Dale limosna mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada

Over the past week, I have gone on my own excursions to the places of Granada that are considered tourist locations that I have not been to yet. I was glad I did this because I feel so much more connected to this beautiful  Spanish city.

Last Sunday, I climbed the steep street up to the Alhambra with my friend, Breanna. Since it was a Sunday and later in the day, nothing was really open, but I managed to take a few very nice pictures. The Alhambra itself is a very interesting place, with a history that goes back over a thousand years. First, the Moors had control of the land and built up their fortress upon the mountainside (If you would call it that - You can see what I am describing when I talk about the Mirador de San Nicolas). From what I have learned, the Moors first built the fortress and then built their own palace. When the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand expelled the Moors from the land, they claimed this land. A few centuries later, the King Charles I of Spain (also the King of the Holy Roman empire... very long story on how this happens and continued to happen throughout the history of different European kingdoms) decided to build his own palace on this land. Although he ordered for the construction of the palace, he never actually lived there. Experts guess that the use of this building was merely for diplomatic reasons. I have been told many interesting architecture aspects about this palace, but I decided it would be best not to discuss them since it would take forever.

Part of the Nasrid Palace. I absolutely adore the windows. Even better, when my study abroad group toured the palace, the ceiling was intricately carved with what I believe is marble. If anyone out there is ever in Granada, arrive to the Alhambra early to get a ticket and drool over the delicate architecture and decoration inside all of the palaces. It will be well worth a visit.

The formal entrance to the Alhambra fortress, called "Puerta de la Justicia", built in 1348 by Yusuf I.

There is a church inside the fortress, but I do not know the name. The sun was hitting this side of the church in such a beautiful manner, and this picture turned out so well.

Palacio de Carlos V, or Palace of Charles V.

It is so interesting on how there are so many details on something as simple as an outside wall or a window.

A common meeting place or a reference point for travelers in Granada is the Plaza de Isabel la Católica. Here, there is a statue of Reina Isabel I de Castilla with Christopher Columbus surrounded by a fountain with various shrubbery. Isabella is her "English name", and she agreed to help fund Columbus' voyage. At the time, he had wanted to find an alternate route to the Indies by going West, but we all know today that he landed on a new land that had not been discovered. The rest is history, but I was very surprised to find out how our world history is very interconnected. 

Something that I fell in love with here is how all the buildings are adjacent to more buildings and create a certain "European" look. Anytime I see a set of buildings that are clearly of this style, I smile and think how crazy it is that I am in Spain.

I also enjoy the different colors

Last Friday is when I had a chance to see the Royal Chapel, or La Capilla Real, located on the other side of the Cathedral. This is the location where both of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain are buried, along with their their children, Miguel (he died at age two) and Queen Joanna the Mad with her husband, Philip the Handsome and Fair. The Chapel itself was so nicely built with a careful, yet precious design and it is filled with many works of art. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take any pictures of the inside, but it was definitely worth the 3,50 euro to visit. 

Some of the exterior

Also, after avoiding the women around the Cathedral trying to give you a sprig of rosemary as a "gift" (Tourist trap-  by accepting the sprig, they then read your palm and for this, you "owe" them money, at least five euro),  I walked around the former silk market called the Alcaicería, which is now consists of tourism stores and handicrafts. When you walk along these narrow streets, you feel that you have transported to a place such as the markets of Morocco. I absolutely love the feeling when I am on the souvenir hunt for family and friends. 

All the buildings on the stretch of streets have this kind of design.

A few streets across from the Alcaicer ía is a place called the Corral del Carbón, which is a Moorish structure from the fourteenth century. This is a typical style of the Nasrid dynasty, and served as an inn for travelling merchants and as a wholesale market of goods.

Entrance of the Corral del Carbón, with the convenient tourist shop located next to it. I adore the arch of the door, and I have been told that this is a very typical Andalusian trademark for historical Moorish structures.

Inside the courtyard.

A more detailed view of the arch and the ceiling of the entrance.

I decided after this that I was famished and needed some warm beverage to reboot my energy, so I went to a cafetería in the Plaza de Bib-Rambla. This plaza was filled with all sorts of outdoor seating for the various restaurants and cafeterías and people roaming the square. 

This fountain uses recycled water (I am assuming that this is from rainwater, but not too sure), and they make sure to let you know that this is NOT water you can drink.

Interesting fountain.

My delicious café con leche, better known as a latte in the United States. Although these drinks are delicious, they have a higher caffeine concentration because they import Arabica coffee instead of the South American blends that we commonly consume in the United States.

The cafetería where I bought my coffee. They also serve pizza and churros con chocolate, but this visit I was not hungry. Maybe I will return sometime in the next few weeks for the churros.

I found this quote on the back of my sugar packet to be somewhat interesting. It roughly translates to "The necessary word may be effective, but no word has ever been as effective as a precise silence" - Mark Twain. Food for thought.

Around the Cathedral of Granada, there are several small shops that I believe truly represents the cultural atmosphere of Granada and Andalucía. They have stands with various spices and loose tea, specialty stores of all sorts of arts and crafts. I know that my mom will like that I found a yarn store, so I took a picture of it.

A statue near the Cathedral. I am not to sure of whom this is depicting, but I appreciate its antiquity. 

The Plaza of Bib-Rambla with the Cathedral in the background.

I continued walking around for about another hour and got hungry, so I tried to figure out where was a food stand that I wanted to try. During my stay so far in Granada, I have noticed that there are these stands that are abundant in many parts of the city along with some Andalusian cities I have visited selling Kebab sandwiches. To describe what they sell, the sandwich itself is called shawarma, and it has a pita for the outside, served with grilled chicken meat from a spit, all sorts of vegetables as toppings, and two sauces (one of them is called Amba, and is a tangy mango pickle sauce). This staple has to be one of the best things I have tried while abroad, and I am glad that it is served in many places around the world.

Yummy! And it was only three euros, which is a little less than four and a half dollars in the United States.

The following day, I left the house for another day of excursion and headed to La Cartuja de Granada, which is an old Carthusian monastery dating back to the sixteenth century. Inside there were an extensive display of the paintings of Fray Juan Sánchez Cotán. The majority of his pieces were of course religious, but many depicted how the Protestant Reformation killed many Carthusian monks. The images were very graphic and at times very disturbing, but I would not have researched the history behind this religious order had I not seen these paintings. Also, I was not supposed to take pictures inside the monastery, but when I arrived to the Chapel, I could not resist taking a few pictures because it was the most exemplary style of Spanish Baroque architecture and decoration. I hope that I am not viewed as being a bad person for doing this, but it was so incredibly beautiful that it must be shared with other people.

Passageway to the chapel

The altar, made of beautiful colors of marble, decorated with ornaments of gold, and flawless statues.

The paintings of the ceiling, along with some of the altar.

Have I mentioned that I adore the mountains that surround Granada? They are called la Sierra Nevada, and they get covered with a gentle sheet of snow in the winter. Since it is still an average temperature of around sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit each day, there is no snow on the peaks, but I believe that I may see this by the time I leave in December. 

These mountains are viewed from the porch of La Cartuja.

That day I also wanted to go back to the Mirador de San Nicolas in the Albaicín neighborhood of Granada. I took some more pictures of the area here, since I feel I did not take enough pictures when I first visited this site.

Some buildings and a bridge along the Paseo de Los Tristes

I cannot remember the name of this church, but I like the angle up to showing a partial view of the Alhambra fortress.

The Alhambra from the foot of the mountainside.

There were two signs, one in English and the other in Spanish, but I thought it was comical. Also, it was strange because I could not find this supposed "physically impossible entry".

This is actually public drinking fountains that are quite often found around the older neighborhoods of Granada. The water is supposed to be consumed, and it is very delicious and refreshing.

A view of the Alhambra fortress, Nasrid palace, and the palace of Charles V with mountains in the background.

More mountains.

For now, this picture story has summed up about three days of sightseeing in Granada and I hope that you enjoy reading about my life here in Granada. Next week I will have midterm examinations, along with a weekend trip to the capital of Spain, Madrid with my friend Breanna. The weekend following that weekend my study abroad program will be touring the cities of Córdoba and Sevilla. 

Una vista rara en Granada

For the past two days, it has been raining in Granada. This has only been the third time it has rained in the entire time of being here, which has been about two months. In fact, this morning I woke up to the sound of a downpour and thunder! It's quite strange for this region to experience this type of weather, but it is so dry that I'm sure the ground and plants need it.

Classes have been great and I am learning more about Spain than I ever could have in the United States. I very much enjoy the fact that these classes are centered around a very specific topic, but there is so much to learn just about that one thing. For example, I am taking a class called "Civilización y Cultura Española", and it seems that the topic is very narrow, but it is just the opposite! I have learned about the first people who had lived on the Iberian peninsula to the political structure of Spanish government to the differences between Generalísimo Franco era and today.

Today I am going to walk up to the Alhambra with my friend, Breanna, and we're going to take some more pictures and enjoy the atmosphere.

Gibraltar, el paísito y Málaga, nos encontramos otra vez.

¡Cúanto tiempo sin verte!

As today is the national holiday of Spain, simply named "Fiesta Nacional de España", I actually managed to squeeze some time to write about my experience travelling to the British-owned territory known as Gibraltar and the astonishing city of Málaga (this time, I actually got to view a lot more of the city, and I am in love with it even more).

When we arrived to Gibraltar, we were required to go through British customs. Before the border, I got to look upon the "Rock" of Gibraltar, which is basically what is thought of whenever this  place is mentioned. The funny thing about the rock was there was this dark, ominous cloud hovering over all of the peninsula, and we said that it was imitating the natural conditions of the United Kingdom. This was partially true, as there was clouds mostly over the British side all day but never on the Spanish side.

The cloud!

The border.

The flag of Gibraltar, followed by the British flag, finally followed by the European Union flag.

Yes, a telephone booth! There were a lot of people doing tourist photos in this phonebooth as we were waiting for the others.

Once everybody gained permission to enter the territory, we hopped on a bus with a tour guide that was born and raised in Gibraltar! His mother was Spanish and his father was British, so he grew up knowing both languages, for which I had fits of jealousy. However, I learned that relations between the Spanish and the British have not always been the best, and I felt remorseful for some of the hardships that the man had to endure during his lifetime in Gibraltar. While he was explaining his story, we waited forever in traffic for some unknown reason. He then told us that we were waiting for a plane to take off because the roadway we were on shared the runway for the airport!

The actual plane is located at the bottom of the lamppost.

Driving over a runway, no big deal.

We were then given a tour of the various tourist spots located on the Rock, and this required our little van to climb higher and higher up the steep roads, and it made us somewhat nervous. However, our tour guide insisted that nothing would happen, and gratefully nothing did. Here are some views on the way up and St. Michael's cave.

The bay, from not too terribly high on the Rock.

Queen of England? That's pretty interesting!

The Jurassic-aged cave of St. Michael. Not too much to see, but I enjoy hearing the history of things.

Upon leaving the cave, we were met by the famous monkeys of Gibraltar. The reason why they are so popular is that they are the only species of monkey to live naturally in any part of Europe. It is believed that they were brought there by the Moors when they first invaded southern Spain, but of course, that is just speculation of the experts. I will let the pictures of the silly monkeys explain themselves!

It found a Twix bar wrapper, but found nothing. Can you see the subtle disappointment in this little fellow's face?

That's as close as I would get to the monkeys. Right after this picture, this same monkey jumped off the wall, ran to a lady with a purse, opened her purse, and stole an open bag of Doritos.

Must have been delicious!

A baby!

Look at the human mannerism that this monkey has!

Ah, the Barbary Macaques in a "natural" habitat...

For lunch, my roommate Aurelie and I found a Subway in Gibraltar, and decided to eat there. However, it cost us thirteen Euros for a footlong sub sandwich and two large sodas, which is about $18 in the United States. We asked the employee as to why it cost so much money, and they said that it was due to a steep exchange rate between the Euro and the British Pound. I did not think about how they had to pay a certain percentage to exchange money, but that was the reason of being outrageously expensive.

Aurelie and I.

After a few hours in Gibraltar, we said goodbye and headed to the precious city of Málaga. We were fortunate enough to stay in a four-star hotel while there, and I enjoyed it immensely for its comfortable beds (Best sleep I have ever had in my life!). On the Sunday of our trip, we were able to view the Alcazaba of Málaga, which is a Moorish fortress similar to Granada´s Alhambra. The castle and fortress were not as impressive as the Alhambra, but the view of the Mediterranean Sea was absolutely spectacular! In general, the visit to different places around Málaga was nothing short of fantastic, and I am glad that I had an opportunity to explore this city more than before.

The walls of the fortress along with the background being of the city and port of Málaga.

Skyline of Málaga and the Mediterranean Sea. The picture is a bit overexposed, but it is very difficult to escape the sun in this city (Guaranteed 3,000 hours of sun a year!)

Our tour guide (the name escapes me) and an ancient Roman theater alongside the Alcazaba.

Roman theater! How tremendous!

Giant bubbles in the plaza.

Underneath this pyramid, there were some kind of ancient Roman remains, and it was pretty swell. I could not obtain a picture of the actual site due to a terrible reflection of the sun coming from the glass.

Laura and I.

Some of the restored arches in the Alcazaba.

I thought the silhouettes of Christina and Aurelie looked pretty appealing.

I´m addicted to salmon sandwiches, but I took this picture because I liked the design to make my plate seem fancy (although there was already a chip in the ceramic)

All in all, I very much enjoyed this weekend with my study abroad group. The best part was that the price was already included in what we had originally paid in our billing, so it was definitely worth the somewhat-expensive part of studying abroad. 

¡Eran los primeros días del octubre y hacía buen tiempo todavía!

Buenas tardes a todos,

This weekend I was able to explore the beautiful coastal city of Cádiz, Spain for three days. Two other girls, Bailey and Laura, decided to go on this adventure about two days before the day of departure, but it was definitely such a great decision. We paid for a round trip bus ticket and arrived in Cádiz on Saturday in the afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the beach called "La playa de la caleta". The ocean water was very warm, but it was quite windy and that led to us being covered in tons of sand by the time we left.

Overlooking the beach. There were many older Spanish women sitting together, talking, and playing games under the umbrella structures. The way that they were enjoying the beach makes me want to move to somewhere such as Florida when I retire, but I still have many years to think about that.

There were many small boats dotted along the shore, and also the stretch of land in the distance is actually a castle, called San Sebastián. We did not go there on Saturday, but later in the trip we did.

View of our street we stayed on from my room. When we arrived, the apartment across the street had children randomly singing Nickelodeon songs in English. The impact that American culture plays on the rest of the world continues to impress me every time I encounter it while being here in Spain. However, this is usually limited to just music, television, and movies from what I have noticed. 

That night, we returned to the hotel, took a nap for a few hours, and then went to the rooftop terrace for dinner. We learned upon arrival that the staff prepares a dinner for five euros a plate, and since we did not know too much of Cádiz yet, this seemed like the best option for the night. The hotel had some leftover paella from the night before, and I had not tried paella up until that point, so I bought this for only two euros. It was absolutely delicious, even if it was a day old. The night turned a bit chilly, but for October, it was absolutely beautiful and still comfortable.

The next day, we ate toast and had a cup of coffee before heading to all the tourist sites within Cádiz. As we did not want to spend too much money, anything that charged an admission we skipped. That is just what happens when you are a college student on a budget. The first place we went to was the Plaza de la Catedral, which included the Cádiz Cathedral along with another church with a name that escapes me. However, here are the wonderful photographs I took of the whole plaza.

The plaza

The other church on the plaza

Also, since Cádiz is essentially a decent-sized peninsula, we were able to encounter views of the sea simply by walking about 20 minutes in any direction.

Cádiz is one of the oldest, continuously-inhabited cities in all of Europe, and for this, we discovered several ancient remains throughout the city. This included anywhere from an ancient Phoenician necropolis remains to small bits leftover of an aqueduct from the Romans.  

Roman theater, in quite a crumbling state. We were prohibited from entering due to large gates, but it was definitely amazing to see from a short distance.

Some of the ancient Phoenician necropolis.

Remains of a Roman aqueduct. Nothing too spectacular, but I love seeing something that is incredibly old with historical significance.

While walking along the shoreline, we encountered some remains, but there was no information about it.

I´m not sure why I enjoy seeing police cars in everywhere I visit, but I think it is mostly because no matter where you may go in the world, you will find some form of peacekeepers, but they may present themselves in a completely different manner.

This vehicle is gives a very intimidating impression!

Finally, on the last day, we walked around before our bus and stumbled upon the castle of San Sebastián. We were not permitted to go in, but here are some pictures of the scenery around where we could be. 

Some pretty interesting rock formations surrounding the castle! 

Looking back on Cádiz

I took this picture accidentally, but it is very impressive.

The only speed bump that occurred during this trip was at the end. Since both my friend Laura and I had our tickets printed on the same piece of paper, and Laura could not find the ticket when we were supposed to go, we missed to bus to Granada. Seeing that the next bus to Granada was approximately 5 hours later, we found the train station, bought tickets to Sevilla, and continued our journey. The train was actually quite enjoyable, much better than the trains we have in the United States. They are smoother riding and quieter, so I got to catch up on a little bit of sleep. Upon arrival to Sevilla, we found the tourism kiosk and asked for directions to the bus station. The man there was very nice and even helped us figure out when the next bus to Granada would be! It took us about half an hour to walk and take a city bus to the station, but we purchased tickets for the bus and headed back home.

Tomorrow I start my new schedule, and I will be taking 4 classes. Now, this may not seem to be a large amount; however, each class meets four hours a week and the university uses a trimester format for their classes. I'm very excited for my classes for I have heard many good things about the professors that will be teaching my classes and that I love to learn more about Spain and Spanish. 

¡Saludos!