Granada, Spain

College towns Spain style are pretty damn cool. Especially if they come with centuries and centuries of history. The palace of the Alhambra watches over the curved alley ways of the city. It is like the streets in these old town are designed to confuse tourists. Or just perhaps just invaders... some might argue there is little difference. The palace was a squatters camp for a while and now takes in 6600 heads a day at 10 euro a piece. The cash cow says moo.

I stayed at the Oasis hostel. There are some hostels that can trap a person and I stayed an extra couple of night because I enjoyed the company I found there. The last day we went up to the Sierra Nevada mountains for a little stroll. I am sitting in an outdoors restaurant in river valley in Spain drinking beer and eating salad and egg soup with a Willie B hipster, and English Pagan chic and an Australian party girl. Oh, and a couple of more Australians... there are always a bunch of Australians. Very chill time here and I'd love to have a drink again in the future with any one of them.

The graffiti in this city is the best I have encountered in the world so far. Walking around the city, it is everywhere. The hostel guide walked us to a graffiti wall with some brilliant art pieces. Hard to believe it was just spray paint. The area above the hostel had some nice work, but the signs saying "violent daily muggings" (in English) and "the police will not protect you" hanging from people's balconies made me a little wary as I snapped pictures with flash in the dark.

Granada is known for its tradition of a free tapas with a drink. Good thing I didn't go out so much. Well going out here means being out after 2am. I just didn't have the endurance. I learned the hard way that the siesta before the fiesta is a must.