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Published: October 1st 2008
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Rain in Granada
On a tower over the Alcazaba in the rain and wind - I almost lost the umbrulla! Friday:
Today was the last day of the “intensive month” classes. I think I’ve definitely improved my listening comprehension but I need to practice speaking more.
Allison and I caught the 3:50pm train for Madrid, unfortunately it was the slowest train in Spain and we arrived late for our connecting bus to Granada. The lady changed our tickets for the next bus free-of-charge, but the bus left at 9:30pm. As it’s a 5 hour drive to Granada, we arrived very early in the morning two hours later than anticipated. Having successfully navigated the Granada bus system, we proceeded to get lost for two hours looking for the narrow street where our hostel was located. Finally tired of wandering, I asked two very nice Grenadian (is this a word?) girls for directions. They had never heard of our street, but walked with us until we found our hostel - the “Funky Backpackers Hostel” which, thank goodness, has 24 hour reception. The good thing about getting lost was that we knew exactly where everything was for the rest of the trip, and the girls gave us some good tips on things to do!
Saturday:
The hostel provided a breakfast of cereal,
Flags of the Region
I'm not sure exaclty whose flags these are,most likely Spain, Andalucia, Granada and a mystery flag. They were flying above the fortress of the Alhmabra milk, toast and marmalade, and coffee on the terrace. We walked along the Darro River in the Albaicin district, which was the old arab part of town. It still has winding, cobblestone streets, whitewashed houses and plenty of shops. Outside of the Albaicin, we walked to Sacromonte, or “sacred mountain.” Many caves have been carved out of the mountain and are still used as homes, though most houses have been added on to with normal construction materials. We climbed up the mountain to get to the Cave Museum (several cyclists yelled “bienvenidas a Granada” on the way - either they are very friendly, or we look really foreign - or both!). There we toured some cave rooms decorated as kitchens, living rooms and stables as they would have appeared when originally built. There are several stories as to how the caves began:
1. When the arabs were forced out of the country by the Catholics, the rich Arabians buried their fortunes in the mountain and left. They also left behind their slaves, who now had freedom, but no means to survive. The slaves, knowing that their masters had buried the riches in the mountain, began to dig giant holes in
Cave reading
I'm about to enter another cave. At the entrance of each room there was an explanation in English and Spanish. Sacromonte. They never found the treasure, gave up the search and lived in the holes they had dug.
2. It is believed that several saints were buried in the mountain and people flocked to it to find the holy relics and live near them.
I enjoyed the caves and the view from the top of the mountain. If anyone is interested in cave-dwelling, I saw several “for rent” signs and my guidebook says they’re very trendy right now!
As we were descending the mountain, it started raining so we stopped in a Morroccan restaurant for lunch. I ordered a tahine of chicken and onions with honey - it was delicious! Once the rain stopped, we did some shopping and took a bus to the park and museum of the House of Garcia Lorca, a Spanish writer that Allison really enjoys. The house was pretty small and the tour wasn’t that interesting, but it cost only a euro and I got to practice my Spanish.
We ended the day with pizza in the Plaza Nueva near our hostel.
Sunday:
Alhambra day. We decided to dedicate the entire day to the monument that I have learned so much about in
New Flower
I'd never seen this plant before, its very different and grows all over the alhambra Art History class. Our professor has told us the history of the Alhambra; we’ve learned about the architecture, construction, and building materials. The top reason for coming to Granada is to see the Patio of the Lions, a giant patio in the center of the palace where twelve stone lions support a fountain that flows into the four rivers. The four rivers then flow through every room in the palace of the sultan’s harem. Its supposed to be one of the most famous places in Spain, and I’ve been studying it for a month.
We walked through the entrance park and arrived for the afternoon viewing. The student price for a ticket was 10euro, and our tickets allowed us to see the Palace at 7pm that night. For the first 5 hours that we were in the Alhambra, we saw:
1. The Generalife (hen-er-a-lee-fe: the Spanish make fun of the English speakers who call it general-life), which is the smaller summer palace, and its gardens. All of the gardens were beautiful and very extensive; the actual palace was a little dull. It only had some remaining tile and plasterwork.
2. The Renaissance palace of Carlos V. Also very empty and
Plaster work
The archways, columns and ceilings are mainly made of brick and plaster. All of the plaster was hand carved and is very well preserved. a little dull.
3. The Alcazaba, or fortress, which was very neat and mainly still in tact.
After an hour of rain and lots of waiting, we finally entered the Palacio that houses the Patio of the Lions. I was expecting something spectacular - and was greatly disappointed when I saw that the historic Lions have been removed for restoration, the fountain is enclosed by a wooden box, and the rivers no longer function. What a disappointment!
I know it sounds like I didn’t enjoy the Alhambra very much - really, I did! - they probably have the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen, and the artistic/architectural detail to the palace walls and ceilings are incredible, but don’t expect to see the Patio of the Lions.
Monday:
Our map said that Granada listed two historic “baños arabes” and we knew we wanted to see them (again, its something we had learned about in Art History class). When we checked out the first one, we couldn’t view the baths because they were still in use - we were unaware that they could be used. So, we called the second one and made a reservation to take an Arab bath.
Tile-work
The tilework was also a big part of arabian architecture since they couldn't draw pictures of people (its against Muslim religion, I think). Most of the tiles had lost their paint, but this part was well preserved. It started at noon and consists of: an hour long “bath” and a 20 minute massage. The “bathroom” is a series of rooms connected by archways that each contain a shallow pool with water at different temperatures. The bather begins in a pool of luke-warm, normal temperature water, then goes to a pool with very hot water, then to a pool with very cold water. This process opens the pores and closes them - which I suppose is healthy? (Bathers wear bathing suits, not to worry!) The rooms were lit by candlelight and decorated in an Arabian theme. The atmosphere, baths, and massage were all very relaxing - and historical too!
We caught the 4pm train to Sevilla and arrived there around 8 at night. Our hostel was easy to find, very modern, and situated right on the main boulevard. Our receptionist got us tickets to a Flamenco show that night at 10. The restaurant was very touristy - but the flamenco was nice and we got a glass of sangria. Its not my favorite type of singing (lots of shouting and difficult to understand), but the dancing and guitar music was interesting. For dinner that night, we had
Basket cave
Each cave served as a different room. This was the basket making room. paella at an outdoor restaurant - can’t get much more Spanish than flamenco, sangria and paella in the same night!
Tuesday:
Got up early since we only have a few hours left in Sevilla. We first went to the Alcazar, which was one of the palaces used by Ferdinand and Isabella. I liked it much better than the Alhambra of Granada, and its gardens were just as spectacular. Afterwards, we visited the Cathedral of Sevilla where the remains of Christopher Columbus are allegedly kept (allegedly, since the Caribbean also claims that they have his bones; Columbus fans are awaiting DNA confirmation, seriously). Connected to the cathedral is “La Giralda,” a huge tower that was once the minaret used by Muslims to call the faithful to prayer. Now it is the cathedral belltower. We climbed the 34 floors of ramps (for some reason they decided not to used stairs) to see the few of Sevilla from the top.
After the cathedral and tower, we did some sidewalk shopping and headed to the bus station to head back to Salamanca. We definitely didn’t spend enough time in Sevilla - I’d love to return!
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