The most common piece of advice I got before coming to Spain
was “Don’t fall in love.” Well, I did it. And to make it even more cliché, I
fell in love on Valentine’s Day….with the city of Granada (I used that one on a
Facebook status and it was well received so I thought I’d reuse it).
Granada is located east of Sevilla, also in the region of Andalucía,
and it is WONDERFUL. I headed out with a group of eight Friday afternoon (two weekends ago) to explore this awesome city. I'd travelled to Granada before when I was on my previous study abroad trip to Spain, but this time I got more of a chance to get to the city. One of the sweetest parts of our weekend was our lodging, a hostel called Maktub Adventure Guesthouse (http://www.maktubgranada.com/). If anyone has travel plans to Granada and has a preference for good people and cool atmosphere over luxury, I would highly recommend it. Maktub has a great location in the heart of the city, close to everything we wanted to do during our short stay! The eight of us (and one new friend) slept in a nine person room, with three triple bunkbeds. Basically, giant sleepover for the weekend. The top floor of the hostel is a covered, open air terrace which was perfect for hanging out in the evenings as a group. The staff was awesome; shout out to Nicale, who had only been working there for about a week and a half to cover the cost of his stay, and was planning to continue his adventure in another city shortly after we left). Great experience at Maktub overall!
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| Blurry shot of the full moon welcoming us to Granada |
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| terraza chillin |
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| Dylan forgot to put away his laundry |
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| bottom bunk status |
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| We loved Maktub, creepy mannequin and all |
By far the most beautiful, famous and incredible sight to see in Granada is the Alhambra, a huge fortress and palace that dates back (I think!) to about the 10th century. I'm not a history buff but I am a lover of exquisite architecture and breathtaking views. It's really difficult to put into words the experience of visiting la Alhambra. We were there for about three hours (which isn't nearly enough; you could spend an entire day wandering inside) and the whole time I felt pretty small and insignificant...but most of all I felt a deep sense of wonder. Wonder that something so old (although partially restored) could still be standing strong. Wonder at the miniscule details of incredibly large structures that had to take so much time, patience and skill. Wonder at the amazing views of the mountainous city, and how different it must look since the first people walked within the walls of the Alhambra. 1000 words can't do it justice, but here's some pictures:
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| We had absolutely gorgeous weather! |
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| The detail work I'm talking about...this especially blows my mind. Simply beautiful. |
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| A beautiful newly wed couple, after being married in the gardens of la Alhambra! |
In addition to just being beautiful, mountainous city, Granada has a very cool, very Andalucian culture. An awesome part of being there is that Granada restaurants stick to the original tradition of tapas, which is that a small portion of food is served with every drink. It's rare to still find this practice in Spain but every tapas bar we went to gave us a free small plate of the chef's choosing with every cerveza and tinto de verano. This is such a great practice for many reasons. It makes a meal more of a social event, because you get small bits of food throughout the evening instead of everything at once. It allows you to enjoy everyone's company and talk and relax, instead of focusing on eating and leaving. It also ensures that you're pacing yourself with your drinks and not throwing them back on an empty stomach. It's a very economical way to eat, because you can make a meal out of having a few drinks. Finally, my favorite is that typically you don't choose the tapa that comes with your meal. It's a great surprise and a manner of showcasing the chef's favorite plates or perhaps experimentation with new ones.
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| All this food came with the beer! |
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| Absolutely love making a meal of tapas! |
My host parents are from a small town in Granada and got married in the city in Plaza Nueva, which was a short walk from our hostel. It was so cool to see the church and feel a personal connection to the history of the couple that has invitied me into their home for the semester! Liz and I took a picture in front of the church to take back and show them.
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| roomies! |
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| Iglesia Santa Ana |
Another famous sight in Granada is Sacromonte, a barrio up on the mountain famous for its flamenco caves. On Sunday morning, we trekked up to Sacromonte, which is an absolutely gorgeous walk. There are incredible views of the mountains, the city and la Alhambra along the way. We stopped in at a restaurant with traditional flamenco caves (I actually saw a performance in one of them on my previous trip!) and ordered paella, a traditional and amazing Spanish dish, for lunch. They were preparing for an event that afternoon so expected the food to take awhile to prepare, giving us time to look around the caves and explore the city a bit more. After wandering, we came back and sat down to one of the most incredible meals of my life. We'd all spent a great weekend bonding and falling in love with Granada and lunch was one of our last moments in the city. We got a couple pitchers of sangria (served with tapas, of course) and basically soaked in our pure contentment and happiness. Then, the main event arrived. The eight of us shared a giant, exquisite paella that makes me salivate to remember. The flavor was perfect and I felt like I was nearly having a religious experience with this food. Maybe we were all on a high from the great weekend but we couldn't stop talking about how delicious it was. We had a long meal, stuffing in as much of the paella as was possible, recalled the highlights of the weekend, laughed a lot. Finally, we wandered back down the mountain in the general direction of the bus station to think about heading home. Granada is also famous for its many teterias (tea shops) so we stopped in one along the way as our final goodbye to the city. Relaxing in a sweet teteria sipping hot tea was the perfect way to end the weekend, before we had to haul our tired selves up and sprint to take a taxi and make our bus back to Sevilla!
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| #TEAMGRANADA |
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| La Alhambra |
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| una cueva de Sacromonte |
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| Sacromonte |
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| Sacromonte |
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| the best paella in the world... |
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| one of my favorite moments on this trip was this meal! |
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| awesome vibe in the teteria |
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| tea time! |
Aside from some of Granada's better known attractions, we visited a beautiful cathedral, a few markets (fresh fruit, vegetables, meats...some people prefer not to have their products photographed so I didn't even pull out my camera in one of the markets, but wishing I had!) and did some awesome meandering. Our trip had the perfect balance of get-up-and-go-see-the-sights and sitting back to take in and fully appreciate it all. Granada is a city of beautiful nature, architecture, people, and culture! Here are a few more shots for our time there:
