Granada

So this weekend we were in Granada, Spain which is a city roughly 6 hours South of Valencia. We were in a 5 Star Hotel because the other hotel kicked us out because they wanted a conference to stay there instead of us…but no worries (:  It was AMAZING! The first day we went to the Cathedral of Granada and to the tombs of Los Reyes Católicos (Isabella and Ferdinand and their daughter (Juana the Loca-Juana the crazy)-she had a mental disability, son-in-law (Felipe el Hermoso-Felipe the brave), and grandson-Miguel).  We weren’t allowed to take pictures of parts of the Cathedral (but honestly…that didn’t stop me;) ) and at the tombs we weren’t allowed either so I don’t have any pictures of them….but it was really cool to see the tombs of people that lived roughly 600 years ago! The Cathedral was absolutely gorgeous! It was so intricate and huge! But…a good point was made as we were going through the cathedral…we as Christians are supposed to help the poor and give to the needy, but as we entered the Cathedral there was a beggar outside asking for money because she was hungry ….then we walked into this huge cathedral, built by Christians…Why do we need to have such huge and intricate and expensive things and places to worship when we are supposed to give to the poor and help the needy….it just doesn’t make sense. Okay…well on to more information (:

                After all of this we had free time so a couple of us walked around and explored the area. Granada has a lot of gypsies and there were so many little gypsy stores and everything so that was really cool. A lot of people wanted to go to Italian places to eat and random places….but the couple of us found a little Tapas Bar and it was so good! In Granada if you order a drink (not alcohol….but any!) the tapas are free! I had croquetas (which were those little corndog nugget looking things stuffed with chicken or ham!) and they were so much better than the first place we went.

                Saturday was an early start and we went to La Alhambra! Oh my gosh….24 acres of palace and gardens! La Alhambra was originally built by the Muslim people of Spain and was taken over in 1492 by the Spaniard Kings, Isabella and Ferdinand. Granada was the last Muslim territory to fall in Spain, and still today there is a lot of Arabic influence in the city and all over. La Alhambra was kept intact by the Christians who took over the city, instead of burning it down like a lot of people did when cities were taken over. The palace still has all of the original Arabic inscriptions on the walls except in the “new” part of the palace that was built once the Christians took over because they wanted to have a Christian influence on the palace. It was just so cool to see all of the original Arabic writings and even one window had the original stain glass window. A lot of the palace has been restored because…it’s so old!...but it’s still really cool because the restored parts are restored to look original….sadly….my camera died halfway through so I will be stealing other people’s pictures off Facebook J The view from parts of La Alhambra  was spectacular! It overlooks the city of Granada as a way of protecting the palace from other militaries. While there we also climbed up to the top of the military fortress part where we had even a better view of the city! It’s so cool because the Sierra Nevada Mountains are right there roughly 30 miles from Granada and still had snow on them!

This is all in Arabic and it says There is no god but Allah (or something like that:] )

This is the Christian part of La Alhambra added by Charles V, the grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand. Isabella and Ferdinand took over Granada and La Alhambra, in 1492, from the Moors.

This is our group! well...most of them

 Me, Amanda, and Stephanie

                After this we walked back down into the city and found a Turkish pizza place (odd…I know, but it was so good!) Then we walked around little shops again and explored. Then…one of my friends, Amanda, has a friend of lives in Granada so Amanda, another girl Cheri, and I went and met up with him and he took us around town. He showed us around and then took us to this hole-in-the wall tea place that if you didn’t live in the city would have no idea it was there! We sat and drank milkshakes, slushies, and tea on the ground on the 3^rd floor of this cool little place. It had a great view of the city and we went all touristy on the towniesJ This tea place was right in the heart of the original Arabic neighborhood with the windy, uphill, cobblestone streets, but it really made you feel like you were in Spain! Next, Justin took us to San Nicolás look out which gives a cool view of the city, La Alhambra and the Sierra Nevadas right behind it! As we were walking we came across and Aljiba (AL-HE-BAY) which is a well (built in the original Moorish times) that is fresh water, so we all drank out of it!

                 Once we were all finished with our exploring with Justin we ran (more like took a cab) back to the hotel to get ready for our flamenco evening! Little did we know, but the flamenco place was right near where we had been at the tea place. The flamenco show was so cool and definitely not what I expected! We ate tapas and watched them perform. After this we went back to San Nicolás lookout (which we didn’t know that we were going to when we went before) and took pictures of the city at night. It was gorgeous! Then we had free time and just hung around the hotel once we got back…

But the most adventurous thing that happened on this excursion to Granada was when I threw up in the bus…yeah….didn’t see that coming. I woke up and it happened. =/ (Sorry Sarah Gordon!!!) But hey…what’s an 6-8 hour bus ride without adventure!(: 

Look out for another blog on Wednesday!

Adios!

P.S. Mom!....look what I got!(:

  

Hahaha…it’s just Henna!