Down to Granada

The bus to Granada was long and boring, it kept on stopping in small towns to let people on and off and it was a waste of a day really. If I had have done my homework I would have found an overnight bus so I could have slept and saved on one nights accommodation. I could also have left the evening prior and so had one extra day on my holiday in effect. Oh well, you learn by your mistakes which is why I'm so smart.

The normal email that gives directions to the hostel from the bus station did not arrive so I was flying blind with nothing more that a brochure that showed the location of the Hostel and the surrounding 200 metres with no street names. I was in luck however as within that small locality there was the biggest landmark in Granada called the Alhambra. There was a fellow in a bar near the bus station who pointed me in the right direction, it was about a 4 km walk and I was glad I had a single room that night so I could take my time to sort myself out without disturbing others, the problem with arriving late.

The following morning it was a free guided tour with an Aussie tour guide named Arik, he was normally a professional guitar player and was in Granada to learn how to play Flamenco. He had also done a rehearsal session with Florence and the Machine which was impressive. Also on the tour was Eva, also an Aussie and Amy from New Zealand aye. Eva was couch surfing where you look up people online who are willing to let you sleep on their couch for the night. The website has ratings for each one and photos of the owner/tenant. I assume those without ratings have either not had a customer or none of their customers had survived and were in shallow graves in nearby scrub. I often wonder why murderers always put their victims in shallow graves and not deep ones, perhaps they are lazy by nature.

The tour explained the Muslim history of the area and its eventual conversion to Catholicism and took us around some of the sites that typified the area. At the conclusion it was beer time then back to my solo touring. I agreed to meet Eva and Amy at 830 that evening to see if we can catch some Flamenco. The flamenco tourist scene in Granada is very expensive. We picked up another hitch hiker on the way, Caitlin from Canada, but that made up for the fact that Eva had to cancel due to accommodation issues. I heard from her later so I was happy that she was not in a shallow grave in nearby scrub.

At midnight we descended on a place called La Buleria following a tip from Arik. It could more correctly be called ascended as it was up a fairly steep hill but however. This place is not known by tourists but when the locals but when the Flamenco Performers finish putting on a show at the commercial venues they go to the Buleria and have their own jam sessions. So It was a private and free flamenco show for us. The owner of La Buleria is a very accomplished Flamenco Guitarist but his son is a magician.

The area where La Buleria is situated is on the side of a hill. The houses and bars are in actual fact caves with a facade build onto the front to give the appearance of a house. Inside though there is no mistake, you are in a cave house.