It has been over a week since I came to Granada, Spain. I have already visited some places and gained some experiences that I would like to share with you.

1) Albolote

Albolote is the place where I live now. It’s a small town located only 6 kilometres from Granada. It’s one of the entities which together form Granada’s Metropolitan Area. Albolote is surrounded by magnificent countryside. From the town you can also see the mountains of Sierra Nevada very well. You can also take a nice walk from Albolote to Maracena, another town where I actually stayed last year with my friend Sergio when I visited the Granada city. The town of Albolote is connected with Granada by the tram (it also passes by Maracena). The tram (or metro how they call it here) was finished recently. When I was here last year, there were just trails here, but since September 2017 it started to work properly. In this way, the locals can reach the Granada centre quite fast.

2) Granada

Last year I already told you a few things about Granada. The dominant monument of the city is well-known Alhambra, an ancient palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs of Granada. I might tell you later about the sights and other places of the city. I am sure that slowly I’ll discover things that I could recommend to you. Today I would like to mention two things that are connected to Granada.

Tapas

I would personally call Granada “the city of tapas”. The “tapas” are small Spanish dishes (appetizers or snacks), typically served with drinks. There are many kinds of tapas that you can eat. Granada is unique when it comes to tapas. It’s the only place in Spain where you get tapas for free with each drink. So if you go out for a drink, you don’t have to eat before. If you order, for example, three drinks, you’ll eat enough as well. The advantage is that you can usually choose what kind of tapas you would like to get. I love it!

Piononos

When I went out for a coffee, I was recommended to try “pionono”. Piononos are small pastries traditional in Santa Fe, a small town near the city of Granada. A pionono has two parts: a thin layer of pastry rolled into a cylinder, fermented with different kinds of syrup which give the pionono a sweet and pleasant texture, crowned with toasted cream. If you want to eat the original pionono, go to the cafeteria called “Ysla“. It’s very nice and I recommend to try it!

3) Sierra Nevada

On Saturday I went for a trip to the mountains Sierra Nevada. Sierra Nevada is a popular tourist destination and that’s why there are also many hotels. It was actually crazy idea to go there at the weekend because it was overcrowded. The day was sunny and quite warm so many people decided to go to the mountains for skiing or hiking. It was almost impossible to find a place to park the car. It was a good and long walk to the ski resort though. If you’re a fan of skiing, I would definitely recommend you to come here. I’m sure you will like it! If you’re not really into the winter sports (like me:)), there are many hiking routes in the mountains.

4) Nevada shopping centre

One of the place I visited during the last few days was also the Nevada shopping centre. It’s actually one of the biggest shopping malls in Andalusia. I’m not surprised, it’s really huge. The centre has 120 000 m2 of comercial area. There are 6000 parking places divided between the underground parking and the surface parking. The shopping centre has two floors that are divided into four squares (la Plaza Central, la Plaza Alhambra, la Plaza Generalife and la Plaza Ocio) You can find many different and well-known shops there as well as restaurants, bars, cafeterias or cinema.

Primark

My favourite shop is Primark. Because we don’t have it in the Czech Republic, I’m always happy to visit it when I have an opportunity. Primark sells cheap clothes, shoes, bags and many other things, of course the price corresponds the quality. For me, it’s quite dangerous to enter to this shop. When I get inside, I always find many nice things that I need at the moment and at the end I leave with a bag full of things and the bill over 50 €. This time I was very careful and spent there just 4 €. I’m just afraid that my next visit will cost much more. I’m planning it before the summer comes 🙂