The girl who travels the world in a dress
Teaching English in Southern Spain probably sounds like a dream to many. However every school year, hundreds of native English speakers move to regions like Andalucía and Murcia to work as language assistants. If you’re like most people, reading about the experiences of others can really help you decide if this life is right for you, calm your worries and answer some of your burning questions.
If you travel to Spain, you have to visit Andalucia. It’s a must. When I see people talking about traveling to Spain, they always seem to list Madrid and Barcelona first. I get it. I mean if you only have a limited time in Europe, you just try to hit the largest cities. You think “well I can at least say I’ve been to Spain if I go to Barcelona.” And I’m not knocking either of these cities. I’ve been to both several times and they are quite enjoyable. However if you just stick to those two cities, you miss out on a lot of the charm and character of Spain.
Andalucia is the southern-most region of Spain. It’s also the largest autonomous community in the country. Flamenco dancing was born in Andalucia. Tapas are severed free with beverages in many restaurants. Things are cheaper and the weather is nicer.
Did you know that some people in Andalucia, Spain live in caves? No, it’s not like the cave men of thousands of years ago. I mean people actually build their houses into the land like a cave. Several weekends ago, I spent a night in a Guadix cave house.
You can actually find houses like these on Airbnb. This one and this one look pretty cool. They are typically painted white inside. The idea is that they are super cold in the summer and super warm in the winter. My initial idea was to get a group of friends together and rent one of these. However when I was invited by friends who lived there, I thought “even better!” Chaz and Arielle are English teachers like me who got placed in the town of Guadix. They chose a cave house over a flat because why not? They were super gracious to invite us out there several weekends ago.
I did it. I finally had my Alhambra visit. I can finally check it off the list.
What’s the Alhambra? Well it’s one of the must-see sites in Granada. Last year I was a failure because I never visited it. Isn’t that how it always works? We often don’t spend enough time being a tourist in our own city. Every weekend last year I meant to go but things came up. A weekend away or a friend’s birthday. I just kept putting it off even though it’s amazing. However when I heard that I could go for free, I was all about it. I had to finally do it.
An Alhambra visit is normally not free. However on Sundays they offer free tickets to Granada residents (if there are tickets available). All you have to do is go to the Alhambra office the week before the Sunday you wish to go. All I needed was to present my NIE that indicates my address in Granada. If any of you live in Granada, you have to take advantage of this! Many Granadinos simply don’t know that they can get free tickets.