Granada: "¡Sin Prisa ni pausa!"

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June 29, 2011: I'm not doing so good at keeping up with this thing. :/ Anyway, this entry is about a trip the school organized to Granada my first weekend in Sevilla. Granada is one of those cities that people talk about as a "must-see" and, actually, the woman I lived with mentioned how beautiful it was. Thus....


Saturday, June 11, 2011
The day before, Venessa and I had talked about meeting up a little early and getting churros for breakfast. But in the end (because it would be a longer trek for her), we decided that I'd pick up the churros and meet her at the group meeting point. As usual, I was running later than I'd hoped, but would have made it to the bus on time if I skipped the churros. Not sure what to do, I texted Aline (a Belgian girl in my class) to tell her that I was on my way and not to let Javi (the Cultural program dude) leave me. She texted back to say that he wasn't even there, yet. Ha! With this in mind, I decided to stop for churros because: "This is Spain and who is ever on time?"

Yeah.... As I was waiting for my churros, Zully (a girl I met on the orientation tour) texted me: "Where are you?? Everyone's on the bus!" OH POR DIOS. haha. Luckily, Aline and Zully told Javi that I was nearby and on my way. It was kinda hilarious in retrospect, but damn, I didn't want to be the last one. Oh, whatever. I was only like 10 (15?) minutes late AND I shared my churros. Food: it always does the trick.

Once we got to Granada and dragged our luggage to the hostel (Aline, Venessa, Zully, & I sharing a room), Javi and the other tour guide Elena walked us to the main plaza and told us that we had free time to go find food. Javi kept talking about how fat people were going to get here (Thanks for the eating disorder, man!), because every drink comes with a tapa (like an appetizer). Aline, Venessa, Wanda (an Italian in Venessa's class), Zully, & I all went off together to look at the shops down the side streets and look for a nice place to sit for a drink & snack. Eventually, we found a place, where I got a glass of manzanilla (tasted like cough syrup) and we each got our own little pasta salad. It was lovely until someone found a hair in theirs. We all laughed about it (well, she didn't...) all weekend, but later it ocurred to me that I'd finished mine and all of ours probably came from the same bowl. Ew, ew, ew.

Well, we moved on to another bar for more drinks & tapas. The waiter was really chatty and played "Can you guess what country I'm from" with us. I'm terrible at world geography so, I pretty much just sat there as they thought it out. Wanda figured out where he was from, but she did not receive the prize that he promised. Scam! Funny thing is that the bar had "besos (kisses)" in the name and after the hair incident, I think that would have made Granada bars more... memory-making(?) than those in Sevilla. ha!

Once we met back up with the group, we all hiked up a mountain to get to Alhambra. Sweet Jesus! The city must be all hills because I feel like all we did all weekend was climb up and down mountains. It was awful! Javi kept telling us, "Sin prisa ni pausa! (Without hurry or breaks)" This bastard... It was hot as hell and once I remember him saying that the tour never tired anyone out. Was he TRYING to piss me off? I don't even know how I kept myself from throwing my shoe at him.

Anyway, Alhambra was beautiful and the views were amazing. I wish I had more to write about the history, but I couldn't understand a word he said. On top of that, the heat made it hard to pay attention. Therefore, the photos will have to speak for themselves.

After the tour, we went back to the hostel and were told that we had the rest of the day/night free to do what we wanted. Aline's guidebook named a restaurant that's supposed to be good and not known by many tourists. We made our way there and it was a bit swanky, but I think worth it. She and I shared a rabbit paella that was yumtastic, though a little salty.

Oh! Also, the waiter brought us bread and, of course, the four Americans dug in. Aline said, "You know, if you eat it, they make you pay for it..." DAMN, it was a trap! Well, since we'd already started, we ate the hell out of that bread! I don't remember how much it cost, but that was our lesson learned. Since that day, whenever Venessa and I went out for tapas/dinner and the waiter brought bread, we kinda stared at it suspiciously. One of the questions you want to ask, but are too embarassed: "¿Es gratis? (Is it free?)" haha

After dinner, we walked around to find a bar to hang out at, but ended up at a discotecha. It was a LONG trek uphill, but was worth it. When we first got there, it was absolutely empty, but eventually filled up with tourists and maybe some Spaniards. I don't remember how late we stayed there, but it was a good night. I mean, we all ended up back at the hostel and not on Nancy Grace so, that's a win/win for me.


Sunday, June 12, 2011
We got up for a Spanish breakfast (bread, juice, & coffee) then, left the hostel to look at more of Granada. First, they took us to... some place, I don't remember what. Honestly, at this point, whenever Javi started talking, I just shut my ears off. After the first place, we moved on to a plaza and Javi talked some more about something else. haha. My disdain for this man is senseless and strong! After the plaza, he let us roam around the shops on our own. I looked a bit, but didn't buy anything. I may regret that someday, but I gotta save my money if I don't want to resort to prostitution.

After our walk about, Javi took us to the cathedral and unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos. :/ It was lovely inside and there, they have buried Ferdinand & Isabella/Fernando y Isabel, the king and queen that sent Columbus our way. Also, "Juana la loca," her husband, and son are buried there, too. I stood right by Javi during this talk and damn, I could understand every word. The entire trip, I thought it was because of my crap Spanish, but really it's because he murmurs! :/

I really wanted to argue with him over "Juana la loca," though. At Alhambra, he told us a story about a king, who killed a large number of men because one of them might have had sex with his wife. And I feel like he told this story like we should be impressed by the guy's power. Yet, the woman is crazy because she was "madly in love" with her husband. Um, she didn't kill anyone! Pfffft.

Moving on, we got to see the bible, crown, and scepter that belonged to the Fernando & Isabel, as well as other religious things that have been there for centuries. Can you imagine! It's incredible to think of how old things are in Spain. What do we have in the States that compares? Honestly!

After the catedral, Javi walked us up another mountain and kept saying, "Merece la pena! (It's worth it!)" Funny thing is that we, basically, went back up the same streets that we took to the club the night before. We just turned down one other street and then, walked up even higher. Oh, Lord Jesus!

The view really was wonderful, though, and the wind felt lovely. It was still hot as hell, but we had time to sit at a bar and have a drink before heading back down. As we sat there, a group of guys started playing music. It was really good and the Jesus-y looking one was the best looking man I'd seen in Andalucia thus far (not counting Profe Guapo, por supuesto).

After the break, Javi and Elena took us to a Moroccan (Maybe... I can't remember) restaurant. It was really good, but also really expensive. With 30 of us there, the service was slow, but luckily my table was the first to be served. After this, Venessa and I left to walk around a bit and see the city before leaving. Oof, that heat, all the walking, and everything wore us out! "No one ever gets tired," my ass!

On the bus ride back, I fell asleep and I think that I woke up once or twice with my head on Venessa's shoulder. hahaha. It's okay. We're cool like that.

♥
Courtney

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Photos

1. Headed to meet the group
Maybe I lived in the ghetto, but the art was interesting!

5. The best people you will ever meet!
L to R: Zully/Zuzu (New Mexico), Wanda (Italy), Venessa (Wisconsin), yo, & Aline (Belgium)

5 b. The Best People You Will Ever Meet
L to R: Zully/Zuzu (NM), Wanda (Italy), Aline (Belgium), y yo.

5 c. The Best People You Will Ever Meet
Venessa (WI), Wanda (Italy), Aline (Belgium), & yo.
- Taken with Venessa's camera.

8. Alhambra
When I build my own house, I'm getting one of these for the guest bathroom, haha.

9. Alhambra
LONG trek up, wherein we all cursed Javi's name, as the air conditioned shuttle buses took other tourists straight up to Alhambra. haha.