Saturday, November 13th

The Alhambra 

Saturday we got up at a decent time to tour the city. Our first stop was the Alhambra, an old palace/castle place. We had a guide for this part of the trip and she was awesome. The problem was that she spoke really fast and had a thick Andalucían accent. Katy and I couldn’t really understand the majority of what she said, but she was super sweet and tried to explain things to us. It was nice because it was just the three of us with her so she was able to take a lot of time and show us everything! She said she has a new house with a pool that she rents out to students if we ever want to study in Granada, so if you know anyone who is looking for a place in Granada, I can hook them up! J

The Alhambra was absolutely spectacular. All of the Muslim artwork was incredible. The architecture was amazing too. It was really cool to see the things that we’re learning about in class in real life. I was super bummed though because the Lion Patio is under construction. We still got to see the lions from the fountain, but it just wasn’t the same. The Lion Fountain is incredible because the way the water pressure works, on the hour, every hour, a lion shoots water out of its mouth. How awesome is that!? I was amazed that so long ago they had the methods to make that happen!

Katy and I at a pretty fountain

After visiting the Alhambra we ate lunch in a nearby Carmen restaurant. We had a menu del dia, but it kind of stunk. I really liked the soup, but my second course wasn’t that great. I ordered the chicken dish like Ana, but it was really pepper. The dessert was on the other end of the spectrum with no flavor. Overall I wasn’t impressed, but oh well, that’s life.

tree hugging

After lunch we were all pooped so we went back to the hotel to observe the Spanish Siesta. After resting for a solid hour and a half, we ventured back out into the city.

Katy, Ana, and I

We took the city bus up to this famous look-out point. It was so beautiful because you can see the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which were snow capped, and the Alhambra and the sun was setting.

Next we went down to the cathedral. We didn’t have a ton of time to see the cathedral because it closed about the time we got there, but it was still impressive. I really liked the organ and the altar.

Granada

Since the majority of the monuments had closed down for the day, we hit up the shopping district. I was determined to find boots, at that I did! Ana and Katy were super patient as I went from store to store trying on different pairs of shoes. In the end I found a fabulous pair that were fairly cheap. I also ended up buying a super cute headband. My professor kept saying how it was “me”. Haha!

pillow fight in the lobby :)

After our mini shopping spree, we went to another famous section of town to get tapas. We ended up at one of the most famous tapas bars in Granada. The food was delicious! We had a platter of different hams and chorizos, soup, bread, cheese, and more tinto de verano.

me and my boots <3 

We contemplated staying out after dinner, but we were all three so sleepy we decided just to call it a night so we could get up the next morning and do some more sightseeing.