Granada!

I had been looking forward to this weekend all week. Actually, I think I’d been looking forward to it ever since I knew there was a possibility of going to Granada. I heard amazing things about Granada before coming to Spain, and then things just improved once I got there. Every weekend for the past two months Igor has been saying, “If you think this is incredible, just wait until Granada.” (It’s his favorite place!) All week I was so tempted to go online and look at tourist websites for Granada, but I was successful in restraining myself. I wanted to be completely surprised by everything I saw, especially the Alhambra. Before I go any further, let’s just say that Granada (and Igor’s excitement, explanations, and anticipations) didn’t let me down. Not one bit.

Igor picked me up directly from school so we could get a little earlier of a start. (It’s about a nine hour drive… going from the northern coast on the Cantabrian Sea straight south to practically the Mediterranean.) It was cloudy and rainy in Bilbao (what’s new?), but, just like usual, once we crossed the mountains sunshine and blue skies were waiting for us. I think it was at this point the Black Eyed Peas song came on the radio that says, “Tonight’s gonna be a good night, tonight’s gonna be a good good night!” Igor and I agreed! We were expecting a lot of traffic in Madrid, but we actually made it through pretty quickly. We did have a slight backup due to an accident, but we finally made it to Granada at about 11:30. We made good timing! We were fortunate to be able to stay with Igor’s brother-in-law. We dropped our stuff off at his piso and then headed out for tapas! (I couldn’t believe the size and quality of the free tapas here in Granada! Awesome!) After the typical hop, we went to a discoteca called Mae West. We went to one last week in Salamanca but we were there early and it was empty. We basically just went for me to be able to see the building that it was in. Well, this one was almost at its prime. We were still able to move around a little so it wasn’t completely full, but there were still A LOT of people. Apparently it was a fairly small one, but it had multiple HUGE rooms (for lack of a better word) that played different types of music, and it was at least two levels, maybe even three. Whatever it was, it was fun! … and crazy!! It was definitely like nothing I had every experienced before, but I guess that could be said about the whole night, and this whole trip. At this point, it was getting late (or early… however you want to look at it) so we decided to get a bite to eat (“midnight” snack or breakfast, again, depending on how you look at it). We got sandwiches at about 6am, and we weren’t the only ones out and awake. We grabbed a taxi back to the piso and went to sleep at 7. I still am in awe at the lifestyle here in Spain. Eating breakfast at 6am? Going to bed as the sun is coming up? Crazy.

Outside of Mae West

We got up and got going at about 2pm the next afternoon. We walked from the “campo” where the piso was to the old part of the city. We had a coffee and then started seeing the sights. We were only able to see the outside of the cathedral, but it wasn’t as impressive as others we’ve seen. It was incomplete because the architect died and he didn’t leave plans. We then met up with Nou Nou and went to the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel), but it really isn’t a chapel or a church, it is more of a tomb. We saw the tombs that the very important Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, are lying inside. So last weekend in Segovia I saw where they gave Columbus the ships to search for a quicker route to India and this weekend in Granada I saw their tomb. Wow!

Granada has a lot of Arabian influence. The city has “changed hands” many times in its history between the Arabians and Spanish. We had a tea at a very Arabian place. I felt like we were in Morocco rather than in Spain. From there we started the trek up the mountain through the old neighborhood of Albayzín located on the side of a hill overlooking the Alhambra. Because I didn’t look anything up about Granada previous to coming, I had no idea what to expect with the Alhambra. Every time we would walk past a shop or anything, Igor told me to cover my eyes because everything was covered in Alhambra souvenirs. I wanted to be surprised. We finally made it to our destination and were lucky enough to get a spot at a restaurant overlooking the hillside and the Alhambra. I turned the corner, my eyes met the Alhambra, and my jaw hit the ground. Incredible! Huge! Beautiful! The view from our table was incredible. We could see all of Granada and the Alhambra. Apparently the sunset from there is supposed to be incredible. The Alhambra changes colors as the light hits it and the sun reflects off of the snow-capped mountains behind it. (Alhambra means red… for the color of the stone used to build it.) Unfortunately it was a cloudy day and evening so the sunset wasn’t anything amazing but the view was still spectacular.

Tea time!

The view of the Alhambra from our table... the picture doesn't do it justice. (I think someone needs to chop that pine tree down.)

After the sun set we headed down the hill back to the old part of Granada to the tapas zone. Once again… amazing! We went to the Minotauro- a great tapas bar where you write a message or draw a picture on the napkins and then put them on the wall. It was so fun to read those that have been on the wall for a long time! There is one rule: everything that you draw has to have horns on it like a bull would have. Of course, I had to write my own message and draw a picture! Part of me will always be in Granada.

Minotauro!

My napkin!

Or plan was to get a coffee and then go back and get some sleep because there was a lot on the agenda for Sunday. To make a long story short, Granada got the best of us and we went to bed at 6am. (Breakfast was at a Frankfurt place and I remember chatting with the people at the table across from us about how to correctly pronounce ketchup in Spanish and English… that was a sign that we needed to call it a night!)

Needless to say, we got a later start on Sunday than originally anticipated. We basically got up, went for some tapas, and headed to the Alhambra. We had tickets for entrance at 6pm. This thing was huge! We got there at about 4 and started making our way up to it. We walked through some gardens, saw the old portion of the palace, and took in all of the sights. At 6 we went inside inside, and wow! The detail, the painting, the “stamps” on the walls (the Arabian’s way of decorating instead of carving the stone)… una pasada. Something incredible about the Alhambra is the water rushing through it. There is water in all parts. It uses gravity for movement, but there are pools, baths, streams, and fountains everywhere. There is little water in the area so they came up with a way to move it around the palace. Incredibly difficult to explain but amazing to see.

Albayzín

Remnants/foundations of ancient homes… this was a neighborhood within the walls of the muralla at one point



Because it “changed hands” so many times, it has so many different styles and parts to it. When the Catholic Crown obtained power of it, they kept a lot of the Arabian style because it was so incredible, but there are places where you can see they changed it to leave their mark. The earliest part of the Alhambra was built in the 9th Century, and there were still portions added in the 1700s. There are beautiful gardens, amazing plazas, an immaculate palace, and just all around incredible things. I was in awe the whole time.






When the Arabians came, they called this place Eden; it was their paradise. I can definitely see why. We were there for about four hours and we still didn’t see everything. We even had to rush to see what we saw. We were on a time schedule because it was getting late and reality was waiting for Igor and I back in Bilbao early Monday morning. We went back to Albayzín to see if we could catch a prettier sunset. It was better and colors did change, but there were still quite a few clouds. Regardless, it was amazing.











We left Granada at about 11pm and arrived back in Bilbao at 7am. There is nothing like driving through the night, getting home and jumping right in the shower, and heading to school to teach 20 crazy 3rd grade students. Let’s just say I was quite tired… Let’s just say it was definitely worth it and I would do it again this weekend… Too bad I am returning to Chicago on Sunday….