Granada

Friday, after our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, 17 of us met at 10AM and headed down south to Andalucía to the city of Granada. When I came to Spain 3 and a half years ago I visited Granada, but I don’t remember much of it. Plus it was a school trip and we got to stay in a 4 star hotel, so I signed right up.

After a 6-hour bus ride, with 2 stops we arrived at the hotel around 4 PM. The weather was nice and it was definitely colder than Valencia, but gracias a Dios it wasn’t rainy like the forecast predicted. We got our stuff and settled in our rooms and let me just say it was like staying a palace. After staying in hostels most of the time here in Europe and traveling with only a backpack, it was so nice to be in a hotel. We had our own bathroom, wifi and a TV in our room! It was so magical and I didn’t want to leave the hotel. 2 of my best friends here and I are all avid Grey’s Anatomy watchers, however we haven’t had the time or internet to watch them over here. So Friday afternoon we rested and ended up watching 4 episodes of Grey’s. We met up with Ralf, our friend who works at school and he took us out. Only 7 of us were up for the journey (All of Richmond plus me), but I think it was better with that. It is hard to travel in a big group sometimes. The good thing about Andalucía is when you order a drink; you get a tapa for free. It is different at every restaurant, sometimes you can pick your tapa, sometimes they bring tapas for the whole table or sometimes they bring you a tapa of the day. We went to 2 different tapa bars, had tapas and drinks and then headed back to the hotel since we had to be up so early the next morning.

Saturday, we woke up to great weather again and ate the continental breakfast that was included in our stay at the 4 star-hotel. It was so great to have yogurt and granola for breakfast for once since I never get that opportunity here. Everything was great except for the coffee… I don’t think Spaniards know how to make coffee. Italy has them beat by a lot. After that we boarded the bus and headed to the Alhambra.

The Alhambra is what Granada, Andalucía and Spain are all famous for. It is also one of the 7 man made wanders of the world and the only medieval Arab palace in the world. Yes, you read that correctly this place is very important to both the Arab culture and Christians. As many of you know Arabs ruled Spain until 1492 (when the Christians took over) and one of their capitals was Granada. The Alhambra is the royal city of the Arabs in Granada and consists of gardens, palaces, city walls and much more. The gardens or generalife were amazing and my favorite part for sure. They have flowers from all over the world in the gardens. Next we toured the guesthouses where the friends and guests of the kings lived. Next we toured the place where the kings lived. The Alhambra is filled with gorgeous mosaics and Arabic writing all over the walls. There are no words to describe the beauty of this place. We had a fabulous tour guide, Pablo, who was with us for all 4 hours of touring the palace and gave us a very informative guide in English.

The Alhambra

Patty and I in front of mosaics at the Alhambra

Me, Kristin and Brian at the Alhambra

Michelle, Me and Patty

Me, Patty, Preetal and Michelle at the Alhambra

Some sort of interesting flower in the generalife at the Alhambra

After touring the Alhambra, we did the tapa thing again for lunch. We then saw the Capilla Real, which is the place where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. It is a chapel that is right next to the huge cathedral that used to be the mosque when the Arabs ruled Spain. We made it back to the hotel in time to watch some more Grey’s Anatomy and shower and get ready for Flamenco. Saturday night, we all went to see flamenco in thus cave. Andalucía is the region of Spain where flamenco started and although flamenco is throughout Spain, it is the best region to go to a flamenco show in. A bus picked us up at our hotel; we detoured to the old Arab city of Granada and saw the view of the Alhambra at night. Sadly the pictures don’t do justice as to how gorgeous the view of this palace was at night. After that we headed to flamenco. When we got there we realized we were legit in a cave and the people were going to dance literally right in front of me. The show started and for an hour and a half we were entertained by 5 or 6 flamenco dancers, some singers and musicians. Although this was my third time ever seeing flamenco, it was probably the best. But it is also so hard to tell because there are so many different types and versions of flamenco. All of them are different but good in so many different ways.

Patty, Me, Kristin and Michelle out and about in Granada

One of the flamenco dancers at our flamenco show (notice the cave)

Me, Patty and Kristin: our dream one day is to become flamenco dancers and live in Spain

Patty and I in front of the Alhambra at night

Sunday morning we woke up, ate continental breakfast again and checked out of the hotel. The weather was miserable: rainy and cold (it snowed in the mountains of Granada). Needless the weather was very different than what we have been used to hear in Valencia where it has rained maybe 4 times since September and it doesn’t really get below 65 degrees. Despite the weather we had our 2-hour walking tour of the Arab city of Granada, the Albaicin. I was there, but so miserable and wet; that I really couldn’t tell you why it’s important or what it is exactly. I do know that it was the barrio where all of the Muslims lived. After what seemed like 4 hours, we were freezing cold and soaking wet, we went to a café, and got some lunch and hot chocolate and waited until we could get on the bus and head back to Valencia. We left Granada around 2:30 and arrived in Valencia shortly after 9 at night. It was such a fun trip and I am so glad we were able to go.

Next… well it will be Switzerland… only 4 days away… can’t wait!

-MO