Weekend Expedition to Granada

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Well I went to Granada this past weekend. The bus left at 8:30a and it took over 6 hours to drive there. It was not too bad, I was able to see the countryside and beautiful part of Spain. Then we arrived to what we were told would be a hotel and it ended up being a 7 person room in a hostel (luckily the other 6 people are my friends). Oh forgot to mention on the bus ride there we made friends with 3 Italian students (I love when they speak Spanish because it is with an Italian accent). They thought that I looked like Zach Efron After arriving we took a little walking tour around the city and we saw some cool buildings, plazas, churches, etc. Following that we had dinner at a Moroccan restaurant that was realitively inexpensive and the food was amazing. We had a pitcher of sangria which was different because it had sticks of cinnamon in it, a little different flavor. After dinner we took a bus up small roads to a look out place on a hill. From there we were able to see the famous Alhambra at night with all the lights... so amazing. Then we went to a Flamenco dance (I think that I am bit sick of the Flamenco now). I call it an undergroud speakeasy because it was in a cellar of a neighborhood and they served us sangria or beer, it was a bit sketch. I ended up falling asleep near the end of the show and then one of the dancers took me by the hand to dance with her. I guess she has never seen a white boy try to dance.

On Saturday we headed up to the mountain where the Alhambra is located. Our tour began at 1:30. It was absolutely spectacular. The entire thing was just unbelievable. It only took 20 years to build. It shows the great influence that Moors had in Spain. I am including a link so that you can see some more pictures. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054555&id=21204555&l=bec20 There were also so many beautiful gardens and fountains (water is something that is extremely valued in Arab culture). I am so glad I was able to see it because it was the most memorable thing I have done yet. Everyone needs to see this because you will just be amazaed by it. The Alhambra is so huge. I thought that is was 2 rooms and 1 garden, but it is giant. It took us 2.5 hours to walk through it and we did not even see all of the gardens. Following the Alhambra we just went back and realxed for a while. The leaders of our group organized for us to go to a discoteca that night. We even went through the VIP entrance. It was a cool experience.

On Sunday we just realaxed. We had the entire day free to do as we pleased. However it was Sunday and nothing was open, not even the super mercado, El Corte Ingles. We did kind a few little tourist shops that were open. I got my name written in Arabic, well that's what he said he wrote, but who knows. Then in the afternoon we made our trek back to Madrid. Overall, it was a great weekend.