Five facts about Granada in 5 hours (part 2)

There is lots to say about Granada...to say it's beautiful city is not enough for sure. Together with Mario, we realised that Granada has much more to offer than a typical Spanish weather full of sun.

Interestingly, we had only five hours to get a closer view on this architectural beauty. Not that we were in a hurry because we wanted to, but our bus was uncompromising in that matter.

So, I give you five facts about Granada, Andalucian beauty, together with some pictures for you to entertain and comment (I encourage you to do so).

Fact 1:
Granada's name has used to be Ilbyr, and it comes from prehistoric times. In fact, was then changed to Illibris by Romans who colonised it. After that, the current name came together with Arabs' rules.

La Cathedral - a trait of Arabic times

Mario in the Main Plaza

Fact 2:
Built in 14th C, Alhambra, represents one of the most beautiful complex of palaces and gardens situated by the Sierra Nevada mountains. Truly, its breathtaking wall, towers and labyrinth-shape remains of ancient city are worth-seeing!

A waterfall on the foot of Alhambra

Entrance to Alhambra

a labyrinth of houses (at least what the used to be)

Towers of Alhambra

me in the castle

...and who is the torro?

mysterious walls

Gardens - Generalife

grey tree

walls...

Fact 3: Old Moorish narrow streets are called "medina" and they compose a labyrinth filled with little shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, there was no chance for me to negotiate the prices. You try yourself!

shopping...

medina

narrow streets

Fact 4:
They try to match the old architecture with modern design in Granada streets by giving them nice-looking original lamps

amazing lamp

Fact 5:
Be prepared to here some loud group of young people in your bus in the city centre. Apparently, Spanish temper is still true when speaking about young population. We met a group of 6 people singing and entertaining people in the bus with some happy Spanish songs....so different than traveling in the UK

Mario as a Polish flag
(in the backround: EU, Andalucia, Spain)

A Spanish fairly tale in the heart of Costa del Sol (part 1)

In the south of Spanish Andalucia, in the heart of Costa del Sol, there is a beautiful city of Málaga. The sun is shining there nearly 320 days in the year, where you can do whatever you dream of - swimming, sunbathing, climbing, ballooning, etc... sounds like a fairy tale?

Welcome to Eden...

Well, it should be, because it truly is a wonderful, magical place, full of Spanish taste, Spanish flavours and finally unique Spanish culture. And it is not only paella (a traditional Spanish dish with rice, seafood or chicken) that makes Málaga so tasty. Rather, it is the atmosphere of Spanish history and tradition surrounding you from every corner.

Calle Molina Lario

There are places like Alcazaba, Tearto Romano, Castillo de Gibralfaro, or Plaza de la Constitución, where you can actually feel the spirit of old , romantic times of love and wars,of Arabic rule in this burned of Sun region of Spain.

La Cathedral - La Manquita

Palacio Episcopal

Mario and I could not miss an opportunity like that to once again feel the beating heart of Spain, the country of Picasso, Sangria and fantastic weather!

Teatro Romano

We spent in Andlucia 7 wonderful days visiting those historic places, admiring Málaga and its surroundings, but most importantly - relaxing after hard-working year in the UK.

M&M in the Alcazaba (an Arabic castle with towers)

Absolutely amazing feeling!
Strongly recommended!

Hello from Alcazaba

Malaga city centre with a view on the city's gardens

Mario in the Plaza de la Merced

millions of shells tempting to collect them

ah, wonderful!

Ayuntamiento de Malaga - City Hall

hiding from burning Sun in Mario's flower hat

Spanish people are absolutely crazy about the food - cooking it, preparing but mostly - eating it. Just watch 'Cook's tour of Spain' (Channel 4) to get the idea of how stubborn and knowledgeable Spaniards can be when it goes to cooking.
Jamon is one of the dishes you just need to try when traveling to Andalucia! and forget about the price!

Jamon - a traditional delicates made of ham -
you can only find it in Spain and Portugal

Next on our tour was Jardin Botanico - a unique garden full of exotic trees and flowers from all over the world. It's worth seeing it, even though you need to travel about 20 minutes from the city centre (after taking bus nr 2 towards Sant Jose).
But don't worry - there are always nice Malagian people ready to help and discuss (argue!) the right way of travel.

Mario in the Jardin Botanico - a fantastic garden of Malaga

Una fresa - a strawberry... absolutely gorgeous!

Wild thing!

Speaking about the food before, Sardinas are one of those dishes you need to try! Ask for 'a la plancha' version and you will get one of those below:....

Perfection of taste!

Sardinas - small fishes but big feast

But don't have any doubts - Spain is all about the beaches (playas) to! Even though this year the weather is crazy (as a nice lady told us in our hostel, Las Acacias), we were blessed with a wonderful Sun and wish you that too!

M&M happy and positive as always

found it myself..you can as well!

La Mer...

waiting for waves

larger than life and as sweet as love...strawberries in Spain

Malaga is now aspiring to the role of the European city of 2016 Year.

click for more info

Therefore, some cultural events are taking place in the city, like the I Week of Cultures (below):

I Semana de las Culturas - Peruvian singer

a Bolivian dancing group

Now, tell me, how possibly can you not love Spain?!....

How do boats and rafting fit to Chinese culture?

10th May's morning welcomed us with a warm but cloudy weather, and nothing could change our positive moods. It was day of a big fight, big emotions and unusual event - a day of Two Cities Boat Race between Manchester and Salford.

click in banner to get more info

Even though you may wonder whether or not Salford and Manchester are in fact one city or two, the fact is that the competition between those two can reach extreme!

Salford Uni team in action

This time, students representing two universities - Manchester Uni and Salford Uni - gave the spectators a wonderful race to watch and support.

emotions are taking role

Thousands of Salford and Manchester citizens were there with us as well to support their teams but most importantly to prove that ....Salford rules.

Manchester's representative was unbeaten

Apparently, Manchester team won once again, but we had no doubts who to support as we felt real Salford citizens (mostly because of our University).

M&M watching the race

The most spectacular race was the Dragon Boat Race based on a traditional Chinese craft, where a team counts up to 16 people plus a drummer who is responsible for supporting and warming up the crew for the fight. Dragon Boat is even more fun, as anyone can take part in the race. Whether you are a student, a 80-year old man or a kid you can easily jump into the boat and ...paddle for fun!

Go! Go! Salford!

extremely competitive race

a responsibility of a drummer

Even though I didn't take part in it, it was amazing to observe and support our friend, Anas from Student Entrepreneurs Network team. Well done for him!

girls supporting Manchester Team

Aga and me having fun

a bit of warm support

Salford Quays bridge