June 11, 2011

June 11, 2011

Wow! What a day! We got up and got our stuff together to come to Granada. We drove for 3 and a half hours and arrived in Granada around 12:30. We took all of our things to the hotel. Here in Spain, outside of every hotel there is a sign that has how many stars the hotel is. You can imagine our delight as we saw one star on the sign. So we got our keys and headed up to hour room. Surprisingly, our room was really nice! It had 2 twin beds and a bunk bed. We dropped our stuff in our room and headed back down to the lobby. 

As a group, which is thirty students from the school, we walked to the main plaza. From there, we all broke off and went to lunch. Our UVU group went to this kebab place near the plaza. It was heavenly! The restaurant itself was decorated really cool! Granada has a ton of Arabic influence so there are a lot of Moroccan-like places. It had little sheer drapes everywhere and we sat on couches and stools that were all really low to the ground. It was fun. 

Afterwards, we got to wander around some of the shops, which were way cool. 

We met back up with our group and started walking towards the Alhambra. The Alhambra is on my list of places to see before I die so I was really excited! However, I had NO idea how high up it is! We were walking up hill for so long! If it had been 70 degrees and I wasn't carrying a bag, I wouldn't have minded. But unfortunately I was carrying a bag and it was probably about 85 degrees and humid! So that was an adventure! They also told us that the Alhambra is the most visited tourist attraction in the world. Crazy, right?

We got to the top and I realized just how big the Alhambra is. I had seen pictures of it, but they only ever show the palace, so I was surprised. First, we walked through the gardens, which were gorgeous! All of these beautiful gardens have made me want to have a pretty garden in my future house! 

Then we went up to the tower. The tower gives you a view of the whole city. We were so high up and it was a beautiful view! We took some fun pictures and then headed to the palaces. 

The Alhambra is a Moorish/Arabic palace that dates back to I believe the 14th century. Similar to the Arabic Mesquita that we went to last weekend in Cordoba, the intricate and ornate carving was incredible! I was in awe at how much time it would have taken to carve it all. It was amazing. 

After we had spent three hours there, we walked back down and went to a few more shops. Daniel told us about the Puesta del Sol, which is when the sun sets and casts an orange hue over the Alhambra. You have to walk up a different parallel to the Alhambra to a little look out place, so we know if would take a while. We decided that we would leave at 8:45 so that we could be there at 9:30 when the sun sets. However, Jill and Daniel didn't get back to the hotel until 9, so we didn't go because we knew we would miss it. I was a little disappointed, but Liliana consoled us by saying that we saw the Alhambra itself, so we can just get pictures from Google of it at sunset ha ha 

So instead, we walked to an Italian restaurant that the hotel recommended. There was 7 of us and we split 3 small pizzas between us. The pizzas were amazing! Then, to stick with the Italian mood, we went and got gelato! 

We went back to the hotel and Kristen, Briana, Alan, and I played cards. We played Nerts for quite a while, and then we played hearts. Before we knew it, it was 1 AM! So Alan went back to his room and I got ready for bed. I don't know why, by it takes me so long to prepare for bed, so now its 2 and I am exhausted! Good night!