Granada, Spain [Part 2]

My walk on up to the Alhambra, early in the morning.

Sunday, 19th August '12
I spent most of Sunday walking around Granada. Walked to the train station to reserve seats etc and then walked again down to the cathedral. Every time I walked past the Cathedral I tried to get in but each time it was close.. I'm assuming for mass. It being a Sunday and all.

I took pictures, but they're mainly repeats of the day before, so I won't bother posting them.

Monday, 20th August '12 - The Alhambra
Being the disorganised person that I am I never booked a ticket to see the Alhambra. That being said, I had to wake up at the unholy hour of 6am to make my merry way on over to ensure I would get a ticket. I leave the hostel, and genuinely, it is still pitch dark. There's barely anybody on the streets. I'd planned to get the bus up the gigantic hill, but it's a cool morning and I think I have time, so I take a leisurely stroll up a massive ass mountain. Spain. Taking care of my yearly exercise quota in days. My thighs are burning and I eventually make it to the ticket box and the queue is already massive. It's now, what, 7am? I get my ticket at approx 9:40am. Just so you understand how long I had to wait.

I arrive at the ticket office... and it costs me 13 Euro for the day ticket. I have 12 Euros and some loose bronze change. I had to beg the guy next to me to give me money. Oh god, it was so embarrassing and I would have died if I'd waited for so long and couldn't buy a ticket.

Anyway the lovely gentleman gave me a 2 euro coin with no fuss at all. My visit for the palace was scheduled for 1pm.

I spent about 3 hours wondering around the gardens and the small little... houses... I dunno what they're called, but anyway. It was just a mass of pretty. Pretty gardens everywhere. Amazing moorish masonry. I've never been to anything like it before. First time I even heard of moorish achitecture, I'm a fan.

Now comes the onslaught of pictures I took. So many pictures. There were also stray cats everywhere, and I found a really cute docile little one that I took pictures of.
Extra little anecdote. At about 11:30 after looking at the gardens and such, I was ravenously hungry. As previously stated, I had no money, so I wondered down the mountain side again to the Plaza Nueva, and put my card into an atm machine to get money out. It took about thirty seconds to put my card in. And then... nothing. Literally nothing. The screen didn't flash or change. I put my German card in, it asked for my pin etc and worked like normal, but my Australian card was lost.

I got into the bank, tell him my story and the guy demands my passport. I am very conscious that by now it's already 12 and I had an appointment to see the Palace at one. That's right, the palace that's a 30 minute hike up the mountain. I try to ask the guy what time they're open till, thinking I'll get my passport after seeing the palace and come back. But this guy insists, I need to go NOW. I can't come back later. So, naturally, in my pms-fueled, sleep deprived state... start to abuse him. I was so angry, thinking I'd woken up at 6am, stood in line for 2.5 hours, begged a stranger for money to get this ticket and now I wouldn't be able to go. Of course, the guy didn't know this, but I might have vented on him, said the bank's policy was stupid. I was just so annoyed because it wasn't like I did anything wrong, I didn't put my pin in wrong or anything. Nothing. It just took my card.

Anyway, I sped walk like a demon to my hostel, got my passport and came back, all within like a fifteen minute time span. I had money at the hostel so I just took some cash from there and didn't withdraw more. Instead of getting a proper lunch... I got ice cream and a taxi up to the palace. Making it with about 15 minutes to spare.

End of my story folks.