Graneda (1)

Because I was not sure how many days to stay in Madrid, I didn’t book a train ticket or air ticket from Madrid to Granada in advance. I decided to leave this morning after I finished shopping and eating in Madrid last night, but Looking at air tickets and train tickets, one is that the price has increased a lot, and the other is that the time is not suitable. So I decided to try for the first time a new way of travel introduced by a local friend - BlaBlaCar ride-hailing software. Enter the starting point, destination, date and time on the software, and you can see if anyone has published a suitable ride-hailing route, and the price (mainly fuel costs) can be compared with other passengers’ evaluations. Some car owners will take the car Write out the models, many of which are high-end cars. You can pay with a credit card in advance on the software, which is very convenient and there is no cash transaction. Last night, I contacted a local owner who drove a Porsche. It only costs 25 euros to depart from Madrid to Granada at 6:30 this morning. The train and plane cost 50 to 60 euros, and the time is only an hour slower than the train.

The owner is from Granada and has only been in Madrid for three months. This time I went back tonight to watch their home football semi-finals with friends, and drove back to Madrid the next day. She had lived in New York, San Diego and Miami for nine years before returning to Spain last year. The car was shipped back from the United States. She owns an intermediary company that exchanges students with American high schools, and has her own employees in the United States, Spain, and Colombia. She also told me about her entrepreneurial history. Afterwards, we talked a lot about international student education. She had been to China a few years ago, and said that what impressed her most was the middle-aged and elderly men with big bellies exposed in the hot summer. In the second half of the journey, she recommended to me the food, drink and entertainment in her hometown.

The more you drive south, the more beautiful the scenery is, and finally you can see the continuous snow-capped mountains. On the way, she also deliberately got off the highway to let me see Casa Pepe, a unique restaurant and market known to the locals. It is full of praises and commemorations of Francisco Franco, a great dictator in Spain. The "patriotic" political color is extremely strong. Even though she didn't agree with them, it was still fun to walk around.

Granada means pomegranate in Spanish. This was once the capital of the last kingdom of the Arabs on the Iberian Peninsula, and the highest peak of the Iberian Peninsula is also here. There are many Moorish and Catholic architectural monuments in the city. Most of the Muslim buildings were destroyed by Christians, and a few remained in the Moorish architectural style.

Arrive at Graneda at noon and store your backpack at the youth hostel. After visiting the Cathedral de Granada, Plaza de Bib-Rambla market, Alcaicería, Mercado San Agustín market and Calle Gran Vía de Colón Avenue nearby.

At noon, I went straight to the restaurant recommended by the car owner to eat Arroz Negro squid ink rice. It was written on the Internet that the door opened at 12:30, but it didn't open after ten minutes. There was a couple sitting at the door, and they came here specially to wait for paella after asking. The door didn't open until 1 o'clock. After entering, they said that I could eat with them. They are Indians who were born in New Zealand, grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and now work in London. They have an interesting experience. After lunch, I visited Cuesta de San Cristóbal, Plaza Larga, Plaza de San Nicolas, Albaicín, Sacromonte, Palacio de Los Cordova and Teteria Nazari.

In the afternoon, I walked to the Sacromonte holy mountain area, where basically all the gypsies lived. It is famous for digging caves in the soft rock of the hillside to build their homes, and there are still gypsy families living in the white caves. The area is also famous for flamenco music and dancing. This evening is finally adjusted to the eating time of the locals (nine o'clock). I originally made an appointment with four or five sofa-guests to eat seafood tapa at a restaurant strongly recommended by several locals, but only me and a Dutch girl showed up on time. She was only eighteen or nineteen years old, and she took a few months off from college to travel.