The Alhambra!

Granada, Spain

Lonely Planet warned us that people book their tickets to Alhambra weeks or even months in advance in high season, and if we wanted to try to get them on the day, we had better arrive before 7am or they would all be gone.

Knowing that there were some bits of it that you could see for free, we rocked up at 2pm (after a hearty and late breakfast of chocolate con churros) and stood in line for ten minutes, receiving tickets with no difficulty. 

It was full of many gardens with trimmed hedges, and fountains and trees. 

This building was the palace of Charles V. He was obviously Roman. Or the Holy Roman Emperor, one of those. 

There were some nice staircases. 

Inside the main building, there was amazingly intricate carving work done on the archways and ceilings. There were even more gardens inside courtyards. 

We had to wait for a little while to be able to get inside, and as we waited some fellow tourists sprayed aerosol sunblock onto us. They hadn't meant to so I glowered and coughed melodramatically but they didn't care and kept doing it. 

Around the same time we became acquainted with a man from San Antonio (a fan of the Spurs you will not be surprised to learn) who had the fortune of already seeing inside and told us it was good. 

Here a Spanish child kept frolicking about and we had to quickly snap this picture before she came back. 

We also saw the Alhambra from another view but that's a blog post for another time. Stay tuned for The Great Granada Escapade.