Trip to Granada

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March 2, took a trip to Granada with my school UA. We started the trip by jumping a bus at 1:30 on March 2, in front of Plaza de Torros in Alicante. With a five hour bus ride in front of us and a hangover on my shoulders from the night before, the bus was quiet. Up and down the Sierra Nevada for five hours stopping once for a bite to eat was exciting, but once we neared the city the sites became better. The mountains still had snow at there peaks, but the temperature in Granada was a high of 28 C' that day, I believe. We stayed in a hotel just outside of the city called Hotel Don Gonzalo, I believe the 50 or so college students disturbed everybody for the weekend. That night we arrived we went into the city and took a peak at the Alhambra from a look out point in the city. After we got to experience the tapas of Granada, "I like". Buy a beer for a 1.50 Euro and get free food?? Fantastic!! Then I ate a kepab and called it a night. Oh, actually I didn't sleep that night because one of my friends I roomed with has a snoring problem...
The next morning we ate breakfast and went to see the world famous Alhambra. A guided tour is worth the extra money, there is simply so much information that can be learned and one will appreciate the Arab community of this time. The technology they had for the creation was amazing, placing pieces of steal in the pillars so they would not crack in earthquakes or molding most of there detail structures instead of carving them. We started our tour in the gardens and yards and made our way towards the Generalife. Walked through the fortress, the dungeons, and the ruins of the houses that used to be. We saved the palaces of the sultans, like the Palace of the Lions or the Palace of the Throne for last. The sultan’s room had the only remaining original door (700 years old) in all of Alhambra. It was relatively small but nevertheless was amazing. The sultan was permitted to have up to four wives at once and there room or quarters was much larger then the sultans. After the sultan’s palace we walked back through the Alhambra and made our way back to the bus, I could have spent another two hours there.
After the Alhambra we walked the city a bit. We went to the Granada Cathedral and went back to the hotel, napped, and pre-gamed for the Flamenco Show. We took a short bus up these winding hills with buildings nearly scraping the bus. The Flamenco Bar was in a cave in the side of a hill and once inside, it still looked like a cave. I am definitely glad I got to experience the show, the ridiculously loud clapping, heartfelt singing, excellent Spanish guitar, and of course the dancing. I'm going to assume that all Flamenco dancers have knee problems once they age because of how hard they slam there feet into the ground constantly. At one point of the show one of the dancers chose people to dance with her, nearly all of my friends were chosen... with exception to myself. The bus ride after was intense, everybody for some reason broke into song, the bus trip back was a lot of fun, but no nearly as good as the Flamenco show. Then the bus dropped us off in the barrio area. Unfortunately I was obscenely tired and called it an early night after a couple bars and beers.
On Sunday we went into a couple "hippie" hideouts, where they sold a bunch of near useless things. Then we went to the actual market in a small side street. This was a little sketchy from all the weird hippies and people offering drugs on every corner, but overall I liked it. Hookahs were very abundant and about five or six people purchased one when we were there. After we walked some more of the city, saw a couple other cathedrals, statues, and other buildings. Finally we went near the bus was supposed to pick us up for a beer and tapas. Beer for a euro fifty and got meatballs, french fries, and bread for free... amazing!!

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