Alhambra and Carmen de las Martires

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Alhambra is a very famous sight worldwide. You can only get tickets when you book one or two months ahead because people from all over the world want to visit it.
It's an ancient Muslim palace with stunning decorations. Everyone told me, once you visit Granada you have to visit Alhambra!
As I hadn't bought a ticket in advance I had only one option to get one: I had to got to a last minute ticket sale very early in the morning. So, I got up extremely early on Saturday and walked through the dark night to get to the Alhambra. I arrived at 5:30 am and thought that it was early, but there was already a cue of around 50 people in front of me. After 3 hours of waiting and freezing, finally something started to move and the ticket sale began. They sold 7 day passes in total which grant entrance to the palace and its gardens. Another 168 tickets were sold but with admittance only to the garden, but not the palace. Only the first seven people who had been camping in front of the ticket office all night got palace tickets!!! So, I got a ticket to visit the gardens and I was very happy with that. Hundreds of people behind me in the cue didn't get any ticket at all!
The gardens and the views around were really amazing!











A little later that day, I went to another park close to Alhambra: the Carmen de las Martires. Iago, my Couchsurfer host, had recommended it to me. For this park, I didn't have to wait in a cue. I didn't have to pay for entrance, either. It was beautiful as well and I enjoyed the experience in this park maybe even more than the one of Alhambra! It was more silent and peaceful. There were peacocks running around and the palm trees and fountains made me feel like I was in a Caribbean temple of some sort. It was quiet because there were no big tourist groups with cameras. No snack points and souvenir shops everywhere. Just a peaceful beautiful park. Now I'm happy that I didn't get a full day ticket to visit the palace of Alhambra. This was much better.







Today's experience reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
Sometimes what you get isn't always what you wanted. But in the end what you got is much better than what you wanted.

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