Granada

Hey everyone, I have returned to Alicante after quite a weekend in Granada. If you didn't know, Granada is in the south of Spain, which was occupied by the Moors way-back-when, so most of the architecture is a weird mix between the two cultures. It was incredibly beautiful though, and quite different than Alicante or Madrid or any of the other coastal towns I've visited. I'm getting the feeling that every place I visit here is going to be vastly different than anything else.

Typical Granada building at night. This is the area of all the cool stores.

I'm actually really tired, so this might be a short post. Granada was absolutely beautiful, there are no doubts there. Stunning, even. The Alhambra, one of the most-visited places in Spain, is in Granada, and basically it is just this huge castle that the Moors built for their royalty. Talk about excessive. I think my only problem was that, everywhere we went in Granada, we went in a huge tour group -- for example, when we visited the Alhambra, I was in a group of like, 25 people with a tour guide. One thing I've come to realize about traveling is how awesome it is to get away from the tourist-things and discover places nobody usually goes. Open doors, walk up staircases, turn down different streets -- those are the things that are most memorable, not standing in a line with a thousand other tourists taking photos of the same thing.

However, cool notes about Granada:

Friday -- Drove the five hours south to Granada and checked into our hotel room. I've got to say, I love that CIEE travels in style. Best hotels, ever. Plus, Lauren and I got a corner room with a balcony (we like those, have you noticed?) so our room was even bigger than everyone else's. Very cool. Spent the day exploring and then went to a flamenco show that night. Granada has a unique area where all of the Gypsies live, carved into caves in the mountains. Apparently some still live there authentically, up really high where you can't really get to. We saw a flamenco show in one of the caves (although, it wasn't what I expected when they told me 'cave', but it was still cool and carved out of rock). Now that, whew. Teach me how to dance like that. I took a video, but I'm still figuring out how to upload it and I don't feel like messing with it right now :)

Oh, also, Friday afternoon I got in a fight with these Spanish guys for harassing these 12-year old girls. The girls were sitting there in their school uniforms and these older Spanish men came up to them and started saying all this inappropriate, racy stuff to them. (In Spanish, of course.) These girls are just sitting there looking terrified, and I'm watching them as I'm sitting by the fountain with my friends. I ask the girls if they want these guys to be talking to them, and they're like No! No! and so, of course, being me, I march right up to these guys, get in their faces and tell them to shove off. (Yeah, in my broken Spanish. Although the feminist-fury in my eyes probably spoke louder than anything.) Well, they start yelling at me, now. So, here I am, standing in front of these girls, which this guy is literally like, pushing me around, looking for a fight. All I could think of was, of course, I am going to be arrested for getting in a fight in Spain trying to protect these young girls from some creepers. Of all the reasons I'd be arrested, that sounds about right. All my friends were just standing there gaping. Finally, after my stares of death, the guys left...the girls were so shocked at this crazy American girl (me) who had gone up against the machisimo. Probably stupid, but I was pretty proud, hahah.

Lauren, Michelle, me and Cristina -- everyone in my Spanish class!

Saturday -- Woke up early to tour the Alhambra. This place is so huge you literally need three hours to see it. At least. And even then, you'll be rushing through most of it. It's a miniature city, basically. We're planning on renting the place out for my friend's wedding, which is going to occur sometime during this semester we're abroad. We've got about a month to find her a groom. I'm sure that renting out that palace would be no problem, right?

Highlights: I stood in the room where Christopher Columbus asked Queen Isabella and Ferdinand if he could get the money to go the new world, and saw the box where Isabella kept her jewels she gave him to sell for the money. Also, there's this other story that apparently, when the Moors were still running the Alhambra, one of the kings found out his wife was having an affair. (We got to walk through the gardens that apparently they were discovered in, which were magical, so I don't really blame her for being seduced. There was also some legend about this specific tree and good luck or something, but I wasn't really listening.) Anyways, so he finds out about this affair, and decides to invite the man and his entire family to a party in the palace. Too bad when each person walks in the room, he cuts off their head and kills them. Nice guy, huh? Never mind that he had a whole wing dedicated to his concubines. Some things never change. There are still "bloodstains" on the fountain in the room (we got to walk through it) -- except, really, its just oxidation of the metals, but it still looks creepy when you think about it.

I thought this looked quite scenic.

One of the many cool things to see in the Alhambra.

Running through the gardens of the Alhambra.
Clearly, we were paying much attention to the tour guide.

During free time, some friends and I explored more of Gyspy-land Granada. We ate lots of kabobs, which, contrary to popular belief, do not actually come on sticks but rather in tortilla-like pockets of bread. Also, these are the best things I've ever eaten in my entire life. I'm pretty sure every meal was a kabob. We found some staircases and climbed them until we ran out of stairs. That was cool, because it was so authentic and real, not touristy in the least. We found a really cool vista, called "Los Ojos de Granada" (or at least that's what some grafiti said, so I'm going to take that as law). Took some pictures, tripped around. Fun.

Look what we found! Best picture of the trip, for sure.

We also found a really cool, authentic tapas bar for dinner. The way that tapas work in Granada is that every time you order a drink, you get a free plate of food. This is wonderful, because not only are you getting to hang out in a pub and drink some cerveza with your amigos, but you also get fed for the same price. I'm a fan.

Later, went on some more tours of old stuff. Got to see Isabella and Ferdinand's coffins (yes, legit 100+ year old coffins) which was quite the trip. Some cool big church place, too. Clearly, I was listening intently to our tour guide.

Would you like some fried Octop?

Sunday: Got to sleep in, which was a blessing. Once more visited Gypsy-land Granada (yes, I just made that name up). Lauren and I shopped around a bit and bought some cool wall-hangings for our rooms at home. This added to our collection of gypsy-pants we had bought the day before from a legit gypsy. Super cool. We poked around the stores some more, then bought more kabobs and ate them on a street corner and people-watched. I felt very European, sitting on a stoop and eating my non-American food and speaking Spanish. Excellent. Then, climbed on a bus and slept for the 5 hours home!

Sorry that I am being lazy and not uploading more pictures and telling more stories. Also, I wrote this entry in appx ten minutes, so if its curt, silly or nonsensical, that's why. Perhaps I will tomorrow :) Love you!