¡Granada!

This past weekend I went to Granada with my program. For those of you who don´t know Granada is east of Sevilla (about a 3 hour bus ride.) We left VERY early Saturday morning, stopped half way at a Shell gas station with the most gorgeous view, and arrived at our hotel around noon. Our hotel was right next to La Alhambra (a palace and fortess building all rolled into one.) I shared a room with Chrisy and Jessica and the first thing we did was take a 30 minute power nap (it was essential.) The hotel had buffet style meals, which were incredible, and I finally got to try paella! It was SO delicious. After lunch, we went on a short walking tour of the city. During the walk, we came to a plaza with a ton of hippies selling bracelets, scarves, etc. All of the sudden they just started packing all of their things up because the police were coming. (Chrisy later told me they used a keyword for the police "AGUA") After the walking tour we went to Capilla Real, a mausoleum in honor of los Reyes Catolicos. It was very pretty inside, but we were not allowed to take any pictures. Their is a room in Capilla Real that actually contains the remains of los Reyes Catolicos (Fernando and Isabel) along with their daughter (Juana la loca <-- sad story behind the name) and her husband (Philip el hermoso) and the tiny body of Miguel. After the Capilla Real, our group went to a teteria (teahouse) and drank incredible tea and Arabic desserts. After all of that, we went back to our hotel, got ready for what would turn out to be a long, fun night of dancing, ate dinner, and watched the Sevilla vs. Betis futbol game. BETIS WON (Maria was so happy.) We went out into the center of the city to a small tapas place (if you ordered a beer you got free tapas!) Then we went right next door to a discoteca. We literally danced the night away and went back to our hotel at 5 in the morning. Unfortunately, we could not sleep in and recuperate because we had a tour of La Alhambra at 8:30 in the morning! Getting up was not fun, but La Alhambra was beautiful with intricate detailing on all of the walls. It would be much prettier when the weather is warmer because then flowers would be in bloom in the extensive gardens of Generalife. After lunch, we boarded the bus and headed back to Sevilla. Granada is a very pretty city much more granola-y than Sevilla. (Jillian and Chrisy taught me the word granola= hippy, which is funny because the whole time I was thinking how much Cath would love it.) I´m happy to be studying in Sevilla for the semester though. That´s all for now!
Love you!
Franny