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| Fontain at the Plaza del Humilladero |
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| Tradition meets modern world... |
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| Oriental feeling in every corner... |
During my stroll it started suddenly
to rain. But not only rain it was a rain shower. Fortunately I was in a park where I got protection under a huge tree and my hostel was not that far away.
It was actually a nice atmosphere
because under the neighbor tree were some guys playing guitar. I enjoyed listen to them and smelling the smell of the summer rain.
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| Enjoying the summer rain under a huge tree and listening to live music :-)- |
It was not too bad that it rained. I
really enjoyed it because the city life came down, the temperature went also down and I went
slowly to my hostel where I could write in silence one of my posts.
I had also time for a chat on Skype
with my lovely friend Anika from Germany in Muenster. Therefore everything went perfect for
me :-).
After the rain comes sun
Exactly when I finished writing on my
blog and other stuff I had to do online the rain stopped. Time to explore the fresh washed city.
I went out and smelled the typical
smell after a warm summer rain like a mixture of sand and stones with water. I could also smell the nice flowers. This time I just walked around without looking in a map. I just let myself leaded
by feeling.
After a while I found this great
so-called mirador and saw the following beautiful rainbow.
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| The rainbow is on the left hand side above the mountain ;-). |
I strolled further and took some
photos and stopped in between and just soaked up the atmosphere.
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| Beautiful path in Granada |
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| Nice view over the city |
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That's where Granada got the name from. From the fruit pomegranate. It's also the landmark and you can find it everywhere in the city. |
After a long walk I took a break and
seated myself at my favorite place. In front of the Alhambra where meditated a bit. I became aware of the sound of the birds, the running river and the smell of the beginning of
summer...
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My favorite place in Granada.
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Well, enjoying is one thing and be
careful another... Granada is really nice and the Spanish people are dog lovers. Some of them clean after there loved dog and others not... I walked through the city by admiring its beauty when I
slipped out and saw down to check what was going on.
Hmmm, a fresh pile of dog shit in
which I stepped in with my ballerinas...
Great! I just thought: "I need
meadow!" But where should I find one in a city which contains almost of beautiful tiles and bushes?
At that moment I wasn't that relaxed
anymore to be honest... I remembered that the park where I sat under the tree during the rain shower had a meadow. Therefore I went straight to it and was glad when I arrived there to clean my
shoes.
I suppose it looked a kind of strange
for the people when they watched me going up and down the meadow as if I was skiing.
What a relief... :-)
Meeting with Anne
Becoming aware and enjoy the small things in life
Well, that is what I mean by
appreciation of the small things in life like flower smell, singing birds, make someone happy and even having a meadow close to you...
We have the opportunities everyday
around us. Just become aware about it and don't take everything for granted. Focus on the small positive things.
I try it and I feel that I enjoy more
in my life now. It is really nice and easy because the things are there...
Preview of my next post
Thank you very much again for reading
my stories and following me. I really appreciate it. For me it's one of the big things in life.
Next time I will write about my
experience in Orce where I worked in a cave house with a funny and interesting guy from Belgium: Alain.
He wrote to me on workaway and asked
if I am free. And I was!
Now I have more skills
around house building and of course about cave houses :-).
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