French meets Aussie meets Canadian

Getting into the Alhambra was not an easy feat. At home, it is not my style to stand in line to enter a bar or club. But for an architectural site, I lost my mind and found myself at 8:30am at the entranceway, in line, listening to an announcement, "The officials would like to inform you that there are 100 tickets left for the morning and 300 tickets left for the afternoon". That did not seem too bad and I was sure I would get in.

11:00am, two and a half hours later and I was still there, maybe 3 meters forward but many more away from the ticket counter. The intercom played, "There are no more tickets left for the morning visit and 50 tickets left for the afternoon visit at 2pm". In front of me, there stood 60 people?

However, standing and waiting for hours also has its advantages as I met an Australian couple and French family. The Australians did not speak french, the French did not speak English. None of us spoke Spanish but with my limited translation skills and basic knowledge of French and English, we plotted schemes together and finally got tickets (with only 10 left). Altogether, it was a great afternoon where a language barrier created a bond amongst strangers and made my visit to the Alhambra a more unique and memorable experience.