Villanueva de Algaidas

Today after work I went for a walk to the local village/town of Villanueva de Algaidas. Which is a very pretty little place with a nice collection of fountains which I seem to have taken the most pictures of since I got to Spain.

A nice little park and a piece of art Which really sums up Andalucia. "The world of olives"

Lovely wall of flowers, a churchy type building and a giant (or seemingly giant) cricket and a headless statue at the centre

And a view off the one tree hill which my ukulele pictures were taken from.

Granada

This weekend has been spent in the beautiful city of Granada.

I have too many pictures and I am struggling to find a few which will sum up the whole experience, but this is what I have managed.

The train journey took me through the wonderful and still not boring hills full of olive groves passing between small mountains/big hills.

The walk through the small ally ways and cobbled streets to find the hostel was very pretty and full of little Arabic shops and market stalls, I was soon met by a sign which said "Kasbah" which the people from Coventry will find some amusement in I'm sure :-)

The view from the roof top terrace which also happened to be the floor which my room was situated on had a fantastic few of the plains to the west of Granada and some mountains to the north, sun set was just after I arrived.

The first evening they had a barbeque outside and I sat, ate and drank with the nice people I met, and then I ran into someone I had met in Malaga who I was very happy to see we then decided to go to a shisha bar of which there are many, where we had Pakistani tea and smoked cherry flavour shisha.

The next day with a pair of Americans, an Australian and myself went for an adventure to try and find the famous caves they have in Granada. This took us right up the mountain where there were fantastic few and quaint little shops with plates beautifully enveloping the buildings.

I also found out that Granada is the place the Spanish like to come for they're bachelor/bachalorette parties, so Saturday night the streets were full of people in a variety of of matching out fits and yelling and riding donkeys up the road. We got some tapas from a bar with a suit of armour in the middle of the place. and headed back to the hostel for a bar crawl.

The following day we took a trip to the Alhambra which is a humongous castle type thing with the ozzy fella aswell as two french girls and two itialn fellas, the conversations we had were just a hilarious mix of languages and great fun. It has dozens of gardens, ponds statues and fruit trees among other things. It was also home to the most spectacular views of Granada. Where the snow capped sierra Nevada mountains could be seen.

We then went for a walk bought I nice kebab, which we ate while watching the sun set folowed by a short walk where we took in some of the local street art.

Monday was a short day as I had a train to catch, but we went to the cathedral in Granada and sat by the river playing ukulele and singing :-)

Granada was a very beautiful place and awesome fun, I feel like 3 days was not enough time, I could have used one or two more to try and do everything but there is always next time!

Feria

This weekend was the local feria (fair/festival) celebrating saint someone or other.

The festivities included live music, free bear (for an hour or two) egg and spoon races for the niños. There was also a kind of Spanish street sport Which I had not seen before where you ride(bike for kids, motor bike for adults) along and try to get a pencil through a line of hanging ribbons. I guessed

Then there was more bear, a huge double rainbow (I'm assuming coincidently) and partying. The streets were filled with horses and drunk jolly Spaniards, most of which were up for a chat with a random fellow who's Spanish is questionable :-p

There was also flamenco dancing which Ben, the little fella I'm living with was involved in.

Then the party and music went on till 7 am

Over all it was a cracking weekend and educational as most of my experiences so far have been.

Pictures are a random assortment.

Malaga part two

I returned last night from a fantastic 3 days in Malaga. Activities included: the Picasso museum with some friends I made in the hostel.

A bike ride all the way along the coast until the path became a road and we stopped at the end and sat in a sea food resturante. It had an amazing concept which I had not experienced before where they just come out with a hand full of plates and shout the name, you then just raise your hand if you want that particular dish and then they charge you per plate. I tried some very weird and wonderful things such as baby squids and other strange creatures from the deep.

Each night was full with drinking, socialising and partying with all the cool people from the hostel (including the staff) and followed by 4-5 hours of sleep and then a cooked huevos con baicon (Bacon with eggs) for breakfast.

A day at the beach where i inevitably got sun burned. Dario and I played with typical wooden bat 'n' ball in the 28 degree heat and then went for a swim in the Mediterranean sea which was a refreshing 12-15 degrees (probly hotter than the sea on the English coast ever gets)

We also climbed the hill and visited some castles which ranged in age by a few hundred years

Attached pictures are just random bits that i got the camera out for and are not necessarily associated with the above mentioned activities

Overall it was great fun allthough something ill have to get used to is the idea of making friends whom you become very attached to and probably won't see again, I was overwhelmed with a sense of sadness when I had to say my goodbyes and as i made my way back to the bus station I had actually become really close with (from right to left) Dario from Switzerland, Sam and tatiana from the US. 

But I'm am slowly realising that a big Part of traveling and especially on your own is that events, people and experiences are to be enjoyed in the moment and where possible captured in picture as a small window for you to look back through and remember.

Enjoyment rating 10
Experience rating 10
Weather rating 9

Malaga

I arrived in Malaga mid afternoon yesterday. It is lovely here the hostel I am staying in is very cool, with a strange contrast of backpackers and then and upper class Spanish bar on the roof so you occasionally see a group of sharply dressed Spaniards ascending in the elevator.

Then today I went to the beach the long way and took a few pictures along the way.

Today

A beautiful day to be working outside. The hills and road sides are filled with wild flowers consisting of many colours, shapes and sizes. These are the ones on the hill side in the back garden

Shopping

Today (Wednesday 8th) for "work" I was with my hosts mother doing the rounds. First we went to a market called the saydo which was actually at the front of a predominantly English caravan site, so its the first time I've heard a load of English chit chat for a week, it was very strange, they all sounded like they were from eastenders.

We then went to the super market in Antequera Which is the closest thing to a city and about 45 minutes in the car. They sold full legs of pork at room temperature so I'm guessing they are cured or smoked or something like that.

The whole trip was interesting and also educational as you can imagine with all the labels and aisles in Spanish. Fantastico!

Andalucia

The rolling hills of Andalucia (so far)