Today was our last day in Espana. *cry cry*
Sedih woooo, rasa nak jalan2 lagi sampai Madrid & Barcelona, tapi apakan daya takde orang nak plankan.. Hihihi..
Screw this nonsense, back to writing... Our next city would be Granada. Granada is famous for its magical Alhambra, another one of the most important Islamic architecture in the past. Alhambra which means "the red one" is a palace and complex fortress built in the 14th century at the top hill of Assabica, Granada.
Alhambra
As usual, we departed from the hotel right after breakfast in hotel and reached at Alhambra within 5 minutes. Basically, Alhambra is located on the hill just behind our hotel. We were quite early today because there were not so many people at the entrance yet. Atiq gave us a brief explanation about the history of Alhambra before we entered the place. There are a few interesting place to visit inside Alhambra such as Nasrid Palace, Alcazaba, King Carlos Palace and Generalife. The ticket was included in the tour
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As soon we entered the place, our tour guides guided us directly to Nasrid Palace. Our entrance time to Nasrid Palace was at 11 am and we must be punctual or else we couldn't enter the palace. Along the way, we visited the baths of the Mosque. So while waiting for 11 am, we visited Alcazaba first. It's a huge fortress with castle-like structure made from hard stones. Alcazaba is one of the oldest parts in the Alhambra and the military area of the complex. Inside, we could find the terrace of the Torre del Cubo, the northern wall-walk, the Plaza de las Armas, the terrace of Puerta de las Armas, Torre de la Vela and the Jardin de los Adarves.Every time we wanted to visit a building, the staff scanned our ticket. Hishh, leceh tau! We climbed a few towers here to see the panoramic view of full Granada city. The view indeed was great! We took several photos here before jumping to another towers. The highest tower had a bell on it and a few poles of flags as well.
After camwhoring here and there, we climbed down again to the front of Nasrid Palace. However, we still had about 15 minutes before we could enter the palace. So we rushed to King Carlos Palace which is situated just beside the palace. It is a circular building like a colosseum but it contains a few museums and exhibition hall in it.
At 11 am, we entered the Nasrid Palace at last. Nasrid Palace was constructed with three different palaces which were built in different periods. There were Mexuar Palace, Comares Palace and Palace of the Lions. Nasrid Palace is full with Islamic architecture with the carving of Arabic words. According to our guide, the carving was actually a poetry created by the ruler to praise Allah and the prophet. It's simply amazing. It's good when the real carvings were preserved and we weren't allowed to touch the walls. Kecoh la guard tu, baru tersandar sekejap kat dinding pun terus kena tegur.. However, we were a bit unlucky because the Palace of the Lions was under construction that day. They were repairing the lion fountain at the compound. So, when we took photos, we could the the construction people.. Haishhh... Kacau daun betul.. Here, most of my friends' cameras were out of memory space. So I helped them capturing photos..
Our last destination in Alhambra was Generalife. This palace is located further up the hill and consists of lower gardens, the Palace of the Generalife and the upper gardens. The gardens were amazing, with the trees trimmed forming a maze-like arrangement. I loved the greenery so much! After taking photo of all of these palaces, I found that they all looked merely the same with the square courtyards filled with a long rectangular pond and fountains.
Before heading to our bus, we dropped by the souvenir shop to buy some keepsake. The usual stuffs that I bought would be postcards and magnets. The price was quite pricey though.
Granada City
It's a walking city tour this time. After spending much time walking in Alhambra, now we had to walk again to find lunch, mosque and shops. We got lost for a while but finally managed to find a Moroccan street. This street is full with Moroccan restaurants as well as souvenir shops. We were split into groups so that people didn't have to wait for so long for their food. Kak Mona's troop bought kebab from a restaurant at the end corner of the street. I bought Shawarma (€3.00) and Shish Kebab (€3.50). One for now and one for dinner later. Others bought Royal Kebab and Pita Salmon. I like the Shawarma, it tasted limey like tandoori chicken. Slurrpppp~
There is mosque here. It's very convenient because we could pray here. After we prayed, we continued with our shopping. Since today was our last day, we went all out in buying the souvenirs. Takde berkira-kira dah, beli je apa yang dimahukan. Along the Moroccan street, the souvenirs were more expensive than the ones outside the street. So after buying a few expensive things here, we went outside to the main road. Here, the souvenirs were A LOT more CHEAPER! Fridge magnets and key chains for €1.50! Mencanak-canak perasaan ingin membeli belah. I really bought a lot! Magnets, key chains, snow globes, t-shirt, coasters and more postcards!
For the very first time, we all reached the bus on time which was at 5 pm. This was because we had flights to catch in Malaga Airport which is 2 hours away from Granada. During the journey to Malaga, I had a short nap before En. Fuad, Atiq and Haikal gave the finale speech for the trip. It's quite sad to finish our tour because I really want more. All good things must come to an end. I really missed this tour a lot! =(
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| Granada mementos |
Our flight to London Gatwick was the last one for today. Others who came from East Midland boarded their flight earlier than us. We bid goodbye to each other and seek forgiveness for all our our wrongdoings whether intentional or unintentional.
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| Last minute souvenirs from Malaga Airport |
We spent our night at Gatwick Airport before continuing our journey back to Glasgow on the following day.
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Feedback:
At first I thought that this tour was quite expensive. £320 for 4 days / 3 nights is quite pricey for students like us. However, as we started the tour, it become more worthy and I think the money was spent reasonably on the transport and accommodations. The hotels weren't the cikai-cikai ones, there were the best so far. I know we had another option to travel on our own with less budgets and we could stay in cheaper hostels, but travelling in a group of 9 or 10 is sure difficult to manage unless we took a travel package like this.
Overall, the accommodations was superb. The hotel are more than 3 stars quality. The breakfast was okay. The transport by coach was also okay, except the public bus in Gibraltar. Me no likey!
This tour covered most of the important historical places. We did missed a few but it way nothing compared to the magical Alhambra and the great Cordoba Mosque. I felt satisfied with the service provided the Perantau Holidays. The staffs were friendly and informative too. Terima Kasih! Thanks a lot! Jazakallahu khair! Gracias! You are the best! =)
I brought back a lot of souvenirs too! 22 fridge magnets, 27 postcards and countable other stuffs as well. Puas hati kau... =p
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| Basically everything that I brought back from Andalucia.. Adios~ |
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