Granada

July 23, 2010

We decided kind of last minute to go to Granada for a day-trip. We bought our Alhambra tickets in advance, but there were a lot of seats left on the bus so we decided just to wait til we left to buy our tickets--not a great idea. We got to the bus station realllyyyy early in the morning to catch the first bus out to Granada. For some reason, we couldn’t buy tickets for the bus we wanted. We stood in line forever to talk to the people at the ticket booth, but they ended up telling us that they couldn’t do anything about it. We left the Avenida de America Station and went to the South Station to see if they had anything. We got there, and they actually had a bus leaving within ten or fifteen minutes. It cost double but it was a super economy ticket so it was a shorter bus ride, we had comfier seats, we got to watch a couple movies, they served us snacks and drinks a few times, and they gave us a book as a gift when we left. The extra money was definitely worth it--it gave us a lot more time in Granada too. Driving down through the southern part of Spain was incredible. It felt a lot more Spanish to me than Madrid or Barcelona. The mountains and cliffs were so gorgeous! We got to see the countryside of Spain so I loved it :)

When we first got to Granada, we had to take a different bus to get to the city center. That bus dropped us off right at the Cathedral of Granada and at the Royal Chapel. The Royal Chapel has the tombs of King Ferdinand and Queen IsabellaBoth were beautiful. I loved the style of the cathedral--especially the doorways. There were spice markets right outside the cathedral with hundreds of different spices it seemed like. It smelt soo good to walk by them. I should have bought my saffron there--it was a better deal than what I got it for in Madrid and it looked better. There were quite a few women walking around trying to read our palms too--they tried to put herbs in our hands and then they wanted money but I just said no gracias. After we were done exploring the beautiful exterior of the church, we walked down to Plaza Isabel la Catolica. There was a huge statue of Queen Isabella in the middle with fountains and flowers surrounding it. It was really pretty. Granada itself is really just a beautiful city. A lot of people go there just for the Alhambra--which is breathtaking--but the city itself is really cute too. There are lanterns hanging on the side streets, flowers everywhere, sheets hanging from one building to the next across the street to block out the sun, beautiful buildings--I really liked it.

We started walking around and saw La Iglesia y Convento de San Anton (Saint Anthony's Church and Convent) and Palacio de Pavos (Duck Palace). We were trying to find the flower garden (El Carmen de los Martires), but that didn’t happen. It ended up being reallyyy far away and we didn’t have a whole lot of time. We went to the Corral del Carbon—a deposit of merchandise and shelter of merchants. It was adapted after the 16th century for theater plays.

Afterward, we walked around the city a little more and went to get tapas in Plaza Nueva LAS NAVAS???? It is one of the best places to get tapas in Granada. We had a great view of the Albaicin from there. The Albaicin is the ancient Arab quarter of Granada, containing many original houses from the 16th century. We got tapas at a restaurant in the plaza. It was a really cute place. It had glass tables with purple neon lights underneath. I had some Alhambra beer. They brought us meat, bread, olives, and tomatoes that were all delicious.

After our tapas, we took a bus up to the Albaicin. There was no way we were walking that—tiny, winding roads & steep hills. We spent the entire day with the same bus driver pretty much. He always ended up being the bus driver to pick us up and take us to the next spot. We explored the beautiful Albaicin for awhile & admired all of the cute white houses. Then, we went to El Mirador de San Nicolas—where you can get the best view of La Alhambra. It was incredible (& enormous!). It was sooo hot out that it was hard to believe there was snow on top of the mountains in the background. We had a great view of the city of Granada and the Albaicin too. We took a bunch of pictures, sat down for a bit, then took the bus to La Alhambra.

Words can’t describe how amazing La Alhambra is. Every small detail in the intricately designed buildings was amazing in itself—not to mention the beautiful gardens and the view of Granada. La Medina—a garden—was like paradise. We saw the Palace of Carlos V. We went inside the Palacios Nazaries (The Nasrid Palace), which displays Muslim architecture at its finest. The finely molded plaster catches the light along with the honeycomb ceilings. The palace rooms border patios with pools and water cascades, reflecting the preciousness of water in the Arab world. We saw the Court of Myrtles, the Court of Lions, the Hall of Ambassadors, and every other room in the palace. The stucco walls were so fragile—they really didn’t want anyone touching them because stucco is really sensitive to the oils on our hands. We saw Barrio Castrense of the Alcazaba (the castle) and Torre de la Vela (Viewing Tower). The tiny winding staircase up to the top of the viewing tower was tough to go up after a long day of walking in the heat. Barrio Castrense (Castrense neighborhood) looked like a maze on top of the Alcazaba. My favorite part was probably Palacio del Portico (probably the most famous palace of La Alhambra). The reflecting pool and the arches and the landscaping around it were gorgeous. We sat in La Alhambra for as long as we could, and then headed back to the bus to get back to the city center. We had to catch our bus back home to Madrid, and we didn’t want to miss it.

On the bus, I saw a girl who looked IDENTICAL to my cousin Kaity. Besides her having short hair, she was seriously identical to Kaity. I wanted to take a picture, but she got off the bus at the next stop. I never really believed it when people said that we supposedly have an identical twin half way across the world, but now I’m starting to think it’s true. We got back to the city center and had enough time to grab more tapas. We went to a restaurant close to the church. I got really good tapas and a beer for just a euro—it was great! We headed back to the bus stop, went to the bus station, and boarded our bus back home to Madrid. I had my first Spanish dream on the bus ride home. I can only remember a little part of it—I was talking about how I wanted bread from the oven and someone tried offering me other bread but I insisted on the one from the oven. Not a very interesting dream, but it was my first Spanish dream! We made a half hour pit stop on the way and got out at a rest stop. It was such a gorgeous night. There was a full moon and a cool breeze—it felt so much like summer. It made me miss home a lot. I only had one week left though so I just enjoyed the mountains of southern Spain while I could :)