Granada!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the big snow the midwest got! I can't believe Purdue had its first snow day in idk how many years! (I must say I'm pretty jealous that I can't be there to enjoy it with you all!). So this weekend I went to Granada which is a city in the Analucian region and only about 3.5 hours east of here. I am so impressed with the CIEE program (my study abroad program). Already, in the two short weeks I have been here, I have been able to go to Granada, Italica, and see famous monuments in Sevilla such as the  Cathedral, Giralda, Alcazar, and the Plaza de Espana all for free. Although the price was an arm and a leg to go, I definitely think its worth it! Ok, on to my stories from this past weekend!
So Saturday morning our bus left at 830. 830am in Spain is like 6am in the United States. Like I've said before, no one wakes up until 9 on weekdays and I had to wake up at 7 to make it down to the University meeting spot. It was a tad bit rough because the sun doesn't even come up until 845 here! The bus ride was fairly comfortable and only took about 3.5 hours with gorgeous senery to help pass the time even quicker. Sevilla is a city that is completely flat. I don't think I've seen a single hill here. However, if you drive 30 minutes out of town, you begin to come across stunning hills and breathtaking mountain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Navada mountains and is the exact opposite in geography of Sevilla. They have some gorgeous senery. Here is a picture I took from the bus and also in Granada.
 
The hotel that we stayed in for our trip was situated above the city on the mountain and literally like 2 minutes away from La Alhambra, which is why everyone comes to Granada for. One of my friends told me that La Alhambra is the 2nd most visited site behind the Tajmahal which I thought was pretty cool. Once we got to the hotel, we had lunch then went to La Alhambra which is the walled Muslim city that contains a summer home, palace and garden that has survived wars, seiges, etc since the 14th century. We went to the summer home first which is called the Generalife (Heneraleefay: pronunciation). I'll post some pictures. It was really pretty but our guide told us that during the summer months all of the green we see is flowers! I think that'd be a sight to see for sure!
   after that we headed to the palaces of La Alhambra which we so pretty! I think it would have been so cool to live in that time period. The only thing I don't think I could have handled was the cold in the winter with those tiled floors! Ugh! Here are some pictures from the palaces.
 
The two coolest things that I did this weekend I couldn't take pictures of. The first one was on Saturday and was in La Alhambra. There is a courtyard in La Alhambra with 12 lions in a circle. In the past the 12 lions served as a clock and at every hour, one of the lions would spout water so people would know what time it was. Well i guess that the lions were kinda falling apart so they were cleaned and repieced together in a room and we got to watch a video of how they used to work and we got to see the newly refurbished lions. Here is a picture I got from the internet of the lions

After La Alhambra, we were all starving so went to a muslim tea cafe place that had free desserts with every cup of tea! The tea was soo good too! That night my friends and I went out to a few different bars to see what the night life was like in Granaa. I still can't get over the fact that at 11pm on a saturday women have their young kids in a bar and everyone is partying! Its just such a totally different culture! It was really fun on Saturday because Betis (the other Sevilla futbol club) was playing Granada, so everywhere we went people were dressed in green supporting Betis. Even after Betis lost 3-0, they were still singing their song in the streets and in the bars. it was really fun.
The next day we got up early and went with our guide to the old barrio which was where the people lived during the reign of the Muslim king and queen. Here is a gorgeous picture from La Alhambra of the city below.
 Sunday we walked around the city, but I was not that impressed at all. There were dogs running around everywhere and there was poop literally everywhere that we walked. In sevilla there are dogs without leashes, but they are usually right by their owners. This was not the case in Granada! One of the places we went to was a monestary which is called La Cartuja. The monks that live in the monestary are never allowed to come outside or interact with people! Its such a crazy concept. But one of the really cool things taht we got to do was interact with one of the nuns there. (I guess this happens at many churches in Sevilla too but I'd never heard of it). What we had to do was ring a bell and then a secret door would open up with a spinning table of sweets. If you wanted one, you had to put your euros by the food, then the table would turn and you would get your sweets. It was so neat!
 The last thing that we did we werent allowed to take pictures of either. We got to visit the Cathedral of granada which now houses King Ferdanand and Queen Isabella and some of their family members. We got to see their huge white tombs and even go underground to see their coffins. It was so neat! (once again i'm taking pictures off the internet because I really want you guys to see how cool it was!)

Well I think that about sums up my trip! I really enjoyed the city, but defintely am happy with my decision to study in Sevilla. There were SO many tourists there and as soon as anyone saw you and realized you were american (which for me is pretty obvi) then theyautomatically started speaking English to you. In Sevilla, no one that I have spoken to knows English, so i get to practice a lot. Also, I like that I live in a more typical, traditional spanish city that is not overrun by tourists! Well i'm sure I'll have lots more to right about soon! Enjoy your snow day midwest:)!

Hasta Luego,

Lauren