Friday, February 20
8:00am: Leave for Granada from the Puerta de Derecho (at the University)
Waking up this early was gross. We biked to the university and I tried my best to sleep on the bus. It was a 3 hour bus ride and I tried to sleep for the first hour and a half. For the last hour and a half I gave up and just talked to the guiya who was sitting next to me. His name was Pablo, and I'm pretty proud of myself for having a legitimate conversation in Spanish for almost 2 hours.
12:00pm: Arrive and check-in, Hotel Alixares
Our hotel was pretty nice. I roomed with Courtney, Annie, and Veronica. Our room was on the first floor, which was great...or so we thought.
1:00pm: Lunch in the Hotel
You're going to have to ask Courtney how lunch was, because I slept right through it. It was a much needed nap, and I definitely would not have enjoyed the day as much as I did if I stayed awake. The girls woke me up before we had to leave and they all said the food was great. It was a buffet so needless to say I was excited for dinner.
3:00pm: Meet in the lobby to visit el Barrio del Albaicin. Our guides will take us through the tight streets to El Mirador de San Nicolas, where you can take the most authentic photos of the Alhambra and of the city. After we will descend to the city center to visit the Capilla Real in which you find los Reyes Catolicos (the tomb of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella).
I was pretty mad that I didn't have my camera when we got up here. The view was beautiful; you could see the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Alhambra, and all the beautiful buildings in the city.
Annie took this picture of us. You can see the white tops of the mountains in the background. Pretty cool.
Afterwards we walked through Barrio del Albaicin. All the houses were white to reflect the sun; it gets unbearably hot in the summertime. The streets were tiny, and the roads were hilly. We eventually got to this hippie plaza. I fell in love. People were just hanging out and selling stuff they made. I bought a painting of the Alhambra from a girl. The black parts were done by a man in Belgium and she did the colors. It's one-of-a-kind. We headed around the Barrio some more and then to La Capilla Real. Seeing the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella was a bit creepy, but exciting at the same time. The tomb is above ground. It was massive, made out of marble with the most elaborate carvings and sculptures. You then went down this teeny set of stairs to see the actual coffins with their bodies inside. You obviously couldn't see the actual bodies. The chapel was gorgeous, too. You weren't supposed to take pictures but Courtney took them anyway so when she posts them so will I.
5:30pm: After, our guide will accompany us to the city center and we will have tea with arab desserts at Teteria Kasbah. After tea, you have free time.
Teterias are hookah bars and they were EVERYWHERE in Granada. The tea was delicious (we had two kinds-one was really minty, but yummy) and the desserts were too. We walked around the marketplaces afterwards and I bought lots of presents for my favorite people back home. Hopefully everything fits in my suitcase! Of course we found another hookah bar and drank more tea before we had dinner at the hotel.
9:00pm: Dinner at the Hotel
Our hotel was on a hill in the middle of nowhere. The girls were freaking out because they were so hungry and we couldn't find our hotel. We ended up taking a taxi back that cost us 4 Euros. We were happy that we were so close. Dinner was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be.
After dinner I called David and talked to him for a while. I called my mom after that, too. Technology has been pretty good to me so far. I went back to the room to shower and was warned about the flood in the bathroom. The showerhead was pretty powerful, and Courtney and Veronica showered while I was on the phone in the lobby. Even if I had Noah's Ark I wouldn't be prepared to the mess that I walked into. The water didn't spray in the shower but I made it so that when I showered the water stayed where it belonged.
Granada nightlife wasn't as fun as Sevilla's. The only good thing was that you got free tapas with every drink you ordered. I had a cup of tinto de verano at the first bar and we all got turkey and cheese melts with french fries. Yum! And that was the only 2 Euros I spent all night. Annie and I walked back around 3:00am and almost got kidnapped. It was the first time I haven't felt safe in Spain. But we're ok, and that's all that matters. Moving on!
Sunday, February 21
8:45am: Breakfast in the Hotel
YEAH RIGHT. CIEE also convienently signed us up for wake-up calls at 8:40. Thanks for that.
11:00am: Meet in the hotel lobby to visit La Alhambra and General Life
Huge and incredible. I'll have to post pictures because no words do it justice. General Life is just the area where the king and everybody else who was under him would spend their days. La Alhambra used to be a city completely separate from Granada.
Enjoying the view
2:30pm: Lunch in the hotel
By the time lunch came around, we were all literally starving. Lunch was delicious and I had ketchup for the first time since I've been here. After lunch I bought a couple more presents.
4:00pm: Leave for Sevilla
Adios, Granada! It's been real. I didn't want to leave; Granada was definitely my favorite trip so far. The entire bus was silent for the first hour and a half. We stopped at the strangest rest stop ever and then everyone was awake again..sort of. We got back around 7:30pm then biked home.
All in all, a great trip and I wouldn't hesitate to go back to Granada :)
No comments:
Post a Comment