NOTE: See all my pictures from this weekend on Facebook! CLICK HERE
Well, I am back from my adventure in Granada! This weekend was filled with walking and lots of pretty sights. So let’s start with Friday :)
Well, I am back from my adventure in Granada! This weekend was filled with walking and lots of pretty sights. So let’s start with Friday :)
Friday morning (at 10 to be specific) we left for Granada. This is after a whopping 4 hours of sleep
because I decided to go to a discoteca Thursday night. After walking an hour and a half (we might
have went the wrong way), Jordan and I met our friends at a bar before heading
to the L’umbracle (the discoteca). At
L’umbracle there was quite a bit of dancing, and an overall fun night with
friends and two TAs!
Okay, now back to Friday morning. We stopped twice during our bus ride (once
for lunch and a second time for another descanso
or rest) and got to Granada around 5:30.
The group (all 50 of us) checked into our hotel, which was about a 10
minute walk from the city center. My
roommate this time was Grace, but everyone from Barcelona (minus Julia) came to
Granada as well. The five of us decided
to take a short siesta since none of us had slept much before heading out into
town at 7. We wandered around for a
little bit, stopping here and there and looking in some of the shops, before
running into another group and deciding to go eat dinner. For dinner we had tapas, because Granada is
known for their tapas! I don’t remember
what the restaurant’s name was, but we ended up ordering three of their “10
tapas sampler plates.” Each plate came
with 10 different tapas, and seeing how there were 10 of us eating we decided
this would be perfect! And the tapas
were quite good :) After dinner, we of course had to get ice cream (Granada was
really hot!) It was another good decision.
flamenco! |
The flamenco show took place in the Albaycín in an intimate
setting. We were seated in chairs around
a narrow room and the flamenco dancers were literally right in front of
me. Jordan, who sat at the other end of
the room, right next to the dancers, said she felt like she was a part of the
show she was that close. Funny thing is,
at the end she became a part of the show (the dancers picked a few people at
the end to flamenco with them)! The show
had two halves, with two different groups of performers for each half. Each group had a singer, a guitarist, and a
few dancers who would take turn dancing by themselves or in pairs. These dances were really impressive, with lots
of quick foot taps and some fancy hand movements. One lady even danced with a fan, and another
with castinets,
which are classic in flamenco.
a water fountain! |
Later came, and we had to get back to the hotel to leave for the Alhambra. After climbing onto the bus, we drove around to the other side of the Alhambra (so that we would come out the side near the city center). The Alhambra is super strict about entrance times, especially for groups, so it was super important we got their on time. Everyone from UVA was split into two tour groups, one group that was given a Spanish tour and the other was in English. I decided to go with the Spanish group (and our guide was great!) We headed in at 4, but not to the Alhambra right away. We started with the summer palace and gardens, called the Generalife (pronounced hen-er-al-ee-fe, not general life). The palace and gardens were originally built during the reign of Muhammad III (1302-1309), but the gardens we saw were started in 1931 (and completed in 1951). The walkways are still paved in the traditional Granada style though, and of course they were still gorgeous! See my pictures (here and on Facebook) to try and see how pretty! :)
Our entrance time for the Alhambra was 5:30, and we arrived at the entrance with just enough time to take a rest before entering. The Alhambra was gorgeous! The intricate details of the walls within the palace are absolutely incredible! And I absolutely loved all the different patterns of tiles. My one wish is that I knew Arabic, because everything known about the Alhambra is written on its walls and it would have been cool to read it. Next time I'll just have to go with Maddy :)
Patio de los Leones |
The Salón de los Embajadores is the largest room in the Alhambra. It is perfectly square with a dome center. This room was the throne and reception room, and ti was here that Christopher Columbus received Isabel and Ferdinand's support to sail to the New World. Another room we saw was the Sala de los dos Hermanas. This is where the wives of the king lived. The king could officially have 4 wives, but only one could be the queen. Now, check out some of these patterns and details below!
La Catedral de Granada |
Our tour of the Alhambra finished with us walking out of the gardens to the city center. We then had some free time, so of course I went for ice cream! :) We didn't want to eat dinner since the bus was taking us to get tapas later, but we were hungry. After dinner, it was back to the Zoco area for some last minute gifts and then chilling on the Cathedral steps. We went back to the hotel to hang out and rest our feet form a full day of walking. At 10pm, the bus took us to the Plaza de los Toros for tapas. I know what you're thinking, a bull ring to eat food? Yup! All around the outside of the ring (built into the walls) are tapa places. We went to the first one we saw and ordered drinks and tapas (a tapa comes with your drink, then you can order more). The best part of this meal might have been that our two chaperones ate with us :) That turned out to be really good, because the menu wasn't all that clear about the ordering tapas with drinks procedure and such.
Plaza de los Toros |
Albaycín |
Sunday morning wake up call was at 8:30, with check out at 9:45 and we were on our way to the Albaycín by 10. The Albaycín is a district of Granada, and this district is the largest Moorish quarter left in Spain. Declared as a UNESCO world heritage sight (along with the Alhambra and Generalife), all the buildings are in the old style, along narrow streets with small, white walled houses. The houses at one point had more than 40,000 inhabitants before
Albaycín |
There were two places in the Albaycín that stood out. First was the Puerta Nueva (built in the 12th century), also known as the Puerta de las Pesas. This is attached to the Plaza Larga and is where the weights of goods sold in the Plaza were monitored. Thieves would also be punished on the wall right next to the Puerta (fingers would be chopped off and hung here... at least I think that's what the guide said. The tour was in Spanish again and I was busy taking pictures). The other place was the Church of San Salvador, although what I liked more was the view
La Alhambra (from the Albaycín) |
Our tour finished in downtown Granada, with the Cathedral, the statue of Isabel and Christopher Columbus, the Capilla Real (where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried... I didn't get to go inside though) and a few other touristy sights. After the tour was over, we had exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes until the bus left for Valencia. On our list of things to do, grab lunch, get ice cream, and some people wanted to grab super last minute gifts from the Zoco. We also wanted to say buy to our friend at the Africa store (he was a part of our crú/croo/creu which developed over the weekend). We became friends with Mr. Africa because Jordan and I talked to him while in the shop Friday, then we ran into him later Friday walking down the street, and we waved every time we passed his store Saturday. Unfortunately we didn't see him Sunday :( With that off our list, we decided to forego the lunch and get ice cream first. A few people quick ran into the Zoco while
I scream, you scream, Michelle Obama screams for ice cream! |
We got back to the hotel with time to spare, so some sat and ate lunch before heading onto the bus. We stopped twice during the ride home (I ate lunch at the first stop) and arrived in Valencia at 8:30, an hour early! Then it was home to eat dinner, upload pictures and head to bed! Oh, and did I mention that we watched 5 Harry Potter movies on the bus this weekend? Yup, it happened!
Pablo's ready to dance! |
After his show, everyone came over! When I say everyone, I mean all of Pablo's extended family - Natalia's brother and his family, her sister, her dad, and José's parents. Pablo was super excited, and it was fun chatting. Maggie (another UVA student) came, too, because she's living with Natalia's brother's family, so I talked to her (in Spanish of course). And, while everyone was here, I tried horchata for the first time. Horchata is a typical drink from Valencia, made with something called chufa. It's in the same family as a potato, but isn't one. I think I liked it, but I don't really know. I drank two cups of it, so I can't say I didn't like it, but after those cups I'm still not sure what I think. All I know is that it was sweet and not like anything I had tasted before.
Everyone left not too long ago, and Natalia and I had a quick dinner after cleaning up and putting Pablo to bed. Now it's time for my bed time. Only 4 days left in Spain, so I gotta be well rested to live them up!
La Alhambra |
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