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02 December 2010

Hello Mother, Hello Father, Here I am at Camp Granada

As much as we enjoyed Sevilla, Granada totally blew our minds. First of all, our hostel was such an improvement. You know how you know it was classy? They gave us those Ferrero Rocher golden hazelnut chocolate balls upon check-in. Also, TV, private bath, balcony, and HEAT. Two stars well deserved.

We started out with a walk around the city, since we had nothing to do and our hostel wasn't ready yet. Paola, ever enchanted by the fountains, proceeded to take photos of almost every one we passed. Our hostel was close to the Cathedral, so we saw that, and the river, and some nice views of the Sierra Nevada mountains outside town. We walked through another Belen, found a Christmas market, and got more Spanish Christmas songs stuck in our heads (Campanas de Belen, all weekend long).
View from the river of the mountains

The Cathedral, which we walked past pretty much every day

Best. Streetlight. Ever.

On Monday, we had our tour of the Alhambra. We couldn't get regular tickets (they were all sold out for the long weekend) and so we bought the 30 euro themed guided tour (Ours was the Alhambra and Carlos I) so we could see the Alhambra anyway. Our tour guide was named Martin, and he showed us the most famous parts of the Alhambra (the Patio de los Leones, the Sala del Trono, the Washington Irving plaque) and a super secret Carlos I room, and Carlos I's unfinished palace. Then we walked back into the city, passing by the Cathedral, and went to the San Jerónimo Monastery, where Carlos I's wife (he was there on his honeymoon) stayed while he was in the Alhambra. How romantic.

Ceiling in the throne room

We had tapas for lunch because TAPAS ARE FREE in Granada! Just pay for your drink! We probably had too much to drink in the 3 days we were there just to get free tapas. Not that we ate nothing but tapas those three days, because Stacy and Laura were also in Granada with their families and we had dinner with them as well. We also walked up the Sacromonte (well, most of it) to get nice views of the Alhambra at night.

Finally, on Tuesday, we saw the cathedral, which was not as cool as I was hoping, and the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) which had the tombs of the Reyes Católicos (Fernando and Isabel) and Juana la Loca and Felipe el Hermoso (Juana the Mad and Felipe the Handsome). No photos were allowed, but here is a taste.


We also walked back up that hellish hill that the Alhambra sits upon for the third time in three days to look at the exhibition of Matisse artwork influenced by the Alhambra, then walked back down through the Realejo neighborhood. Finally, with only 8 days left in Spain, this completely sums up my semester:

Where is? my beer, my tapa, my ham.

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