Hey lovelies 💕,

I just want to thank you all for your sweet messages on my last blog post. It feels so good to write about my feelings and thoughts whether they are positive or negative. Let everything go. This blog post will be my travel blog post about Granada where I went last week with my mother. I hope you all are going to like it. I will share what I did, pictures which I made and some food what I’ve eaten. This will be my first travel blog post as I’ve never done one before. My other blog post about Granada will be about all the nice stuff I bought in Granada: shopping haul yeahhh. This is going to be a long blog post so I warn you already.

First day – Tuesday 24th of July

The first day of my trip was a travel day. From Valladolid to Granada it’s 7 hours by bus and one hour waiting in the bus station of Madrid. It’s 610 km. so far away! Granada is a city in the south of Spain, in Andalucia. The bus trip went well. I enjoyed listening to music, scrolling on social media haha, and I watched a movie in the bus. We had our own screen to watch movies, listen to music, play games and so many more things. I watched the movie Inside Out from Disney Pixar. I really love these movies so much. It was such a beautiful movie which reminds me that in life you have to feel sadness to also enjoy happiness in life. I enjoyed eating bread with tortilla which is typical in Spain and I ate an empanada of chicken. I also took some meds to not be naouseous in the bus.

We took the bus at 12.30 from Valladolid. At 3 o’clock we were at the bus station in Madrid. There we waited for one hour. At 4 o’clock the bus left and we were at 8.30 in the bus station in Granada. My friend Antonio was waiting there for us. He brought us by tram and bus to our hotel. The only thing what was bad in the hotel was that we had one bed for me and my mother. I did the booking on internet via Booking.com and clicked the option two single beds. I told it at the reception but they told us that they only had one room with two single beds and that is was full. It didn’t matter. I made a bed on the ground with quilt and pillows and my mother wanted to sleep there. I slept in the other bed. We slept great without any problems. We could have another bed in the room but it would be €15 each night so better not.

We arrived at 9.30 in the hotel. Afterwards, we went for dinner at 11.00 o’clock. We ate some delicious tapas in a place which I love a lot. We ate bread with chicken, salad and bread with jamon serrano and melon. We also drank grape juice which is called mosto. I was really so hungry. We also went to a pizzeria and got a slice of pizza and ate it on a bench in the city centre. Afterwards, we went to the hotel and prepared some things for the trip to the beach next day.

Second day – Wednesday 25th of July

We woke up and got breakfast in the bar Gerado just next to our hotel. In our hotel we didn’t have a restaurant or a bar. We ate bread with jamon serrano and a mosto. Afterwards, we bought a bus card to use during this trip. We walked down the street where there were so many arabic shops with mosaic lamps, mosaic patern, hippie clothes and stuff. I love that street so much. It feels like you are in Marroco. Hippie vibes everywhere yeahhh ❤✌ Also the owners of these shops aren’t Spanish. I bought some stuff which you will see in my next blog post. It was really hot outside, like 35 degrees which make us walk slowly. We also went to a view point which is called Carvajales. Granada has so many great view points where you can see the beautiful palace La Alhambra. We made some pictures and walked down the streets.

At 4 o’clock it was time to eat. Normally, we eat a bit earlier in Spain. My mother ate a ham and cheese crepe and a tinto de verano which is wine. I drank mosto and ate a menu which consisted of gazpacho andaluz (typical cold Spanish soup), albondigas (meat balls) with vegetables and watermelon. My menu was just €12.50 and also include the drink and bread. I love eating in Spain because it’s so cheap. My mother also ate from my menu. We enjoyed eating in restaurant Las Cuevas just at the end of the street Calderia Nueva where the hippie shops are.

After finishing eating we went to the hotel to rest, take a siesta and pack our things to go to the beach. At 7 o’clock in the afternoon we left the hotel and went to the bus stop to take the bus to the station and then walked to the house of Antonio. He would bring us to the beach by car. At the bus stop we met a lovely girl from Alicanta who’s name is also Cristina without the h and is 25 years old just like me. She’s working in the mountain Sierra Nevada in Granada and is researching the water there which is really interesting. She brought us with the help of Google Maps to the house of Antonio. I got here Facebook. I love to make friends. It took us one hour by car to go to his appartment in La Rábita where the beach is. His parents were already at the beach.

As soon as we got there I wore my bikini to go to the beach. I felt bad during that moment at the beach which I told in my last blog post: Feeling that I’m not honest I cried and when I woke up the next day, I felt much better than before. I also got tummy pain before so I knew my period was coming soon. It was going to come on Friday. We wanted to swim in the beach but we couldn’t because there were jelly-fishes in the sea. We saw a beautiful sunset on the beach. I didn’t want to get bitten so we just enjoyed the beach at night. At 11 o’clock we went to his appartment and eat all together (Antonio, his parents and my mother). His parents made delicious salad with vegetables, potatoes and chicken and watermelon and melon. The dinner was delicious and afterwards we went to bed. I sleep every night like at 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock because it’s so hot that I can’t sleep.

Third day – Thursday 26th of July

We woke up and got a delicious breakfast with the mother of Antonio and my mother. Antonio and his father were already at the beach. We drank tea and ate bread with strawberry mermalade and watermelon. I’m so addicted to watermelon. I love it. After breakfeast I wore my bikini from O’Neill which is my favourite bikini and the material is from surfing wetsuits. It’s for surfing too but I prefer to surf with a wetsuit. We swam in the sea and stayed on the beach from 12 o’clock till 2.30 in the afternoon. It was so great to swim in the ocean after one year not going. I only swim in the sea when it’s Summer time. I really missed it so much. I didn’t see any jelly-fishes so it was fine.

After swimming we went to his appartment to change our clothes to go to eat in a restaurant called ELCOLAS near to the beach. Last Summer, we ate here too with his family. I loved the menu because it wasn’t that much food. Sometimes I struggle with eating so much which makes me naouseous. There was a lot of food to choose from. My first plate was gazpacho, second plate was two chicken skewers with salad and potatoes and as dessert I got again watermelon haha. It was all so delicious. We had a great time.

We went to their appartment at 4.30 in the afternoon to rest and take a siesta. This is really typical in Spain. I really enjoy that a lot because it’s also too hot outside during Summer. At 6 o’clock we got up and we went to the beach again. I love to swim in the sea at that time because the water is even warmer than before and it’s not that hot outside. I love the Mediterranean Sea so much. It’s not that cold as the Atlantic Ocean. We stayed at the beach until 8.30 in the afternoon, swam in the sea and took some awesome pictures. We packed all our stuff in their appartment and had dinner. Antonio brought my mother and I again back by car to our hotel in Granada. He went home and we went to our hotel. We stayed in because we were so tired. I also had to shower and unpack our stuff. The beach makes me always so tired. The salt water definitely cleans my soul. It was such a great and happy day at the beach. I enjoyed it a lot! 😄🌊💕✌🌴🌞

This was the last day in Granada because on Saturday we would have just a little bit of time left before we went home. We got up and got breakfast in Bar Gerardo. My mother ate bread with mermalade and butter and I ate bread with tomato and oil. We both drank tea. It was delicious and just for €2.50 each other so both €5. After breakfast we went to our hotel to pack some stuff and walked at the centre. At 3 o’clock we went to eat again, haha Spanish time. In Spain we always eat like the big meal during that time of the day. In The Netherlands dinner at 6 o’clock is the big meal. In Granada it’s famous to order a drink like mosto, water or wine and get a free tapa. We ate at the restaurant beauty and the beast. My mother drank wine and I drank mosto and we got a free tapa which was bread with ham and potatoes. It was really so delicious. That tapa was free but we ordered also a great salad with apple, chicken, cheese and everything.

We went to our hotel after eating until 7 o’clock. It was also really hot outside to do anything and I just got my period today. When I get my period I feel grumpy, have painfully cramps and I’m so tired and so dizzy so it was important to rest in our hotel room. It made sense that I felt emotional and had cramps the days before. In Spain the shops are open from the morning till 2 o’clock. Then they close and open at 5/6 o’clock until 9/10 o’clock. I really like that. In The Netherlands they are open from the morning till 5 or 6 o’clock in the afternoon. I like to shop at night. In Spain they call it afternoon until 8 o’clock hahah 😂. I even felt a bit asleep and my mother too. Siesta time was great.

We went to the city centre and walked again around the hippie shops and bought more stuff. We walked to the view point of San Nicolás. It was still a bit hot outside and the streets in Granada are not flat which takes a lot of energy. I liked that we could ask people and they were always friendly to help us find the way to the view point. We stayed the whole time at the mirador of San Nicolás till 9 o’clock and even saw a beautiful sunset. There were so many people so it was sometimes difficult to take a great picture. I have made some awesome pictures. From that point you can see the beautiful palace Alhambra where we went last year and also the mountain Sierra Nevada which has no snow right now. It’s such a beautiful view over the city Granada.

This was my third time in Granada and the first time I already went to this view point. There were many people because they were waiting for the moon eclipse. I didn’t care that much because many times you almost don’t see anything. My friend Antonio texted me and asked where we were. I told him and we met him at the end of the street of hippie shops. We went to a great restaurant which is called Los Manueles. We ordererd water and a mosto and got a free tapa which was meat. We also ordered a salad and a french tortilla with potatoes. It was all so delicious. After dinner we ate a delicious italian ice cream. It’s a typical place in Granada to get ice cream. I had a chocolate ice cream and my mother lemon. At 12 o’clock we said goodbye to my friend and went to our hotel. We packed our stuff that night to be ready for tomorrow and went to bed.

Fifth day – Saturday 28th of July

So, this was my last day in Granada with my mother. I’m always sad when travelling trips come to end. I’m already thinking of a new trip to the beach Santander and to go to a surf camp yeahhh ❤🏄. We got up and packed our things. We left the hotel at 12 o’clock in the morning which is always the check out time in hotels. We went to another bar which was close to our hotel. We ate a delicious breakfast. We were happy that we could leave our luggage in the hotel so that we could have time to go shopping without it. It’s much more comfortable. So, we went shopping till 2.30 in the afternoon, just less than two hours after breakfast. I wanted to go to the shop Alle-Hop and Sugar. I love those shops so much. They have a lot of awesome stuff and also stationery stuff which I love.

I’m going to share what I bought in my next blog post. I think you all will like the things I bought. We also went to a bar called Aliatar which was a bit difficult to find because everyone said another direction hahah. We bought bread with tortilla and jamon serrano (Spanish ham) for our trip back by bus to Valladolid. After shopping we went back to the hotel and they called a taxi for us because it’s much easier with all the luggage to go to the bus station of Granada. We had one hour at the station to relax and go to the bathroom. I hate to travel when I’ve my period and also the warm weather isn’t a great combination. That makes me even feel more dizzy and bad. My friend came 10 minutes before our bus was going to leave at 4 o’clock. We said goodbye and left Granada.

I’m really going to miss Andalucia. It’s such a beautiful region of Spain which has almost every day sunshine. I encourage anyone to go to Andalucia and visist Granada. There are more cities like Cordoba and Sevilla which I also want to visit in the future. All these cities have Arabic influences which is just so beautiful. I saw the movie Joy with Jennifer Lawrence in the bus and really enjoyed this movie. She’s one of my favourite actresses ever. We ate in the bus and relaxed. We were at 8.30 in the bus station of Madrid and bought again some empanadas with pisto and meat and some drinks. The bus left at 9.30 and at 00.00 we were in the bus station of Valladolid. We got a taxi to go home because at that time there aren’t busses anymore. Walking isn’t that much but we were really tired. It’s sad always how fast a holiday can go. Time always pass so fast when you are having fun 😂

Sometimes a city can make you feel so happy. Granada makes me so happy. I feel like I belong there. Like I have my roots there. This city was just made for a hippie and beach girl like me ❤ This was my third time in Granada and damn every time I go I fell even more in love with this beautiful and magical city 😍😍😍. Thank you Antonio and your family for everything. We had a great time together. I also loved the hotel Cedran. I encourage anyone who is planning to visit Granada to stay in this hotel. It was just €30 each night which is really cheap. The hotel is in the city centre which is just perfect. The room is nice, has airco and the staff is really friendly and gave some tips of what to visit and free maps of the city. My heart belongs to Andalucia forevah, viva Andalucia olé ✌🌊😍 See you next Summer! ♡♡♡

I hope this blog post wasn’t borring or way too long haha 😂. My Granada shopping haul will be in another blog post. I also made some polaroids and maybe I’m going to share them in another post. I hope you liked this post. Do you have ever been to Granada in Spain? Do you also like cities with Arabic influences? What do you think of my pictures? I would love to know your opinion in the comment section.

Much love 💕,

xoxo Christina