Granada

We woke up early Saturday morning, finished packing, ate breakfast and packed some sandwiches and fruit and were headed to the cathedral to meet up with the rest of our ISA group to head to Granada for the weekend.  The bus ride wasn't bad, about an hour, maybe a little more.  Ryann and I got put into the first group, which meant we were headed to the Alhambra first.  The Alhambra is a moorish palace/fortress that was built in the 1400s and later was taken over by the Catholic Queen and King, leaving a mark of christian and islamic touches on the building and gardens.  At one point in our tour our guide stopped us and told us that we were standing in a part built in the 1400s but looking into a part built in the 1600s and that we were almost in a time machine.  It felt pretty cool.

In all honesty, describing it or seeing pictures doesn't do it justice.  It was absolutely breathtaking and the coolest thing that I have seen in Spain so far.   I honestly could have stayed there for the entire day just wandering around seeing everything.  First off, the gardens are absolutely amazing.  Fountains, tall sculpted hedges, red, pink, yellow, orange, white flowers everywhere, trees, vines.  It was amazing.

The buildings surrounding the gardens were just as beautiful.  I'm still amazed and the intricate detail that was put into each of the buildings.  Our tour guide told us that if we thought it was beautiful while we were visiting, we should have seen it in the 1600s.  The now white/ivory colored walls and ceilings were once ornate with colors.  Hand painted and beautiful.  Although the color was gone, the beauty still remained.  I cannot even began to describe the hand carvings, woodwork and sculpting that was put into this palace in order to create it.  All I can say is if I could, I would so be getting married there.  Once again, the pictures don't do the place justice.  It was breathtaking. 

After the Alhambra, we went to the hotel and settled in.  Ryann and I took a short nap and then woke up and wanted to go explore the town.  We went out, but then realized were weren't as adventurous as we thought we were on our own and just stayed in a part close to our hotel.  But, we did get some delicious ice cream, my choice was toffee and walked around.  It was nice.  We headed back to the hotel and met up with some girls hoping to go get Mexican food.  After 3 weeks of Spanish food, I need a little spice in my life:).  We headed out to find the restaurant and actually found it successfully.  Sadly it was closed and didn't open back up until 10pm.  That was not going to sit with our hungry tummys.  So we turned around and trekked back into the part of town near our hotel and searched for pizza.  It took us about 20 minutes of walking and searching, but we finally found a place.  It was called Oh-la-la and the pizza was good, but it's nothing like Penny's or Cugino's.  (I'm definitely in need of a taste of home).

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to meet up with our ISA group for a surprise that our leaders had put together for us to enjoy.  We literally walked up hill on cobblestone streets for 30 minutes and finally arrived at a viewing point for the Alhambra.  At night, the buildings are lit up and it's gorgeous.  I was really glad we got to go, but at that point, I was not thinking the 30 minute hike was worth the views.

Luckily, I found out that this was not the end of our surprise.  We continued to walk and ended up at a Flamenco show.  I was really excited.  The show was absolutely worth the walk and was one of the most authentic and coolest things that I have seen in Spain to far.  It made me actually realize that I was in Spain and how cool it actually was.  I uploaded a video on my Facebook page for all of you to see, because uploading it here would take extremely too long.  

After a long day we returned to the hotel and spent some time with our friends into the early hours of the morning.  I got about a total of 3 hours of sleep but it was worth it.  This morning we got up and packed and left the hotel and went to the Cathedral in Granada.  This Cathedral was especially cool because inside this church was where the Catholic King and Queen, Ferdinand and Isabell were buried.  We got to see their coffins (which sounds a little gruesome now that I am actually saying it) and their tombstones, which were huge ornate slabs of ivory that had been sculpted to look like the King and Queen sleeping.  It was pretty cool.  After the Cathedral we didn't do much.  Wandered around looking for somewhere to eat and giant bottles of water and then met back up with the group and headed home.

I can't believe that I have 2 weeks left here.  The time has started to fly by.  Although the time is flying by and I'm loving every experience that I have here, I am missing home more and more with each day and am getting more and more ready to come HOME! Home is definitely a word that will sit closer to my heart after this trip.  Tomorrow is another day that brings more experiences, funny stories and fun.  School, beach, home is the outlook for our day.  Hoping that everyone is doing well at home and missing you all very much!

Vaya con Dios!