Wednesday and Thursday in Granada

Last Wednesday we left for Granada, a city in the south of Spain. On our bus ride there it began to rain, which was a foreshadowing of the weather we were going to have for the trip. It took about 7 hours to arrive at Hotel Montecarlo. That evening we toured the Cathedral and the Capilla Real. We had a tour guide, Enrique, for the whole trip and he will be with us in Barcelona too. We also walked around the city, but everyone was very wet and cold, so our tour was cut short. Kaley Walsh, a girl that I graduated with, is studying in Granada for the semester. So my friend Anna and I met up with Kaley and her friend Megan for tapas. We also went to a tetaría, which means something like tea-room in English. It has a very arabic feeling and you can get any type of tea known to man. In general, Granada has a lot of Muslim architecture, culture, etc. because it was the last city in Spain to be re-conquered by the Christians. It was fun to catch up with Kaley and spend time with people who were able to tell us more about Granada. 

On Thursday we had a painfully early morning: breakfast at 6:30 am so that we could leave for the Alhambra. We had a reservation there for 8 or 8:30 but MariaElena wanted to arrive early because last year the Calvin group had arrived 2 minutes late and not been able to enter. They are quite strict about being on time, checking your tickets etc. but they can be because it's the most visited site in Spain. Basically, it's a small city that sites on the side of a hill in Granada where the Muslim rulers lived. It was an interesting tour, but the rain and cold took from what I had anticipated being my favorite site. In the afternoon I went with some of the group to a monastery that had a gorgeous chapel/church. Enrique was super excited about the monastery because not many tourists visit it, but it is beautiful and has an interesting history. I think that he believes he discovered it... Thursday night we went to a flamenco "show." (Although Enrique explained that it is NOT a show because the dances are improvised.) It was in the Albacín, which is the muslim area of the city, in a "cave" house. There are lots of "houses" in Granada that are dug into the side of the mountain. Anyway...watching flamenco was very interesting. I think a lot of the "performers" were family. One funny moment: at the end, the girl who was dancing pulled up people from the audience to dance with her one at a time. She pulled up an oriental man and he went ALL OUT. It was a great end to a rainy day.