May 15th - Granada

I'm in Granada, but first some of my happenings from yesterday in Madrid. Amy went to see her brother-in-law and I decided to go on a run. I was very lucky to see a bunch of runners while I was out so I followed them to this awesome park! It was beautiful with a lot of trails and different sections. There were people doing yoga, boxing, boot camp, martial arts, it was great! I ran all over the park and had a great workout. There were a ton of dogs and you guessed it, not one was on a leash!

We've seen this bird a lot, it has great colors

I was going to have a leisurely walk back to the hostel to cool down but it started poring so more running for me!

I followed this guy for several blocks, never
looked up from his phone even at very busy
intersections but his dog stayed right with him!

I passed this little gem. There were 39 booths all filled with really old books.

According to my translator this means, Book
Fair Old and Used

We have also seen about 5 or 6 protests in our time in Spain, seems like a lot to me. It was good Amy and I got out of Madrid early, apparently there was a huge strike today to protest budget cuts and such.

After my run I met Amy at our favorite tapas joint! This was my dinner and it was perfectly delicious and light. The fish is sliced very thin and the olive oil adds great flavor. One is salmon with cheese and that's garlic on top and the other is Catfish with tomato and chives on top. Our favorite is the catfish, I could eat so many of those!

Our favorite place!

 Amy had a super early flight to catch so we had to say goodnight before bed. I'm sad to see her go! It's been wonderful having her with me and getting to spend so much quality time. I love you Ames and thanks for joining me on this Spanish adventure! Hasta Luego!

Now onto Granada... I took an early train and arrived here this afternoon. I met some French Canadian girls who were headed to the same hostel. I gotta say there were very lucky to have me :) They were super afraid of asking for help and never would have found this place! I'm surprised how much of my Spanish has come back to me, that or I've picked enough up in the last two weeks. I've done everything today in Spanish, I'm sure it wasn't pretty but I seemed to get the food I ordered and found the hostel! This afternoon I had a late lunch/early dinner, my first meal alone! They severed me a few albondigas on the house (they must have known).

A single serving of Paelle, I think this is the traditional kind
because it had rabbit in it as well as muscles, clams, and squid.

I wasn't completely alone!

After lunch I walked around the city a bit and bought food for the next few days at the market! I also found a Spain charm for my Pandora bracelet! I hope I'm able to find one in each country.