Today was a great wonderful day.
I woke up around 5:30am. Woah. I only got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep because I was so excited about finally visiting the Alhambra! Honestly it might have been the thing I was looking forward to most in Spain if not on my entire trip. So I felt like a kid before Christmas… A kid that knows his parents have most likely gotten him a new bike.

“Why so early?” you may ask. Well, the Alhambra is a popular place. Visitors come from all around the world to see it. It’s the Taj Mahal of Spain in a way. They only allow ~6000 visitors into the Nazrid palace complex each day. (And this is the part with the absolutely exquisite architecture I was looking forward to). I read that you can buy tickets online up to a month or two in advance, but every time I tried it said they were already sold out. I almost had a breakdown about it when I tried for the thousandth time in Barcelona. So my only other choice was to make sure I was in the very front of the line for the day-of ticket sales.

I left the apartment at 6am. The streets were completely empty. Soon there was a man behind me, I turned around and looked at him. “Are you going to the Alhambra?” He asked. “Yes!” I said. And from there we became friends for the day. Meet Carlo from Australia.

After a confusing journey to the ticket booth, we stood in line with just 10 or so people in front of us. And there we stood in the cold until 8am. (The climate here is deserty – like Arizona style… So I forgot that meant it could be burning in the middle of the day while freezing in the morning.

Anyway, we got tickets and decided to explore the Alhambra together. We had both been traveling alone for the past few days, so I think we both felt relieved to find someone nice to spend the day with. It’s not often you find someone quite so easy to talk to on such a trip, but from time to time, it happens, and it’s rich and rewarding.

The Alhambra was everything I expected and more. There were a thousand pictures I didn’t take simple because there’s no possible way that a photograph could capture what my eyes were seeing. Texture. Depth. Color. Shape. Geometry. Wow.

The Courtyard of the Lions and the palace buildings around it were by far the highlight as I expected. PHENOMENAL. Words cannot explain.

Granada was the last-standing Islamic region of Spain. It was ruled by the Nazrids who lasted nearly 200 years longer than the rest of Islamic Spain. He created this palace so exquisitely in part to stand as an intimidation to all the surrounding christian kings who may be tempted to challenge his rule and attempt to conquer him. Eventually his kingdom was conquered, but still… this incredible place remains.

I had triple the mouth-gaping wows as I did at the Mezquita. Wow. Completely incredible.

We finished the Alhambra and all 3 main areas – the Nazrid palaces, the Alcazaba (fortress), and the Generalife (gardens of paradise) – around noon. We explored the park areas outside the walls and then headed back to town for a Spanish “menu of the day” lunch. This just means they offer you a 3 course meal for an extremely reasonable price. Only for lunch though. And sometimes only on the weekdays.

I had my first gazpacho and my first paella. Both did not disappoint.

For me it was particularly refreshing to have a companion for the day for a few reasons.

1. I had’t really had a real conversation with anyone in a few days. And that gets old after a while.

2. I haven’t had the chance to talk about any of my previous weeks’ travel excitements and woes to anyone. And when you don’t have that, you sometimes forget how essential it is to be heard and to share the things you’ve experienced. And I think that’s part of why I was feeling so bleh a few days ago… And fellow seasoned travelers understand all of those things and are usually happy to share them with you.

3. It’s always refreshing in general when you meet someone (even moreso someone from halfway across the world) who you connect with quickly and find it easy and enjoyable to talk to.

After a well-spent day, we went our separate ways, and I’m off to the next city.

I feel refreshed and accomplished. I made a friend, and I saw the Alhambra. I couldn’t have asked for more for today.

And it’s days like today where you breathe and remember that not everything is wrong in the world.

Beautiful.