"Hey, its the hottest part of the day, let´s go climb something big!"

Tiina having fun in the park (above)
The towers we climbed in the middle of the day (below)

Since we got our bus passes working (although every time we buy a ticket there still seems to be a lot of problems..) we were able to hop on a bus to Valencia. We picked Valencia as a place to break up our trip between Barcelona and Granada and were surprised to find how much we enojyed it. We walked from the bus station to the old town through a beautiful park that wraps around part of the old town. We entered the old town through old city gates, which for some reason we decided to climb in the blazing heat. Luckily the view was worth the effort! Our 11 hours in Valencia were spent wandering around the old town and checking out the market.

The entrance to the market

We also ventured into the new part of the city looking for a phone card or computer where Tiina could pay her tuition deposit. Of course this was during siesta when EVERYTHING is closed (for at least 3 hours). We then treated ourselves to a glass of horchata (a cold drink made from tiger nuts) and sat back to watch a huge pillow fight in one of the main squares and prepare for our overnight bus to Granada.

Pillow fight!

After a very long, uncomfortable night (where Tiina slept for 8 hours, and Maarika...well, a little less...) we finally made it to Granada. While waiting for our room we lounged on a cafe patio. Maarika couldn´t really muster up the energy for anything until she had a siesta, not to mention everything was closed because it was a Sunday. However, we still managed to pass the day away by exploring the pretty city. This included hiking up some very steep streets during the hottest part of the day to check out the old Moorish quarter, Albaicin. We were rewarded with a magnificent view of the Alhambra - the Moorish palaces and fortresses overlooking Granada.

The next day, we found ourselves on the other side of the valley, looking back at where we had walked the day before. We toured the Alhmabra, with it´s beautifully detailed tile- and woodwork. The buildings were really impressive, especially considering a lot of it was built before Canada was discovered by Europeans.