Adventure the Seventh: Americans Invade Granada

This past weekend my program took everyone on a trip to Granada. We spent three days touring the beautiful city and still hadn't even seen half of the city. Granada is smaller than Barcelona and looks like a small, stereotypical Spanish city. Narrow, cobblestone streets, white houses, random markets, all that good stuff. Side note; cobblestone streets may look very pretty but they are absolutely terrible to walk on. I may have spent more time tripping than actually walking.

Our time in Granada began shortly after we arrived at the hotel. We left for a walking tour of Granada where we learned about the history of Granada and saw various chapels and cathedrals. Here's a little tidbit. When the Jews either had to convert to Christianity or leave, those that chose to leave would take their house keys with them so no one could access their homes. Their is a museum now that displays all these keys. A relaxing afternoon of lunch, napping, and tea followed and then a few of us made our up the hills of Granada to catch the sunset over the royal city of Alhambra. From there we made our way back down to the city center for some delicious tapas. One of my favorite things about Granada is that if you order a drink you get a free tapa. So for dinner we did a "tapa crawl" and I was able to have my dinner for only 7 euro!

Our second day in Granada began with a tour of the Generalife gardens in Alhambra. Alhambra was essentially a royal city. The kings and queens lived there and would use the Generalife gardens as an escape from the city life. Besides flowers and fountains there are also hunting grounds in Generalife and a few smaller palaces. Really the only downside to Alhambra is that it sits above the city. Great views, but lots of walking straight up hill to reach Alhambra.

We rounded out our second day in Granada with another delicious tapas dinner, provided by our program, and a flamenco performance. Granada is located in Andalusia which is where flamenco originated so the performance was amazing. Once again we had to hike to get there but it was well worth it. The performance was done in a small studio built into the side of the mountain and lasted about an hour. If you have never seen flamenco before I would describe it as tap dancing with attitude.

The final day in Granada was very relaxing. We didn't have to be anywhere until noon which meant that everyone slept in, but somehow we were still very tired. We did a quick walk through of Albaicin, the Arab Quarter of Granada, before we had some free time before meeting back at the hotel to check-out and head to the airport. A few friends and I chose to simply wander around Granada and do a little shopping before grabbing a quick lunch and wandering back to the hotel. Every time I travel in Spain I find a new reason to leave the country. No matter how much I am missing fall in Wisconsin and football and will miss snow and winter it will be very difficult for me to leave such a beautiful and vibrant place.

Adventure the Sixth: Oui Oui I Survived Paris

Ahh Paris, the city of lights, love, and roundabouts. There are probably more roundabouts in one mile of road in Paris, than there are total in the United States. I was incredibly excited to be in Paris, until we had to take the metro. I'm not against public transportation, but some of the Paris metro stations look like something straight out of a horror movie. Also the stops and starts of the train are terrible. Even if you hold on to something you risk falling and creating a domino effect throughout the train. My excitement dropped a little bit more when I realized that French is really not that similar to Spanish. Whoever told me that was a liar. Knowing Spanish was not very helpful when trying to order food or talk to anyone at all. None of us could read/pronounce the food we wanted so we played the pointing game, where everything is made up and the points DO matter. Haha get it? I really shouldn't blog when I'm tired and sick.

Day 1 (Friday)

We left the apartment at 8:30 a.m. to give us time to get a quick breakfast and then get in line to see the catacombs. Even though the catacombs don't open until 10 we wanted to get a good spot in line which was a good idea. We got in fairly quickly and it was the only site that we paid to see, but we got an under 26 discount so all was well. A few facts on the catacombs; there are 6 million people buried in the catacombs from the days when France began closing cemeteries due to health concerns. Those who had died in convents and hospitals are buried there as well. The best way to describe the catacombs is with a picture so here you go.The walk through the catacombs takes about 45 minutes and after that time we were incredibly excited to get above ground. 

From the catacombs we headed to the Eiffel Tower. I had always known that the Eiffel Tower was big, but never realized just how big until I was standing in front of it. It's a little overwhelming to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time and we got blessed with a beautiful day so any picture was perfect.

We chose not to go up the Eiffel Tower because the line looked fairly long and the cheap option was to take the stairs all the way up which is roughly 1,000 steps. The view would have been spectacular, but I would not have been able to walk the rest of the day so I sacrificed the view for being able to walk around Paris. 

After lunch we headed to Champs-Elysées which is the French equivalent of 5th avenue. Basically this means we walked up fairly quickly because we already knew we couldn't afford to even look at the stores we were passing. Luckily the Arc de Triomphe is on Champs-Elysees so we gazed on this great monument for a while before wandering the opposite direction in search of the Louvre. For those who are art aficionados I apologize. I know very little of art and therefore found the Mona Lisa and then quickly departed to return to the apartment so I could rest and shower. 

My first dinner in France was about as French as I was willing to get. We ordered escargot for appetizers, which were surprisingly good. They were pretty garlicky which makes you forget that you are eating a snail. I ordered quiche, mostly because I knew what it was and I could pronounce it, but I tried a bit of the duck confit that others ordered. The restaurant we chose also happened to be close to Moulin Rouge so I snapped a few pictures before we headed out to get some rest. 

Day 2 (Saturday)

While a few others chose to rise early and do a little more shopping on Champs-Elysées I chose to let my wallet and body rest and sleep in. I woke up around 9:30ish and leisurely got ready before my friend Abby and I went to explore the area around the apartment. We found a big park that was very popular with runners. We were a little out of place just walking so we grabbed a croissant and headed back to the apartment to meet up with everyone else so we could pack up and head to Notre Dame. Sadly, the novelty of going into the cathedrals is wearing off, so really all I could think about was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Once we finished we wandered down the street to enjoy some crepes and then headed over to the Jewish Quarter, which if you're looking for anything vaguely Jewish is not the place to be. We saw quite a few yamakas, but otherwise we would never have guessed that we were in the Jewish Quarter. After a little more wandering we headed back to the shuttle that would take us to the airport. We arrived much earlier than we had planned, which worked out well as three of our carry-on bags were thoroughly searched when going through security. The three of us had unwisely chosen the line with a woman who would pull a bag that had any liquids regardless of the bottle size. 

All in all France was fun. I enjoyed seeing the sites of France, but most of the time I felt like I was in the rich area of New York City, except instead of rude people speaking English there were rude people speaking French. Personally, I prefer Barcelona over France for three reaons; 1) I can speak the language, 2) The metros in Barcelona are much nicer, and 3) Everything is cheaper. We struggled to find food for under 20 euro. I doubt that I will ever return to Paris unless I learn to speak French or suddenly win the lottery and have cash to burn.