Mi finde en Granada!

Que divertido es Granada!

I had a really great weekend in Granada, Spain, it was only too short! I must say, if I knew how much I would like it, I would have liked to study there than elsewhere in Spain. (Regardless, I still like Alicante, especially the beaches!) You can find it here on this map (and you can find Alicante if you weren't sure where that was either).

If you can't guess from it's location, it's got a lot of immigrants from Morocco and Algeria, making it quite diverse and interesting. It's got some great Arabic streets that reminded me a lot of what Egypt was like (without all of the harassing, thankfully) and some delicious Kebab shops! It's got a lot of great history and amazing Arab architecture (the Alhambra)!

It was about a 5 hour bus ride from Alicante, so on Friday we just drove there and had free time all afternoon. I was pretty tired so we just hung out and walked around the main central area of the city doing a little exploring.




It was really nice to be there with all of the kids from my program since a lot of us don't see each other too much if we don't have the same classes and because everyone was in different places for so long during the fall break. It reminded me of being back at college living in a dorm because we all got to stay on the same hotel floor together. =) That night I enjoyed some Burger King for dinner since I haven't had it in soo long and and just hung out with the other students in the city.

We had a really early morning the next day to start our touring. We started first at the Cathedral of Granada, a really massive and ornate building. The tombs of Queen Isabella and King Fernando, the Catholics, are kept there in Granada (while the tombs of every other king and queen of Spain and kept just outside of Madrid) because of the special history of the city and role that they played in reconquering Granada from the Arabs at the end of the 1400s. You may have also heard of Juana la loca or her husband, Felipe el hermoso (the hansome). Juana is the daughter of Isabella and Fernando, and the two are also there with their parents. All of this is right in city center really and makes for quite the impression from outside.





We had lunch but then continued on to see the Alhambra! The Alhambra was built starting in the 1200s by the Arab sultans (well, their workers) when they conquered Spain. It is really an amazing palace and really beautiful! You can discern the Muslim influence in the lack of pictures, but the walls are covered in Arabic poetry, making for some really interesting decor. Also, there are four official rooms for the four official wives of the Sultans, another give away that it wasn't the Christians who designed the place. Nonetheless, it was not complete when the Arabs were expelled from Spain so the Spanish did do some later redesigning and when Napoleon came through he did not leave it 'as is' either. I have a ton of pictures of the Alhambra:















Outside the Alhambra itself is the Nazaries Palaces and Generalife, the beautiful garden surrounding the whole complex. Generalife is designed almost like a maze, but is filled with beautiful flowers and fountains throughout.






From outside the Nazaries Palaces and Generalife you can get some fabulous views of all of the city of Granada from above. The Sierra Nevada mountain range (the highest peak in Spain) frames Granada on the outside, making for an amazing background!


That took up the good part of our day, but that night had in store a Flamenco show! The Flamenco, a dance perfected and practiced by the Gypsies who live in the Andalucia area, is still performed (for a pretty steep price!) to tourists in the small caves that they use in the side of the mountains. We took a tiny little bus up the small Arabic-looking side streets where the Gypsies live and work to enter their cave. The 40 of us sat along the two sides of the cave wall (it was painted and had some pictures hanging at least) while the dancers did their thing just a few feet in front of us. The Flamenco is definitely an intense and passionate dance! The dancers ranged in age from approximately 15 to 70, with an abuella (grandmother) taking the stage and definitely impressing us with her moves. Yells of 'Ole!' and Guapa! or Guapo! (generally translated as 'hottie,' but perhaps a little less crude) echo throughout the cave, encouraging the dancers to keep moving their feet to the sounds of the guitar and the clapping of the others. This was definitely an experience I won't be forgetting anytime soon!





this is one of our coordinators getting up to dance with the gypsies

We had the night free but it was raining, so we had a great time just hanging out in the hotel getting to relax and 'be Americans' with the rest of the students. Two Spanish students came with us on the trip, but hanging out in homes or any kind of private space with a bunch of people really is not something Spanish people do (they always go out to a bar or a discoteca) so they were not really into our mode of having fun.

The next morning came early again because it was already the day to leave! We toured a monastery in the morning that was filled with paintings of monks being harassed or martyred for their faith, not making it the most enjoyable scenery to see just a bit after waking up. I know very little about art or architecture, but our professor said the main chapel was a very good example of overly-done (at least to modern tastes) baroque style. That is about all I got out of that one...

Our last stop was to drive back to the Gypsy neighborhoods situated a bit up into the mountain foothills and climb through the tiny winding streets exploring, pausing for a bit at the 'Mirador de San Cristobal y San Nicolas' where you can get another great view of the whole city and of the Alhambra.




We went to do a bit more shopping in the Arab streets (I bought same fabulous and really cheap scarfs and some beautiful Moroccan pillow covers for my house for senior year) and then went for kebabs for lunch before having to catch the bus at 1:30 to head back to Alicante. This area reminded me of Egypt in a lot of ways, but the people were a whole lot friendlier and did not offer camels to anyone to buy me as their wife.


Overall, I had a fabulous weekend! I hope when we go on our next group trip to Barcelona it will be just as fun. As of now, I've got only three days of class this week (holiday on Thursday!) but after that I have to begin studying because midterms are quickly creeping up, as well as the visit by my parents.

I'll be sure to write again soon! Hasta luego!