Islamic Spain
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2009
1
12
19
Trip End
May 14, 2010
Granada, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, November 14, 2009
We started off by dropping off everything at our hostel, which was nothing special just a building with rooms full of beds in the heart of central Granada. Then we proceeded to go to the Alhambra.......WOW! Absolutely amazing doesn't even begin to describe it! Our tour took about 2.5-3 hours, we didn't see every nook and cranny but in all honesty I could have spent the rest of the day walking around it and seeing the beautiful Islamic (and some Christian) architecture. This building alone represents such an amazing part of Spain's history, and for once it was something that was minimally touched by the Christians, unlike many other places in Spain. It seems like Spain actually realized the importance of preserving its history. Later that evening I went and did some exploring on my own, had a beer and tapas at a local bar, had some funny conversations with the bar patrons and staff and made my back to the hostel for the night.
The next day we went to the Albacin (the old Jewish quarters of Granada). They were just as equally beautiful and from them we had an amazing view of the Alhambra and the mountains. After the Albacin, we went to the Chapel of Granada. I was sad because you are not allowed to take pictures but it is an amazing chapel, everything about it is perfect. It is the chapel where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried as well as Juana "La Loca" and her husband Phillip "the handsome" are buried. After all of the group activities a few of us did some shopping and exploring of the different stores and products. We had an AMAZING lunch at a Moroccan restaurant followed by tea in the cutest little shop. After that we headed to the bus to make our way back to Sevilla.
Granada is going to require another visit, I think I didn't get the full feel of it just yet. Hhhhmmmm...
