You don’t have to wander too far into Granada’s tangled web of crumbling streets to realize that it’s a city of graffiti. And one artist is largely responsible: the legendary El Niño de las Pinturas. His work can be found all over the web, whether it’s being analyzed in various articles (if you can speak Spanish) or Flickr pages in his honor.
But obviously it’s only on the streets of Granada, that you get to come face to face with the real thing. From tattoo parlors on Calle Molinos…
…you can hardly move without bumping into one his curious (haunting, even) works. Hunting for his handywork down dark alleyways, on the sides of abandoned houses or in the deserted plazas of the Realejo, both makes for a great way to explore the city, and another fantastic free thing to do in Granada in and of itself.
As to why Granada should have such a lot of really good, creative street art…? Well, it’s a beautiful, mystical sort of a place with a faintly mournful feel to it. And that’s always attracted a crowd of alternative types, hippies, artists, soul-searchers and assorted would-be bohemians stretching all the way back to Washington Irving.
Who, after all, wouldn’t be inspired by the spectacle of this Moorish gateway on Calle Elvira?
One of the things that makes Granada so special is the way in which its Moorish past is so evident, so tangible. And about halfway down the Carrera del Darro, where the lower Albazyin rolls down the hill to the river, is a case in point in El Bañuelo - the old Moorish baths. An 11th century bath house built during the reign of Ziri Badis, it’s one of the best preserved in Andalucia. It’s also - rather conveniently for the budget traveler - one of the best free things to do in Granada.
As you enter, the building immediately opens up onto a shady entrance courtyard (which for a sweaty HostelBloggers made a welcome break from the decidedly warm temperatures of the city outside!) with a pool at its center.
Leaving the patio through the tiny door in the far corner (which we duly smacked our head on), you come to the first of the baths’ rooms: the cool room or ‘Al-bayt al-barid’.
Passing through the cool room (with its starry ceiling)…
…you enter the next chamber - the main steam room or ‘Al-bayt al-wastani’.
The baths were once one of countless others that were dotted throughout the city, but which gradually, over time, slid into disuse and neglect. In the wake of the fall of the city to Christian forces - when Islamic customs like bathing were banned - the baths came to be used as a laundry by the women of the area.
Leaving the cool of the baths, and stepping out blinking into the bright sunlight, you’re confronted by the collapsed arch of a bridge. Tracing the curve that it once would have followed, it’s clear that it would have been quite a spectacle in its day. As with almost everywhere you turn in Granada - from the Alhambra on the hill, to the gardens of the Albayzin and the twisted alleyways of the Realejo - it’s impossible not to be struck by an acute sense of the scale and beauty of what once was.
Everyone, it seems, who’s ever been to Granada falls in love with the Albayzin. (HostelBloggers certainly did - utterly head over heels!) And it’s hardly surprising: a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s one of the most beautiful old quarters of any city in Europe. But just as surprising is how few travelers fall under the spell of - or indeed even really notice - the Realejo.
Over to the west of the city center, the Realejo is Granada’s ‘other’ historical quarter. And if it doesn’t (quite) have the outrageous charm of the Albayzin, it’s still a winding maze of narrow streets and time-worn old houses, convents and churches that’s great for exploring.
The best place to start a walk round the Realejo is probably at the crossroads of Calle Colchas and Calle Pavaneras. Here, a bronze statue of the great Jewish translator Yehuda Ibn Tibon stands, brandishing a parchment. It’s a symbolic place to begin because, just as the Albayzin was Granada’s Moorish neighborhood, so the Realejo used to be the home of the city’s Jewish population.
The Realejo stretches away to the statue’s left. And if - as was the case when HostelBloggers were in Granada - it’s summer or autumn, it will be with some relief that you scuttle out of the withering heat and down the narrow, shady Calle San Matias.
About halfway down Calle San Matias, turn right onto Escudo del Carmen and you enter one of the oldest parts of the Realejo. Here, the houses increasingly begin to lean in on themselves, almost shutting out the sunlight from above. If you take a left onto Calle Laurel de San Matias, you pass a handful of 16th century houses (their gorgeous courtyards, unfortunately, locked away behind private doors); turn left at the end of the street, and you start to double-back upon yourself.
Wandering through this part of the barrio, you see more evidence of the area’s ethnic roots. As is the case everywhere, it’s the tiny little historical details that tell the city’s story and now make it such a bewitching place for the traveler in Granada.
As you come out onto Calle San Matias again, you’re faced with the facade of the Church of San Matias. Around the right-hand side of it is a leafy little square - the Plaza Abside de San Matias - that makes a great place to sit in the shade and catch your breath before you crash on again.
If you leave the little square at its far left-hand corner and head to the end of the street, you come to another plaza: the striking Plaza Padre Suarez. From here, it’s just a quick right turn and a short stroll down Calle Escolastica to the tiny Bar Candela (No. 9, on the corner). Yet another of the many atmospheric tapas bars in Granada, it’s a perfect spot for a drink and a moment to take stock.
As well as being an attractive old quarter, like the Albayzin, the Realejo has a real sense of community. There are plenty of the sort of noisy cafes and spit and sawdust bars in which HostelBloggers feel most at home; old ladies shuffle about with their shopping carts, or talk - for what seems like days - in the butchers; mopeds snarl their way down narrow streets; dogs sit on doorsteps eyeing you with lazy suspicion…
It’s a proper neighborhood, in other words, and it’s that more than anything else that makes it one of the most interesting parts of Granada.
It’s hard to know quite what to make of Granada’s cathedral. A huge, slightly oppressive monument that looms over the lower part of the city, in spite of its fiddly Gothic twirls and (later) baroque flourishes, on the whole, it’s not a thing of great beauty.
Few would argue, though, that for scale - if nothing else - it’s pretty impressive!
Very occasionally you come across a place on your travels that seems to stand out from all the rest. That’s not to say it’s better per se (after all, how could you possible compare St. Paul’s Cathedral with the Iguazu Falls, or Angkor Wat with the Statue of Liberty?), just that you happen across it at the right time, and it stays in your memory for that little while longer.
For HostelBloggers, the Alcazar in Seville is one such place. In a little bit of a departure from the usual style, there’s no glibness or childish attempts at humor in this post. Just an effort to capture the essence, and a little bit of the history, of a genuinely magnificent monument…
The roots of the citadel date back to the 8th century, when it is believed to have functioned as a barracks for the Roman Army. Its role changed drastically, however, once the Abbadid Dynasty selected it as their official court in the 12th century. Within no time at all, the buildings had acquired something of the decorative ‘pleasure palace’ appearance - an appearance that was supported by the fact that the walls had become home to a harem of around 800 women!
That said, the Alcazar as it can be seen today only really started to take shape during the next century, when the Almohad Dynasty developed it into a citadel whose walls stretched out and enveloped the surrounding city. Their architectural tastes can be seen in the complex and highly rhythmic patterns that decorate the structure’s many walls, as well as in the many floor-level water features. There’s also a pleasing simplicity to the shape of the rooms, which rarely stray from the square - another feature of Moorish design at the time.
The 13th century was a tumultuous one for Al-Andalus, and no sooner had the Almohads bedded down than they were disposed of by invading Christian conquerors from the north. For hundreds of years thereafter the Alcazar would be the home of ‘Spanish’ kings, each of whom would add their own personal touch to the building. Fascinatingly, the additions made under each king (with perhaps the exception of the pious Carlos V, whose designs were largely Christian in their symbolism) retained the same Moorish architectural sensibility of the Almohads.
The Alcazar of today is most of all, though, a testament to the will of Pedro the Cruel of Castile, who got got the ball rolling in the 14th century by employing subjugated Moors to design and rebuild the structure, thus giving birth to the vaunted Mudejar era of Andalucian architecture.
The result as we see it now is a majestic combination of geometric patterns, auriferous decorations, and public and private spaces that resonate with a delicate beauty. Nature seems to ebb and flow through the buildings, almost as it would through a river of its own making, and the abiding tranquility of the Alcazar ensures it always rises above the increasing number of tourists in its midst.
It’s easy to lose yourself for hours, if not days, here, wandering around and gazing at the building’s various features, or simply reclining in its gardens, watching the doves and peacocks.
In fact, HostelBloggers were so taken by it all, we couldn’t help getting out our video camera and making a small (and slightly arty) film, which you can watch below. We’re thinking of titling it ‘Textures of the Alcazar’ or something like that - although we’re undecided as yet! So all suggestions welcome, really - as long as they’re in keeping with the high-brow subject matter, that is…
What is a glacier? Well, to scientists they’re large, slow-moving rivers of ice formed high up in the mountains where more snow falls than melts.
And for the rest of us, they’re an amazing phenomenon to behold across the globe, from Alaska to Austria to Antarctica.
But while there are many other stunning natural sights in this world, there’s something unique and intriguing about glaciers because of their fragility in our environment.
1. Fox and Franz Josef, New Zealand. These sibling glaciers on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island descend unusually close to the coast and even further down into a temperate rainforest. Accessible both by helicopter and on foot, they’ve proved to be a popular attraction.
2. Pasterze, Austria. The largest of Austria’s glaciers, Pasterze lies at the foot of the country’s largest mountain and although it currently has a large visitor center along the Grossglocknerstrasse mountain road, it’s expected to lose a huge 60 % of its mass by 2010.
3. Perito Moreno, Argentina. One of the most important sights in Argentine Patagonia, Perito Moreno is fed by the South Patagonian ice field in the Andes and is, unlike most of the other glaciers in this region, actually advancing. It’s also one of the most accessible in Patagonia - there are three viewing areas allowing travelers some stunning close-ups.
4. Hubbard, Alaska. The longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, it extends for a massive 76 miles from its source on Mt. Logan. As it’s also advancing, it’s an actively ‘calving’ glacier - meaning chunks of it continually break off and fall into the sea. Reached by boat or on foot, this makes for an exciting spectacle as well as an intriguing creaking noise which the indigenous Tlingit people have called ‘white thunder.’
5. Athabasca, Canada. Straddling the continental divide, this glacier is part of the Rocky Mountains’ Columbia ice field. It’s already receded to under half its original size but remains one of the most difficult and dangerous to reach.
6. Vatnajokull, Iceland. Iceland’s largest glacier covers 8% of the country and lies in a doubly fascinating landscape surrounded by active volcanoes, ice caves and hot springs - the latter of which are open to visitors.
7. Yulong, China. Situated in the Yunnan Province of China, this receding glacier is similarly inaccessible to visitors as the high altitude climb to the final observation desk often requires the use of oxygen.
8. Antarctica. Home to countless glaciers, Antarctica is now becoming a popular destination for responsible tourism and, when you take a look at the range of amazing sights it has to offer, it’s easy to see why.
9. Biafo, Pakistan. This remote glacier in the Karakoram Mountain Range is just about accessible via a lengthy hike along the edge of Snow Lake. But if you can make it, it’s a truly unforgettable journey.
10. Furtwangler, Mt. Kilimanjaro. And finally, one of the most iconic glaciers in the world: the snows of Kilimanjaro were made famous years ago by Hemmingway, but here, too, the ice is receding rapidly and some reports even predict it to have disappeared by as early as 2015.
HostelBloggers say - grab your backpack and see them while you still can!
It’s not a bad life being part of the HostelBloggers crew. But whether we’re out on the road gathering content for a great new post on the EXIT Festival in Serbia, or feverishly searching the web, our fingers curled over into keyboard tapping claws, for the latest curios from the world of budget travel, a fair bit of hard graft goes into it.
It’s all worth it in the end, though - and never more so than when we find something like this little gem:
The whole thing bubbles over with the enthusiam of an adventurer and it just works in so many ways.
Despite only being made up of the shortest of snapshots, it manages to convey a real sense of journey - that’s undeniably helped by the way his hair and beard grow as it progresses! It’s also packed with vibrant images, ranging from breathlessly iconic landscapes to the intriguingly mundane, and it bounces along on a great little soundtrack.
But if the video’s cool, then digging a little deeper dredged up a whole load of other brilliant stuff. The author, Chris Rehage, is a free-spirited German traveler, blogger and filmmaker, who left his home in Bad Nenndorf, Germany, a few months ago to retrace the old Silk Road through China.
The latest musing from his time on the road can be found on his blog, The Longest Way, while a whole load of stunning images (like the one above, of his time spent following the Great Wall) are crying out to be marveled at on his photo site.
All in all, it’s an impressive body of work, and HostelBloggers for one will be glued to it over the coming weeks and months.
When HostelBloggers read Oddee’s fascinating collection of ‘Ghost Towns’ around the world, it sent a bit of a shiver down our (utterly cowardly) spine.
From the tower blocks on the deserted Japanese island of Gunkanjima, to Kolmanskop, the old diamond mining town that has eerily been reclaimed by the Namibian desert, there are few things more unsettling than a town that’s been deserted and left at the mercy of the elements.
Whether abandoned when the nearby resources dried up or in the wake of a disaster (natural or otherwise), ghost towns are spooky for their emptiness. It’s not a natural emptiness, either, but the pronounced sense of absence - and the ‘ghostly’ vestiges of past lives - that really resonate as you creep around the crumbling buildings…
During a checkered traveling past, HostelBloggers have slept in some fairly unusual places: there have been castle hostels, treehouse hostels and even a couple of haunted hostels. When luck and planning have been against us, we’ve had to make do with a park bench on a few occasions…
Beaches have also, naturally, featured quite highly. But never, in all our days, have we slept in a giant sand castle.
And a giant sand castle is exactly what the ’sand hotel’ that’s been built on Weymouth Beach (in Dorset, England) is. It took four eager sculptors (and a JCB) over a week to build, and is made up of over 1,000 tonnes of sand. As for the price? A very reasonable £10 a night. But then, of course, it doesn’t have a roof!
For more details, check out the full story from the BBC here.
On the subject of the recent South America trip that one of our lot’s just got back from, here’s proof that anything National Geographic can do, HostelBloggers can do, well, almost as well…
If we’ve said it once before, we’ve said it a thousand times, but the Salt Plains of Uyuni in Bolivia are, without a doubt, one of the world’s strangest landscapes.
The approach to the plains is punctuated by a series of outlandish rock formations like the ‘Arbol de Piedra’ (or ‘Stone Tree’) below:
In every direction, meanwhile, a barren, dusty landscape runs away upwards towards snow-dusted peaks and the startling blue of the horizon… As you bounce along the track, you pass a fair few cacti, many of which of which are believed to be hundreds of years old:
But even with a bit of a lead-in (and plenty of forewarning), nothing can quite prepare you for your first glimpse of the plains. There’s something utterly unique about the dazzling light, and the big sky (it’s the only way of putting it!) that you get right the way across South America. Even by these standards, though, Salar de Uyuni, and its surrounding lakes and geyzers is something else altogether:
Sitting on the shore and looking out…
…you see the odd flock of flamingos - a burst of pink against the unerring white and blue of their salty habitat. (In HostelBloggers’ opinion, incidentally, flamingos are all fine and dandy until you get close up… and then they tend to be a bit stinky!):
But it’s the unique visual spectacle of the plains themselves that’s so mind-blowing…
…and, apart from anything else, so lends itself to photo opportunities!
Honestly, it really is like nowhere else on earth.
One of the things that makes Granada so special is the way in which its Moorish past is so evident, so tangible. And about halfway down the Carrera del Darro, where the lower Albazyin rolls down the hill to the river, is a case in point in 
Leaving the cool of the baths, and stepping out blinking into the bright sunlight, you’re confronted by the collapsed arch of a bridge. Tracing the curve that it once would have followed, it’s clear that it would have been quite a spectacle in its day. As with almost everywhere you turn in Granada - from 
The best place to start a walk round the Realejo is probably at the crossroads of Calle Colchas and Calle Pavaneras. Here, a bronze statue of the great Jewish translator Yehuda Ibn Tibon stands, brandishing a parchment. It’s a symbolic place to begin because, just as the Albayzin was Granada’s 
About halfway down Calle San Matias, turn right onto Escudo del Carmen and you enter one of the oldest parts of the Realejo. Here, the houses increasingly begin to lean in on themselves, almost shutting out the sunlight from above. If you take a left onto Calle Laurel de San Matias, you pass a handful of 16th century houses (their gorgeous courtyards, unfortunately, locked away behind private doors); turn left at the end of the street, and you start to double-back upon yourself.
Wandering through this part of the barrio, you see more evidence of the area’s ethnic roots. As is the case everywhere, it’s the tiny little historical details that tell the city’s story and now make it such a bewitching place for the traveler in Granada.
If you leave the little square at its far left-hand corner and head to the end of the street, you come to another plaza: the striking Plaza Padre Suarez. From here, it’s just a quick right turn and a short stroll down Calle Escolastica to the tiny Bar Candela (No. 9, on the corner). Yet another of the many atmospheric tapas bars in Granada, it’s a perfect spot for a drink and a moment to take stock.
The roots of the citadel date back to the 8th century, when it is believed to have functioned as a barracks for the Roman Army. Its role changed drastically, however, once the Abbadid Dynasty selected it as their official court in the 12th century. Within no time at all, the buildings had acquired something of the decorative ‘pleasure palace’ appearance - an appearance that was supported by the fact that the walls had become home to a harem of around 800 women!
The 13th century was a tumultuous one for Al-Andalus, and no sooner had the Almohads bedded down than they were disposed of by invading Christian conquerors from the north. For hundreds of years thereafter the Alcazar would be the home of ‘Spanish’ kings, each of whom would add their own personal touch to the building. Fascinatingly, the additions made under each king (with perhaps the exception of the pious 
The result as we see it now is a majestic combination of geometric patterns, auriferous decorations, and public and private spaces that resonate with a delicate beauty. Nature seems to ebb and flow through the buildings, almost as it would through a river of its own making, and the abiding tranquility of the Alcazar ensures it always rises above the increasing number of tourists in its midst.
