Despite the time being 1am, excitement ran throughout our bodies as we boarded our bus headed for Granada. The five of us only carried one small bag each, enough to hold a change of clothes, a bathing suit, and a towel. We were headed for the southern coast of Spain. We had no specific goals or direction, not even a solid plan of where to sleep the following night. All we knew was that we were going to see the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, spend the night there (at whatever cheap hostal was available) then hop on another bus headed for Malaga. It took about six hours to get from Madrid to Granada by bus, so that put us there at about 7-7:30am on Friday morning. After washing up quickly in the bus station, we hit the streets in search of the Alhambra. Dead tired from only a few hours of sleep sitting on a bus, we treked half-way across Granada. I suppose adrenaline was the only thing keeping us going.

The streets were rather quiet. An occasional scooter or small two-door coupe vehicle, typical European transportation, would wiz by. After lugging our half-beaten bodies throughout the town following road signs for the Alhambra, we finally asked a worker inside a small Cafeteria where it was: "Donde esta la Alhambra?" After he responded and pointed us in that direction, we asked if we could walk there. He nearly guffawed right in our faces, but politely responded by saying it was a long walk up a steep hill. He then directed us to a small bus that would take us there.

Once we arrived at the Alhambra, we stood in line for tickets for about 30 minutes. Not too bad considering everyone told us it would take much longer, and there's even a chance that we would not get in. Ha! Proved them wrong. The palace itself is simply indescribable. So detailed, so ornate, so intricate were the designs on every floor, wall, ceiling, and column, it was difficult to comprehend that human beings did such work so long ago. A real palace!

After spending several hours touring the Alhambra, we finally headed back into town to look for a place to sleep for the night. We found a nice hostal called Hostal Atenas close to the downtown area of Granada. I've never stayed in a hostal before, so I was a little apprehensive of what we would get, but it was simply nothing more or less than a hotel room with five twin beds and our own bathroom, and for only 20 Euros a piece! (About 25 USD I suppose). It was only about 3pm, but it felt like midnight! We set our bags down, grabbed some chow, then went back to the hostal for a nap. So refreshing, I couldn't tell you how good it really felt to finally get a good nap - sleep deprivation seems to be a perpetual issue for me over here because I'm afraid of missing out on something. Once we awoke from our naps, we toured the streets a little then got some dinner and called it a night by midnight, giving us a solid 7 hours of sleep for our next destination - the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea in Malaga.