Next stop: Granada after another seven hour bus ride
We got to Granada pretty late in the day and only had time to change clothes and go explore the city looking for a good place to eat dinner. The city is made up of small streets and alleyways all full of really cute shops and cafes. Some were very upscale and others were a little more "local". I really liked Granada because our hotel was very centrally located so we could find everything from walk up sandwich delis to 10 different shoe stores within a five minute walk. The other hotels we stayed at were a little more removed from the center of the city and more difficult to navigate. We stumbled upon a pretty square surrounded by restaurants and picked an Italian one where I ate pizza for the first time since being home. It was different but still yummy. My roommates and I stopped for a quick picture in front of the fountain in the middle of the square before going to get crepes and nutella and head back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
The next day we had a short one hour walking tour of the city where we saw the city's cathedral and walked around the outdoor markets where there were lots of vendors selling souvenirs and food. We ended the tour at this fountain in the middle of the city. Pictured above is Kaity and me and some of our friends in our business class.
The real attraction in Granada however was yet to come. It's a palace called the Alhambra about an 8 kilometer drive from the city. It is the second most visited site in the world, after the Eiffel Tower and before the Statue of Liberty, and I have to say I was much more impressed by the Alhambra than by either of those structures. It was MASSIVE. Built on a huge hill overlooking the city, every side of the castle provided a beautiful view of Granada.
Some of the boys in our group tried to adopt the local style by purchasing MC Hammer/Gypsy pants at the outdoor markets for 9 euro each... Not sure I saw any locals wearing them, but the boys were pleased that upon sitting down, the pants magically turned into tables!
The gardens were really beautiful, and huge with lots of terraces and different paths to walk down and explore. It was about 102 degrees that day so we were pretty tempted to jump in every fountain we saw.
The view from one of the structures.
Up in the highest tower of the castle, some of the boys posed for what they thought made a great photo, hanging from the flag poles overlooking the city.
My friends Charyssa, Christene, and I in the gardens in front of one of the many fountains.
As my blog progresses, you'll notice a lot of repeating clothes among my roommates and I. This is because we each packed for the travel seminar in about five minutes, and brought approximately five shirts each for the nine day trip. Very well thought out.
I think that Granada was probably my favorite city that I visited along the travel seminar because the people were very friendly, there was a lot of vibrance to the city, and there was more diversity of both cuisine and activities than there was in the other cities we visited. Tea shops are very popular in Granada and so we took a night off from our usual activities and visited Kasbah, a tea house about a ten minute walk from our hotel and tried some of the different teas they had to offer. The decor and ambiance was very different than anything else we had experienced in Spain so it was a nice view into the other types of cultures that exist outside of paella and flamenco. It also happened to be a hookah bar.
Next stop: Sevilla!
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