Dirty Bit MAAAAAAN. Granada for a girls' weekend... kinda.

Hello friends! I deem it positively necessary to fill you all in on my trip to Granada this weekend. Granada is a small city in Andalucía (state-like province that I am living in here in Spain), with a lot of culture to cover in just one day.

Granada is in circled in the red. Sevilla is to the west not too far away.

Andrew's friend from home was visiting Granada the same weekend. He wanted to meet up with him so badly, but did not want to travel alone (A.K.A.- he didn't want to want to fund a trip all by himself...). He convinced Elena and me to go along with him, but it wasn't a bad idea, seeing as he took care of all the travel arrangements. I could not complain.

When we got to Granada we walked around the main square that surrounds la Catedral de Granada. This Cathedral is the second biggest, Sevilla's being the biggest (duhhhhhh). We hung around there for a little while, browsing the little shops and stands where you could buy souvenirs. By the way the gypsies are wild in Granada. They try to force you to buy rosemary form them, and they grab you to read your palms. So aggressive, and so entertaining to watch. My favorite thing I saw was little spice stands. They were so colorful, and they smelled so good. Here is a pic of one:

SO PRETTY!

After we moseyed around the town for about an hour, we decided it would be in our best interest to find our hotel. We found it easily, settled in, took quick showers, then started drinking wine before we went out for dinner. I am the first to admit that I am a rather loud person, especially when wine is involved. I can say the same about Elena and Andrew. However, at this particular moment we were not being loud, when a man staying in the hotel with us stormed up to our room. He yelled at us in his native Spanish about how we were being too loud, how his six kids were trying to sleep, and how he was going to call the police. Excuse me, WHAT DUDE? Firstly, its 9:30, and I know no one is Spain is possibly sleeping at this hour. Secondly, who goes on vacation with six kids? BOLD MOVE MAAAAAAAN. Thirdly, we better leave just in case this maniac calls the cops, because Lord knows I cannot keep up with rapid fire questioning in Spanish. I didn't much feel like being arrested for a noise complaint. 

After that fiasco, we went to a little Italian restaurant, because we were dying for some pizza. We got a bottle of wine and we shared two pizzas. 

YUMMMMM. So much better than in the States!

The next day we woke up and headed out for our self-guided tour (thanks Rick Steves). It was about a seven stop walk, and it outlined all of the must-see sights of Granada. We saw this man on the way to our first stop, and I fell in love with him. You would never see this in the US. He is so talented, and his painting is so beautiful.

We then went to the Plaza where there is a statue of Christopher Columbus asking permission form Queen Isabel to go on his trip to what he thought was the East. We, however, know he found America! Thanks, Chris. I learned this weekend that Isabel died thinking that Columbus had indeed found a shortcut to India, and Columbus died broke. Strange how the mighty fall, isn't it?

Here is a quick lesson of the history of Granada. It was the last city in Spain to be conquered by the Catholics during the Inquisition. There is a strong Moorish influence there, even today. There are spice markets everywhere (like I stated above), the people look a bit Middle-Eastern, there is Moorish architecture everywhere (even in the Cathedral), and yummy Turkish kebab (Not sticks with grilled meats and veggies, similar too gyros, but 10 million times better) restaurants EVERYWHERE! We took a short stroll to the open air market, where we found some righteous hats.

I wasn't aware that Aladin was studying abroad this semester.

We went on a tour of the Cathedral, and I am so sad to admit that this one is much cooler than the one in my hometown, Sevilla (yeah, I just said that Sevilla is my hometown). It was built on top of a demolished mosque, as a way of giving the Muslins a big fat middle finger. So, it had to be very impressive. It was also one of the first churches that was built that was not meant to oppress the poor people. Traditionally the churches were built to separate the poor from the rich during mass with putting the chorus in the middle. It takes away from the big picture of these cathedrals when they are built like this, but the one in Granada is different. It was big, open, and so beautiful.

High Alter- no justice is served but I did my best.

The doors were my favorite. So huge and AWESOME.

This guy was amazing. All the people in the church were laughing out loud at him. 

We made one more stop on our tour at an old arab bath house. It is where  the people used to go to bathe. It served as a meeting place to make deals, socialize, and just chill. The cool part was, that bath houses served as equalizers. When clothes and jewelry were off there was not way to differentiate between social classes. Very interesting.

Cool pose, Elena.

If ever the chance to go to Granada sneaks up on you, you should take it. It was a very cool experience, and I am so glad that Andrew duked us into going with him. Thanks for reading, check back soon. This coming weekend I am going to Alicante for Carnaval, and Cece and Annalise are meeting us! We were told to bring costumes, so my next post should be intriguing. Life is so good.