day 13 day (Sept’07). Reality Bite.
Sad to leave Barcelona, wish I have another few weeksss of leaves. Anyway, we drag our heavy heart and our super heavy luggage to the bus stop to airport (they have a bus stop for buses to airport. WOW!) Then the usual drill; look for counter, check-in, and wait for our flight to Casablanca. Oh yah! We have to stay one night in Casablanca as our flight is from Casablanca, transit in Dubai then head home to Malaysia.
We stayed in the same hotel in Casablanca, didn’t do much, walk around the medina while waiting for break fast time. One thing we did find it different as compared to the last round we stayed were here was that the locals were happily singing after dinner hour till midnight. WOW! Where did they get the energy!?! Envy!
day 11 (Sept’07). Last day in Barcelona.
Before I came to Barcelona, my sis told me about Gaudi and what a wonderful & unique & talented artist he is, one of a kind. I did Google and saw his “weird” architecture; it didn’t thrill me at the point of time buuuut definitely unique. No doubt about that. I was excited to a certain extend but unable to manage my expectation, read thru his art piece of the houses, hemm…… ok, let’s just see what he has to offer I thought to myself. An early day for us again, took the Turistic Bus, head straight to Casa Batllo; our first stop of the day. One glance (more like a stare) at Casa Batllo, I know I can write 1 entry JUST on it. He is AWESOME! SUPERB! MAGNIFICENT! ……. EVERYTHING!
We rented the “mobile tour guide” in English (of cause), hemm… interesting; apparently the whole house was purposely built without any corner ie square corners or sharp edges. How the hell is he going to do that right? That’s what I thought as well. Guess what, HE ACTUALLY DID! It was base from a “SEA” concept. Yeah… ok… proof! Well, the ceiling for one is circled like a whirlpool, and then there was the balcony window that reminds me of Little Mermaid in Atlantis home, the balcony itself? It was colorful with a mosaic art that look like broken mosaic put in a very pretty way. The stair case area was in blue which make one feel as if in the sea. 
We followed the crowd to the rooftop. We walk thru this section of spiral step all of white. They have beautiful rounded arches with French windows, despite the area was empty somehow it gave a pure serene feel. Sigh…. Dreamy.…. 
Oh boy! Are we in AWE! The white spiral staircase looks clean and innocent, thus not knowing what to expect form the roof top. *Suspense*. Reached the top finally, ahhhhhhhhh………. LOVE IT SO MUCH, colours! Plenty of them, and them chimneys!!!!!!!!! I half expect Mary Poppins to drop by anytime somehow. 
We then took a joy ride and passed by another one of Gaudi’s masterpiece - Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera, but decided not to go in and view (tix were rather pricey too). The architecture from outside is as good as Casa Batllo. 
THIS is the BEST PART of Barcelona - Sagrada Familia (Temple of the Holy Family), Gaudi’s everlasting work is yet to complete even after his death. It has been constructed since 1882. It is mentioned that the building works are expected to be completed around 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death, but I doubt it will be ever ready on time. Well… we’ll just wait and see, shall we? 
After all the buildings we been visiting, we thought we should cover something different - a park (my favorite - plus zoo!). Our standard mood of transportation - Turistic Bus, next stop - Park Guell! Another great work of our darling Mr. Gaudi! Wow! He built everything huh! Park Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia overlooking Barcelona & the Mediterranean Sea, was built from 1900 - 1914 and recognized by UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí". I seem to be covering a lot of UNESCO for this trip. YEAY! Aside from that, it’s really beautiful and I highly recommend people to visit this place.
Before we call it a day we manage to cover 1 more place of which I need to get souvenirs for my brothers at home - Fútbol Club Barcelona (FCB). Errr…. Not much of a football fan as you can see, jus stop over to get souvenirs, and NOPE! I couldn’t get Real Madrid goodies here! Tried - FAILED! Gotten some Barca magnets, lanyard and etc for the boys back home.
Last but not least, we manage to catch Flemenco performance near La Rambla. We were captivated by the dance move, the music beat and the passion of the dancer & musician. We had our Spanish dinner and proceed to another restaurant for the show. 
Heading home.
day 10 (Sept'07). Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
We start our day very early - excited. Many place to visit, many things to see, many sites to take capture. Simply loving it!
We walk to the next stop Caixa Forum (it‘s also the stop for our bus), basically it is the Cultural and Social centre of community projects.
Decided to hop on the bus and stop at Montjuïc. We saw a cable car to go further up the mountain but change our minds as we wanted to take the cable car by the sea instead. Heheehhee…. Drama!
Reach the top most cable car station and that’s when I realise that the next cable car stop is actually on a steel hollow tower *shriek*…. Am scared of heights! Not only that, the cable car look old and the tower look flimsy. By the way, there is no base underneath from the cable car to the tower platform; you have to “hop” to come out. Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hands-down to Andrea, no worries for her, child play…. Oh! By the way, you half to walk down, no lift provided! *what did I get myself into!* 
Alas, my feet can feel the land. Sigh…. We walk over to the Rambla de Mar or “Rambla of the Sea” which is a splendid walkway and bridge over the harbour waters, running from Portal de la Pau to the Spain Dock. At the end there’s mall where we stop to purchase some FCB magnets. 
We then swap bus line to go for some shopping at Diagonal Mar Mall and stop over at Port Olimpic for some snaps. Shop again for more magnets and of cause Zara!!! Finally.
Done with the shopping, back to the hostel for break fast, but not before stopping over at Barcelona Cathedral correspond to a basilica with three naves which was destroyed in 925. It is said that part of it is of Gothic building, with some of its Romanesque elements remain. With that, we end our day. Perfect!
My next UNESCO site!
We took a plane as land journey is way too long, Granada airport is PRETTY small I must say, reminded of Langkawi’s airport back in those day or perhaps even smaller. 
Reached Barcelona in the afternoon, checked in and went straight to La Rambla Street. We arrange so that we can arrive during this week so that we can catch the Festes de la Merce festival. It is to celebrate the day of the city's patron saint ... the Virgin de la Merce. There were parade of the giants when a processions through the streets is made up of giant wooden figures (gegants) operated by people (yup! Internet again!).We didn’t manage to catch the human pyramid however did catch a colorful mime act. Boy! Were they good! We took loads of pics.
Barcelona here we come.
day EIGHT (Sept'07). Hahahhahaa..... Kewl hah!
We had a good rest in the hostel; have to admit this is one of the best hostel we stayed during this trip. We had such a good rest, The Alcazaba Hostel was perfect, bed being made daily, clean bathroom with tub, hairdryers available (finally I can look good! Phew!), I couldn’t ask for more. Awesome! To make it even better, there’s a sundry shop below that sells Walls ice-cream of which some are not sold in Malaysia, fascinated we are (I sound like Yoda or maybe Yoda, I sound like... hemmm....).
It was a 5-7mins walk from our hostel to the Hop-On Hop-Off stop at Granada Cathedral, and we were early thus decided to take a stroll in the cathedral. Nothing much outside but we did see a mime artist - look armaturist. We were drawn to walk further in by the side of the cathedral, and guess what we found, nice little souvenir shop with pretty tile paintings. I also noticed that they put a lot of effort and emphasis on their balcony. Ahh…….. Very quaint.
We stopped at Garcia Lorca Park, hemm…. Basically nothing much but it’s nice to see other country’s park I feel, diff plant, diff flowers, diff landscape, diff scent…. Everything but everything was diff. Thus making it exciting and nice :D The park is actually surrounding the house of Federico García Lorca - is one of Spain's best-known and most loved writers, poet and dramatist, skilled painter, pianist and composer. Now the house has been converted to a museum.
Continued with our HOHO ride, seeing the little town from HOHO roof top, felt the clean air of Granada’s Sierra Nevada….refreshing! We also noticed a lot of parks in the city, the nice buildings, nice balconies, cycling expedition and Andalusia Mountain. 
We are excited with the next stop - Albaycin. It overlooks Granada and also the birth place of Flemenco. Amazingly Albaycin was able to retain the narrow winding streets of its Medieval Moorish past. And was declared a world heritage site in 1984, along with the more famous Alhambra. Aren’t I lucky! To go to Albaycin, we need to take an Alhambra bus which is a smaller but to enable us to get thru the winding narrow street uphill. I have to say, the view up here is SUPER MAGNIFICENT! 
Here you will see small houses facing the either Alhambra or Granada, friendly locals, culture retained - authentic in nature. Albaycín to its neighbouring Sacromonte and for many centuries it has been populated by the gypsy community. The mixture of Arabic influences combined with many centuries of gypsy influence eventually created the famous flamenco dance. Am fortunate enough to be able to catch this lovely dance in Barcelona (but not the bull fight though - seasonal apparently, there goes my chance to see a real matador).
The as the sun begin to set, we went for break fast before starting our journey back to hostel. Despite our tiredness, we “don’t” really want to waste our precious moment in Granada, thus we took a night walk nearby the hostel. A perfect way to end our last day in Granada. Overall, TWO THUMBS UP for GRANADA.
Next - Barcelona
We entered the fortress and rent a mobile tourguide narrator (available in few language), with this; you don’t need a human tour guide to take/show you around. Just press the numbers according to the location shown and it will tell you what is there to see and a brief history of it. More changgih (again!)! This is one place where we took sooooooo many pics that our camera ran out of battery before the day end. Hahahah… *satisfied* 
Alhambra is divided into 3 parts which as created originally for military purposes; "alcazaba" (fortress), an "alcázar" (palace) and a small "medina" (city) , basically it’s like a town inside a town. As it is located on top of the hill, at night it looked rather majestic & mystical all at the same time. As we walked in, we passed by Charles V Palace, displaying a Renaissance style, it represents Italian classicism in Spanish architecture (obviously I copy this from website!). We don’t expect much as we have seen this type of buildings in other part of Europe country. We didn’t even venture into the museum located inside either as we need to read the Nasrid Palaces as per the stipulated hour.
We reached Nasrid Palaces (Palacios Nazaríes) on time (phew!), the queue is not that long in fact we were quite early. The Nasrid Palaces were the residence of the kings of Granada. Its construction was started by the founder of the dynasty, Alhamar, in the thirteenth century. And you have to see the walls and the carving! These walls enclose the refinement and the delicateness of the last Hispano-Arab governors of Al Andalus. Three main palaces form these premises: The Mexuar, The Comares, or Yusuf I Palace and The Palace of the Lions, or of Mohammed V. Water is the element that shapes the palace, combining the garden with architecture. We manage to cover all, thanks to our “tour guide”.
From Nasrid Palace, we are able to see The Daraxa garden; a closed garden - a place of charms and delights. You can see a fountain in the middle with flowers and orange trees surrounding it (hemm… can we eat them?).
Later we took a tour to Generalife, villa of the sultans of Granada (good to be king!), it is surrounded by orchards and gardens. We followed our “tour guide” advice and climb the Water Staircase, to hear the clear, cold water running thru the stairs. At the end of the Water Stairway is the highest point in the Generalife - Romantic Observation Point, built in 1836. 
After all the girl gardens, we went to a macho honcho area - Alcazaba; fortified military complex and also the oldest part of Alhambra. The bestest thing is that this area contains the famous Torre de la Vela, a watchtower that has an unbeatable view of Granada. We took a walk on Armas Tower and as high as Vela Tower. If only we had a Malaysia flag when we were up there - it could have been perfect.
Another day of Hop-On Hop-Offing
Day SIX (Sept’07). A day full of DRAMA for us, and I was freaking scared. Really!
It started on a beautiful morning; you hear the roar of the train, the sound of the people waking up in nearby compartment, them rushing to the washroom, ahh…. the normal hustle and bustle of dawn. It’s like a queue to us that we are approaching Tangier; we took a night train to Tangier to get to Andalusia, Spain.
Immigration can’t communicate well (at all) in English, basically he return us our passport and “shoo” us away, we were wondering why… hemm… then obviously we refuse to budge and ask “Why?”. He then did a sign language, pointing to us then using his hands showing airplane. Ah-ha…. We nodded, yes, we took plane to Morocco, and….? He then wave his hand and do a ship gesture… we looked at each other “What”. He did the same thing again, we decipher it as if you come by plane, you leave the country by plane. WHAT????? But but but… we purchased the tix (we weren’t even informed by the embassy when we did our VISA, nor anyone mentioning it on websites). We rushed to the tix counter hoping and PRAYING for a refund, they weren’t happy but obliged. They spoke good English and confirmed our doubt. Sigh….. There goes our cruise to Spain via Algeciras on MEDITERRANEAN SEA! I was sooo looking forward.
We walked to the cab station, as we had been told that we need to fly out. Nearing the cab area, we were swarm by the cab driver trying to get our attention. This is the funny part, there are 2 cabs (1) Petite – small cab and cheaper and (2) Grande – bigger cab and obviously slightly expensive. The Grande kept pulling us to his car, at this point we said NO NO NO (since I heard he said Grande of course), when we approached the cab bay, we saw Petite, we walked to the area; thus we were swarm by few drivers, one caught our attention and we followed him. PROBLEM START!
As we board the Petite cab and drove out of the terminal, I; still with uncomfortable feeling turn my head back and guess who I saw – the Grande driver tailing us. Case not settled obviously. The journey to airport is approximately 45mins, what if he stop us and hurt us? Hemm… I informed the cab driver, he peek at the rearview mirror, he said not to worry, darn right I am worried! After about 1-2mins, I informed him again, I said me tourist – scared - not happy. He make a turn and head to police station. The police asked the Grande to go off and we continued our journey, but still scared lar. Told Andrea I want to change another cab, we ask him to drop us at the train station and we took another cab to airport.
Took the flight, reached Madrid safely, found ways to go to the bus station, took the next bus out to Granada, stuck for 5 hours journey and FINALLY we reached Granada at 12:30am MIDNIGHT. Plenty of cab, took one to our Alcazaba Pansion, I ate Maggi Mee and fall flat on the bed. (We did a Bourne Ultimatum and I think Matt Damon had it easier!).
New country. New beginning. New adventure.
