My Weekend in Granada

This weekend my friend Kaela came to visit me here. She is studying in Alcala, a town about the size of Granada, located to the east of Madrid. We toured much of the city by foot on Friday, such at La Catedral, La Capilla Real (the Royal Chapel where the tombs of the famous Catholic king and queen-Isabel and Fernando-are located) and various other historic sites. Before eating lunch with my host family, we had some café con leche in Plaza Nueva because it was so nice and sunny. After lunch we headed up to the Albaycin and ended up at the Mirador de San Nicolas at dusk, which overlooks the Alhambra, to watch the sunset.

Saturday we traveled to Salobreña, a small city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with a beautiful beach only 45 minutes away from Granada. The weather was gorgeous and it was warm enought to lay out in our swimsuits. One thing I wasn´t ready for in Europe was the lack of inhibition many women have about sunbathing topless! I think this may be one cultural aspect I´ll avoid incorporating into my lifestyle.

After three or four hours on the beach we hiked around to get a better view of the coastline. This was my first time on the Mediterranian Coast and the view was incredible because the water was several shades of blue and the coast jutted in and out, shifting from flat beaches to more montainous terrain. There was also an old Moorish castle build on the hill a few miles off the coast that was equally impressive to see from a distance. We weren´t quite ambitious enough to hike up the hill to view this castle up close but it was probably a good call because we had a long night ahead of us!

We returned to Granada that evening and took a little siesta before getting ready to go out. After eating dinner around 10:30p (which is a time I´m still getting used to and about 2 hours later than Kaela´s dinner time with her señora!) we went out for some tapas and drinks. Our first tapa was Tortilla Española with these delicious peppers. Then I tried one with mussels and tomato on bread-not the most appetizing but definitely interesting! For their second round, my girlfriends tried tasty tapas with bacon-yum!

We then headed to Tantra Bar, where we found free admission passes for Granada 10, a popular discoteca here, which was awesome. Here´s a picture of Natalie, me and Kaela at the discoteca-we danced for an hour or two but didn´t stay too long because since it was Saturday night, it was jam-packed and practically impossible to move...also, I was taking Kaela to the Alhambra the next day and didn´t want to be horribly tired for the walking tour.

On Sunday we had another day of great weather-perfect for touring the Alhambra. It was so much fun to see the place again because a lot of the trees and flowers are starting to bloom now. It has completely transformed since the last time I was there in January and I can´t imagine how beautiful it will be in May or June...unfortunately I won´t be in Granada at this time! My señora packed us bocadillos (which are gigantic sandwiches) with fried eggs and freshly sliced tomatos on them, oranges and some delicious chocolate-I think she is really starting to discover some of my favorite foods!

We spent the majority of the afternoon touring various sites within the Alhambra (the picture to the right is my favorite palace-The Generalife) but by 4p it was time to head back to pack her bags. Sending Kaela off on the train was difficult because we had such a great time visiting with each other but we´ll be meeting up again for our trip to Lisboa, Portugal in less than a month-I can´t believe it!

Okay, well that is it for now. I have to head home soon to do my readings on País Vasco and journal a bit in my diary for Composición before eating dinner and going to bed. I´ve posted a few pictures from my trip to Guadix (the place with all the caves) last weekend so enjoy the sights of the Catedral and the great views of the Sierra Nevada-ciao!