Spanish Bombs in Andalucia

After Sevilla we headed around more of the region of Andalucia. We went to two beautiful cities called Cordoba and Granada. They were both old towns that were some of the orginal settlements of the Moors. In Cordoba, there is a building called La Mezquita. It is a fusion of Roman temple, Moorish Mosque, and Catholic Cathedral. Quite the spectacle. In Grandada, there is a famous building called La Alhambra. It remains the third most important pilgrimage in Islam today.

In Cordoba, we stayed with a gal named Britanny. She has been teaching English there for the past two years. Her house is right in the middle of the city. It is extremely old and has some beautiful views. She introduced us to a group of kids from Italy when we first arrived. We coincidentally ran into them later in the evening so they invited us out to a bar. Quite the time! One of them happens to play in a post punk band out of Italy called Sunward. His name is Miguel, and his second favorite band of all time is Refused. Sounds like a winner to me! We ended up meeting with them the next night again. They were super awesome and sang happy birthday to me in Spanish once the clock struck midnight.

While in Cordoba, we met a dude named Kevin. He is from Chicago. He is couch surfing for a few weeks around Spain and England. We played some music on a bridge with him the first night he arrived, and made enough money to treat the entire apartment of 7 to a dinner than evening. Homemade of course. We found out from him that he was planning to go to Granada the next day. So, we decided to just head off to Granada with him as well.

In Granada, we had no idea where to stay. We were assuming we could just smooth talk some silly euros into giving us a place for the night. They weren´t havin´it! After playing some music in the street a bit more in an effort to receive enough money to pay for a hostel, we decided the pinkins´were slim. It was street, or train station. What a great way to spend a birthday right? Fitting for a proper crustee, but not for me. I decided to use some of my Thomas Kokkinis coercive talent in a desperate effort to find a closet or family room to lay out and sleep that night before our train back to Madrid in the morning. Strangely, it worked! I got us two free beds in the hostel where we made full service of the showers, breakfast, and free tea!

We had a great night there in an area called Sacromonte. It is a gypsy neighborhood that consists of a lot of local restaurants, bars and flamenco rooms. You know I love the gypsies! We sat on the side of a hill overlooking La Alhambra for a few hours while getting 4 tapas, 4 drinks, and half a bocadillo for 10 euros a person. Can´t beat that gypsie economy.

Tomorrow, we will arrive in Lisboa.