We got to Granada by train late afternoon yesterday. This trip wasn't a fully planned one, we booked a lot of the trip by looking at what was cheapest since it was last minute. And so we picked a hostel to stay in Granada. Hostal Sonia is small but super clean and has everything we need.

Once we checked in, the first thing on our list was getting some Churros con Chocolat. I have said this before but will repeat myself. Churros are just made so much better here. You dunk these thick fried bread pieces in thick chocolate and see heaven for just a little bit. We split one Churros and one chocolate and could still not finish.

Charged up on carbs and fat, we decided to wander Albayzin - an old moorish neighborhood to get to some fabulous viewpoints. Now we have been walking more than 20000 steps a day but this was a whole new level. We kept going up and up and up and up to reach the beautiful top. There were two viewpoints we checked out - the Mira dol Morente viewpoint and the Miradoe de San Nikolas. The latter had an amazing view of the Alhambra.

After making our way partway down - huffing and puffing, we detoured through the Veara Caves (Caves of Sacramento). These were the caves where the gypsies used to live. I have been wanting to check them out ever since I read about them in the seven sisters book series. Now; these caves have new facades in the front, so it took us a while to realize what we were looking at. Below are some pics of the caves, a perfume shop in the caves and a statue of the king of the gypsies.

We were exhausted after all the excitement and though Granada is famous for its tapas (a free plate of tapas for each drink you order - size varies based on drink size), neither of us drinks much and we were not in a mood for a happening place. So we found this lovely hole in the wall (Papas Elvira) and grabbed a low key dinner there. Met a fun traveler from Belgium and then checked out for the night after looking at the Alhambra lit up.

Thanks to my friend Erica, we got tickets for 8:30am for the Alhambra for today. This was brilliant advice since we didn't have a queue and also skipped the bigger tour group crowds. I wasn't sure what to expect from the Alhambra but it blew me away. As Harneet says, total sensory overload. The architecture and the detail were amazing. It's impossible to capture in pictures but I tried to take a few anyway.

I know that we packed a lot into a day and a half but we just had to see it all. After the Alhambra, we visited the Cathedral of Granada (2nd largest in Spain) and the Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción "La Cartuja". They were both so gorgeous. The monastery was not crowded (less well known) and just the right place to rest and enjoy the peace surrounding us. And then finally, we stopped by the Alcaiceria silk market. It used to be one of the first silk markets but now just reminded me of linking road in Mumbai 😉.

And that brings our Granada trip to a close. We are heading to Barcelona tonight for the last leg of our trip!