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.