finishing up the weekend in granada

Well, here’s how the rest of our weekend played out…

So I left off Thursday night…oh yeah, with that INCREDIBLE flamenco performance. We got a picture with one of the dancers and two of the guitarists—pretty sure all us girls sounded like a bunch of pre-teens crowding Justin Beiber. 

All of the girls in our group...with two of the guitarists (left and center)
and one of the dancers (right). 

We left Sevilla Friday morning. But first, before we completely left Sevilla, we stopped at the Star Wars palace. It’s the palace in the second Star Wars film (Attack of the Clones). Pretty legit, huh.

picture 1: scene from movie
picture 2: photo that i took.  

chris and i having an anakin/padme moment.
it took us SO long to get a picture where one of us
wasn't cracking up, so don't tell me it looks like
an awkward engagement picture...
because it doesn't.

And then we headed on for Granada. We checked in to the Princesa Ana—a four star hotel. Our director spoiled us this time. Laura and I had SUCH a great room—and a fantastic bathroom. None of our hotels have been bad, but this one was especially nice…and I LOVE that feeling of anticipation before opening your hotel room door…and then you do…and then everything is sparklingly clean and pretty. Yay.

laura. our beautiful bathroom. me.

 Granada is home to La Alhambra—reputed to be one of the most BEAUTIFUL places in the entire WORLD.  I would have to agree completely with the general consensus. La Alhambra/the Generalife Gardens was one of my favorite places in Spain…hands down. Maybe it’s just because I’ve seen so many gothic/baroque/roman/renaissance cathedrals and palaces (don’t get me wrong, I love them too) that I find the simplicity of Arabic architecture hugely refreshing. And the Generalife gardens…breath-taking. Prepare yourself for the picture gallery below…

Photo 1: old Granada...I'm in love with the green/white color combination.
Photo 2: me...roses...mountains...blue sky...clouds.
Photo 3: La Alhambra as seen from the Generalife Gardens

Part of the Generalife Gardens. I didn't take very many pictures of the flowers...but they were BEAUTIFUL.
Imagine every flower possible in every color possible...and lots of fountains...
When I say breath-taking, I'm not kidding.

Parts of La Alhambra. Pictures don't even begin to do it justice.

After La Alhambra, we all went to eat Dominos. Despite the un-Spain-ness of Dominos, I’m not gonna lie. I lOVED it. I was so so so hungry. After everybody was full, we went to an Arabian/Indian market. It was a narrow little street—super cool. SO many tiny stores, exotic music, cool stuff. Also full of hookah lounges, a couple creepy men, and awful-smelling incense, but the dress, pillow-cover, and street art I bought definitely made it worth it.

on the left...the store where i bought a dress.
The other two photos are just of the street where the market was.

On the way home, two girls from Granada started talking to me. They were super cool. They both loved American culture—English, music, tv shows…and they wanted to practice their English. We compromised and we spoke some English and some Spanish. Good thing we were talking because our group got lost and the two girls were able to figure out where our hotel was and take us there. They were so nice.

We woke up the day and I ate the best hotel breakfast ever. Delicious fruit, fresh orange juice, and fresh pastries/bread. Mhmm…and then we left to tour the birthplace of Federico García Lorca. He’s a very famous Spanish writer…probably second, right after Cervantes. He was killed in the Spanish civil war for expressing his views and is viewed as somewhat of a martyr now.

Me in the patio of Federico's house.

 After that we went back to the bus…and prepared ourselves for the six hour journey back to Alcalá. Speaking of which…Pringles are my travel addiction. I LOVE them.

yes yes yes.

Don’t worry, I didn’t eat the entire can by myself…

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Granada (en español)

Después de ver el palacio de Star Wars (que claro, era muy guay), fuimos a Granada. Nos quedamos en un hotel se llama Princesa Ana y era un hotel de cuatro estrellas. Muy muy rico—Laura y yo estábamos muy emocionadas. Me encanta ese sentido de abrir el puerto en un hotel...y encontrar un cuarto tan limpio y bonito.

Tuvimos un pequeño descanso en el hotel y después fuimos a ver La Alhambra. Me ENCANTÓ este lugar. Me gusta mucha la influencia de los musulmanes en la arquitectura aquí en Andalucia. Los Generalife Gardens también…tan tan hermosa. Estaba caminando en un sueño. Está llena de fuentes, flores, arquitectura increíble…y todo hace juego en una manera espectacular.

Después de La Alhambra, nuestro grupo fuimos a comer Dominos…y cuando todos estábamos satisfechos, fuimos a un mercado exótico—un mercado de los árabes. Era divertido—compré una bufando, arte, y un vestido. En una de las tiendas, había un hombre muy, pero muy, coqueto. Querría que yo le diera mi dirección, que yo pasé más tiempo con él, y más…era creepy. Pero ahora es una historia chistosa.

A regresar a nuestro hotel, hablaba con dos chicas de Granada. A ellas les encanta inglés y por eso, yo hablé con ellas un poco en español, y un poco en inglés también. Nos ayudaron a encontrar nuestro hotel y eran tan amables.

Todos tenían mucho sueño…y dormimos.

El próximo día (sábado), desayunamos a las nueve. El desayuno era riquísimo—había pan dulce, fruta, magdalenas, yogur, todo. Después, fuimos a ver la casa natal de Federico García Lorca, un escritor muy famoso de España. Fue matado durante la guerra civil de España, y es algo de un mártir de la gente ahora.

Cuando hemos terminado de ver su casa, salimos para Alcalá—un viaje de seis horas. Parramos para comer almuerzo y había un mesero guapísimo…para que sepas, querría hablar con él, pero no tenía el valor jaja. Laura y yo compartimos un bocadillo de tortilla española (me gusta mucho la tortilla española), y compré Pringles para comer durante el resto del tiempo en el autobús. Hago esto cada viaje…Pringles son mi adicción. Punto.