On Friday, the boat we got from Melilla to Malaga was supposed to be a fast one but due to bad weather conditions got changed into a slow boat. Instead of arriving at 9pm we arrived at 1am. As compensation we got given a cabin which was ideal so Annalisa and I dumped our bags in our lovely spacious en-suite room!
We hit the deck and were watching Africa disappear before our eyes as the sun went down when we heard two English voices next to us. We met a guy that works in Saidia (where I went in Morocco, all that way back) and an American woman writing a book about Morocco. We hit the bar with our Spanish buddies and invited the English guy to join us. Immediately we realised how much we'd integrated ourselves in Spanish culture as we struggled to keep up with the rounds and the beer guggling!
On the boat we saw everyone and anyone that we know in Melilla (including teachers, students, friends - this place is so small!) and when we arrived in Malaga our friend's dad was waiting. We got to our home for the next 5 days at about 3am and crashed out.
In the morning we woke up in this horribly cold flat (why on Earth we'd decided to go on holiday in December to a place further away from the equator I really don't know!), caught the bus into the city centre and winterily wandered. We settled down in a little pizzeria and with a couple of Bailey's watched the square turn from a busy little market square (with old school carousels where someone has to cycle to power them!) into a winter wonderland.
It was nice to finally get a taste of Christmas (there were still no signs here in Melilla) but things got a bit complicated in the evening trying to meet up with friends and before we knew it, Annalisa and I were out of the city centre and heading back to the flat in the car. We were less than happy about this, had a bit of a grumble to the boys and instead of hitting the town hard we all sat in the flat and watched a film!
When we got back to the flat our friend was surprised we'd been surviving in the flat without 'el brasero'. We had an electric heater and had been using it in the bedroom to warm up in the morning and before bed to get changed but our friend showed us the proper way of utilising an electric heater to the max. He placed the heater under the table in the living room which was covered with a long, heavy table cloth. He'd created a magnificent sauna where you sit at the table, with your legs under the tablecloth and our laps warmed up nice and cosily toasty in minutes! It felt a little grandmothery but no complaints from us, it was cosy as hell!
Later in the evening a few of our friends friends came round and as soon as they arrived they pulled up a chair and popped their legs under the table without saying a word, as if it was the normal custom! We found this absolutely hilarious! Even cool teenagers will give up their street cred for a toasty lap!
The next day our friend from Melilla came over from Melilla to show us the sights of his home town. He took us to the viewpoint of San Cristobal which offered a panoramic view all across Granada with the mountains of Sierra Nevada to the left.
Next we visited the viewpoint of San Nicolas. We had to meander through the very Moroccan-influenced village of Albaicin. There were small decorative walkways with tiled balconies that were even tiled underneath. Very quaint!
Once we'd got the viewpoint there were market traders all hippied up with their dogs selling bracelets, leather goods, etc. but most importantly a pretty impressive view of the Alhambra, the main sight of Granada.
Before making our way to the Alhambra we climbed up to the top of the town, to a very posh hotel that again overlooked Granada. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos as I was firstly too busy taking it in, and secondly taking cover after a freak shower thundered down for a short period of about 3 minutes! Weird!
We were Alhambra-bound, a famous building built back when the majority of the Granadan population were Muslim. There was a grand palace next to the Alhambra that had been built several hundred years later, but still several hundred years ago. We strolled through the estate gardens as the night came to a close and wandered down into the centre. We wandered along El Paseo de los Tristes (Sorrow Man's Way), a narrow lane with different tapas bars where we coincidentally found a Flamenco show planned for that evening. Granada made me realise that Melilla really isn't as Spanish as I thought and the opportunity of watching a Flamenco show was really appealing. Unfortunately they'd sold out of tickets but it was a great day swooping across Granada and hitting all the main sights of the town.
In the evening we met up with our friends that we travelled with and one of their uncle's who lives in Granada city centre. He showed us some of the tapas bars that he prefers and we feasted on humongous tapas consisting of a gert cheese and ham bagel!
We headed back to his house, a now unused guesthouse for chats, drinks and tapas with Spanish music playing in the background. He doesn't use the building as a guesthouse anymore as he has decided to take a break but he kindly took us on a tour around the massive, ancient, listed building. The rooms were cold and felt quite empty as they've been out of use for a while, but they were magnificently grand with high ceilings and you could really imagine the place full of life with couples and families excitedly getting ready to step off the doorstep and explore the city centre. I really felt like I was integrated and experiencing true Spanish culture (similar to how I felt so assimilated in Normandy).
When we got into the living room there was, lo and behold, a 'brasero'!!! And again, as before everyone sat round the table without saying a word about the whole concept! I took a few pictures so you can understand what I mean (why on Earth we hadn't thought of it, I don't know!).
This is a bit more advanced than the standard electric heater we were using but you can see, they take this all very seriously!
After a few drinks we headed back to the flat, got changed in a rapid 20 minutes and zipped on back into the centre to go to the infamous club; Mae West. We queued up in the freezing cold for about 15 minutes and when we got to the door the bouncer took less than one look at us and told us we couldn't go in. I asked why and tried to get some reasoning from him - we weren't unruly and hardly had enough time to get too drunk to enter! He couldn't give me an answer and so just politely ignored me! He just kept telling me that's the way it is - I was insulted and pretty upset too. We tried to convince him, telling him we'd travelled all the way from England to visit this club but there was no budging on this arse of a jobsbody.
Stacey got rather upset and asked her Spanish friends to please enlighten her on this disastrous situation. They had no explanation. In fact, my friend said that he got turned away the first time he went and he felt it was so injust he called the police! Apparently they have a disclaimer on the door saying they can turn away who they want without reason. Later we understood from the taxi driver that they turn a certain percentage away each night to make the place more desirable...! How backwards is that?! Anyway, we managed to get into another club that was an old theatre and danced our socks off into the early hours of the morning.
The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed to go back into the city centre. We lunched in one of a thousand 'teterias' (a tea shop). Everyone was smoking sheeshas and drinking Arabic tea and the place was ornately decorated with plush, velvet and velour. Cosy.
Another of our friends came to meet us in town and took us to the poshest hotel in the centre of the town which gave a nice little view of the Alhambra from below. We explored the local law offices and visited a few churches (they go all out on decorating them over here - take a look!) before getting our stuff together and heading to the port. We managed to get a fast boat coming back, arrived in Melilla in the evening with a full nights sleep possible before getting back into the swing of teaching before Christmas.
Overall, a bloody great trip!
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