Two weeks ago I traveled to Granada with Paige, my former and future roommate at Illinois, and our friend Gena. Although we enjoyed the weekend, I was honestly disappointed in my visit. Because it is such a small city and such a large tourist attraction, I barely saw any Spaniards during my visit. There were tons of Americans, Germans, and Brits and almost everyone on the street was speaking English. For a weekend, it didn't really bother me. But it did confirm my decision to study in Sevilla, rather than through the University of Illinois program in Granada.
Granada is the only city left in Spain with free tapas- if you order any type of drink (soda, beer, wine, etc.) you are given a free tapa to accompany it. This is how tapas originated, but most cities no longer require businesses to do this. I really enjoyed discovering what the free tapa of the day was, but my slightly pickier friends preferred to order separate tapas of their own choosing anyways.
The highlight of the weekend was, of course, the Alhambra. This former Moorish palace, which sits on a mountain overlooking the city, is known for its beautiful architecture and decorations as well as the acres and acres of gardens. It also provided a great view of the city of Granada.
Because of its popularity, buying tickets for the Alhambra is an experience. Luckily, we bought our tickets online two weeks in advance. If we hadn't, we would have had to go to the Alhambra at 8 am on Saturday morning to purchase them from the ticket office. Of course, if you choose to wait until the day of there is always a possibility that tickets will sell out- they only sell 4000 per day. There is also the possibility that you will not get a convenient time for your entrance to the palaces. We chose our entrance for 2:30pm. Meaning that we were not allowed to enter prior to 2:30, and if we weren't in by 3pm we would have lost the money and the visit. It is a very strict ticket process, but it makes sense. It was already extremely crowded- more people at one time would have been horrible.
Before our 2:30 entrance to the palaces, we were able to visit the Palace of Charles V, which was built in the 1500's after the Moors were driven out of Spain. It was meant to usurp the beauty of the Alhambra that it was build beside, but I don't think it was nearly as impressive.
The palaces were beautiful- quite similar to some of the Moorish art that remains in Sevilla as well. It just strikes me how detailed everything is- from the art on the walls, to the walls themselves, to the pillars, the floors and the ceilings. Everything in these palaces was done in painstakingly detail that is amazing.
The gardens are also magnificent- they have, of course, been maintained since the fifteenth century but I still enjoyed walking through them.
The palace had lots of patios within the building walls with beautiful fountains and fruit trees and flowers, but there were also separate (and much larger) gardens in the back. We spent over 4 hours exploring the Alhambra and headed back to our hostel for a much-needed nap.
I also really enjoyed seeing my two other roommates from last semester, Cory and Meg. We were able to meet up with them Saturday night after dinner and catch up for over an hour. I also ran into a girl from my high school, and one of my AKPsi friends who is studying in Milan. It amazes me how small the world can be sometimes!
Overall, it was a good weekend. We arrived on Friday afternoon and left early Sunday afternoon. My only regret is having spent too much time there- I think I would have enjoyed the city more if we had arrived early Saturday and left early Sunday. We had a little bit too much time to wander around the city without much to do. But I'm glad I went!
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