Granada (La Alhambra), Spain

A WORK IN PROCESS.... THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE! :)

Granada is one of the most important cities within Spain and in my opinion around Europe in terms of diversity and beauty.  Located towards the sourthern part of the country, its warm tempertures and rich history make it a top tourist destination.  I know it was for me and after being in Spain for well over a year, I felt a bit ashamed that I had never made it down to the infamous Alhambra.  Well, in late August my grandmother Sandy and aunt Colleen made their first trip to Spain to come visit me.  I took a few days off of work to travel with them so what a perfect opportunity it was to discover this breath-taking city together!
HISTORY

Granada’s history reads like an excellent thriller, with complicated plots, conspiracies, hedonism and tricky love-affairs. Granada began life as an Iberian settlement in the Albayzín district. Muslim forces took over from the Visigoths in 711, with the aid of the Jewish community around the foot of the Alhambra hill in what was called Garnata al Jahud, from which the name Granada derives; granada also happens to be Spanish for pomegranate, the fruit on the city’s coat of arms.

After the fall of Córdoba (1236) and Seville (1248), Muslims sought refuge in Granada, where Mohammed ibn Yusuf ibn Nasr had set up an independent emirate. Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to east of Almería, this ‘Nasrid’ emirate became the final remnant of Al-Andalus, ruled from the increasingly lavish Alhambra palace for 250 years. Granada became one of the richest cities in medieval Europe, flourishing with its swollen population of traders and artisans. Two centuries of artistic and scientific splendour peaked under emirs Yusuf I and Mohammed V in the 14th century.






It all went pear-shaped as the 15th century wore on: the economy stagnated and violent rivalry developed over the succession. One faction supported the emir, Abu al-Hasan, and his harem favourite Zoraya. The other faction backed Boabdil, Abu al-Hasan’s son by his wife Aixa. In 1482 Boabdil rebelled, setting off a confused civil war. The Christian armies invading the emirate took advantage, besieging towns and devastating the countryside, and in 1491 they finally laid siege to Granada. After eight months, Boabdil agreed to surrender the city in return for the Alpujarras valleys and 30, 000 gold coins, plus political and religious freedom for his subjects. On 2 January 1492 the conquering Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Fernando, entered Granada ceremonially in Muslim dress. They set up court in the Alhambra for several years.

Religious persecution soon ensued. Jews were expelled from Spain, and persecution of Muslims led to revolts across the former emirate and their eventual expulsion from Spain in the 17th century. Lacking these talented elements of its populace, Granada sank into a deep decline from which it only began to emerge with the interest drummed up by the Romantic movement from the 1830s on. This set the stage for the restoration of Granada’s Islamic heritage and the arrival of tourism.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/granada/history


PLACES TO SEE

Which destinations should you visit on-foot? One is the Generalife Gardens. This is one of the world's loveliest gardens, and was once the home of Arab kings. But there's more to the gardens than pretty flowers. You can also view fantastic usages of water in the gardens. In fact, some people have compared the way that the water flows throughout the Generalife Gardens, as music or poetry.

The Alhambra from the 1300s is yet another major attraction that's worth climbing out of your rented car or truck, to see. This is where Moorish king governed Southern Spain until 1492. One of the must-see objects to view here is the fountain that faces the central courtyard. A set of 12 stone lions are used to support the magnificent fountain. Recently the fountain's big cats have been restored.

(Unfortunately, the lions were moved into an enclosed area last year or so and not available to be photographed.  Therefore, I had to take this pic from the internet.  I wish I could have seen it in its original glory)


Santa Ana is yet another destination that justifies parking your rented vehicle and then viewing. It's located at Plaza Nueva's northeast end. The features of this structure include an ornate doorway and a tower that resembles a minaret.

Yet another site that you should include on a walking tour in Granada, is the Palacio Arzobispal. Known in English as the "Archbishop's Palace," this structure faces the Granada Cathedral's west side. It primarily dates back to the 17th century.



Another must-see site during your walking tour of Granada, is the Carmen de los Martires. The water nymph located at the entrance is one of the top sites to see here. Then once you enter the formal garden, you can also enjoy a terrace that contains tall palm trees. These trees help to shade a three-level fountain underneath. Then while walking along the path, you can also enjoy a viewing a huge circular pool. A statue of Neptune overlooks the large pool.



Visit the Convento de San Jeronimo. It's located southwest of the Hospital San Juan de Dios. The church's walls are adored with wall paintings from the 1700s. Take the time to view the figures of Gonzalo and his spouse, which are positioned on either side of the high altar.



Before arriving in Granada, you should book your hotel online. That will guarantee that you'll have accommodations once you arrive in the Spanish city.

Salamanca, Spain

Following the amazing time I had in Galicia with this group of crazy ladies, I jumped at the chance to go on a second adventure just a few weeks later. We decided on the quiet, mysterious and gastronomical city of Salamanca. I accompanied the familiar faces of Steph, Lena and Sonia, plus 2 of their American friends (Katie and Lindsay). Salamanca not being difficult to travel to, we decided to take a 3 hour bus instead of driving. We rented 2 rooms in a small hostel inside the Plaza Mayor which was in our budget and paid off later in the night…

Looking at my funds just days previous to us leaving, I realized that this was going to be a very tight trip for me. I considered backing out but realized that I would be missing out on a great opportunity. So after bus fare and hostel costs, I was left with exactly 25 euro to eat and party. You might think I was crazy for attempting this but I knew I could make it happen.

(view from our hostel)

We arrived after what seemed like a short bus ride for me (because I slept the entire way) and hiked from the bus station to our hotel in the city's Casco Antiguo (old center).  I realized quickly that Salamanca isn't as non-Spanish speaking tourist friendly as some of its competing cultural cities.  But all of us knowing Spanish could survive without a problem. 

We arrived at our hostel and checked-in with the guapo South American clerk.  The girls chatted and divided rooms as we freshened up ready to venture out.  Our first stop was CASA PACA,

one of Salamanca's most well-known resturants and tapa stops.  We stood at the bar gazing at the numerous yummy treats that we could choose from, sipping on our vino y cerveza (wine and beer).  After a few drinks and what we considered to be our lunch of tapas, we started off to see the sights.

We casually strolled the streets looking at the ancient buildings that surrounded us, once again amazed by these architectual feats.  Then we came across this building that suddenly stopped me in my tracks.  I stared in a sort of confusion as I tried to place why I knew this particular buiding.  I searched my brain for information from my university days learning about Spanish history and cultural sites.  But I came up blank knowing that of the city Salamanca was never emphasized in any of my college courses.  I started taking pictures of this simple square, white washed building.  Nothing spectacular about it architectually with exception to its facade- it's covered in thousands of tiny stone seashells.  On about my forth snapshot I realized why I knew this building:

Picture me in 9th grade (hard to do because many of you don't know me and can't picture me even now let alone over 10 years ago).  Anyways, I was a highschool freshman starting my first honors spanish class.  My teacher, Mrs. Perez, gave the class an assignment to pick one monument in any Spanish-speaking country to give a short presentation on.  Most people chose Inca/ Mayan temples or famous building throughout Mexico and S. America.  For some reason, I simply googled 'Spanish buildings' and on the top of this list was a building in some small city in Spain called Salamanca.  I remember laughing thinking the city's name sounded like Salmonella (don't judge, I was only 13) Well, not at all interested in this project, I went with this building because it looked cool, all the other cooler monuments were taken and the website I found would be perfect for me to easily write my presentation.  A week later I presented a 5-minute Spanglish speech to my class and about 5-minutes after, I completely forgot about that cool looking building in some E-Coli sounding town in BuFu Spain....

that was until I had dejavu taking photos of La Casa de Conchas.  I suddenly remembered why it seemed vaguely familiar.  This was the building I did that random presentation on 10 years ago.  I stood staring at the building having a moment with myself about how funny life is.  How small moments that seem insignificant can really impact you far in the future.  I had a serious look at my current life and for the first time, really realized how much I've done in my 23 years and how lucky I am to be experiencing these things in real life; not just through crappy presentations I gave when I was thirteen. 

After my little moment, we continued through the streets to the University of Salamanca.  Normally, universities in Spain are nothing to write home about.  But there's something a little special about this one, a legend that surrounds its walls and a superstition that haunts its students. One of the main building entrances has this gorgeous stone carved archway covered in figures, designs, animals, you name it.  You have to stand 30 feet back just to take it all in.  It really is a fascinating sight.  Well, as the legend goes, somewhere in this spectacule is a tiny sitting frog.  No more than 3 or 4 inches big.  As students learn on orientation, if they want to graduate, they must find the little frog.  I heard this story on prior to my arrival and thought, well that sounds stupid! But once I saw this doorway, I knew why this superstition was loved not only by students but also by tourists.  The group of us sat there inventing the best strategies to find this miniscule anphibian for a good 20 minutes until finally we gave up.  Luckily, we met up with one of the girl´s friend who was studying at this particular university.  After we couldn´t take it any longer, she showed us where the little guy was.  I mean SERIOUSLY! But it was good fun.

Can you find it yet????

Yet?????

We continued the tour to the Cathedral and sat down for a few more cañas.  After most of the tourist stuff was finished, we returned to the hostel for a little siesta.  Steph and I ran to the local supermarket to pick up drinks and food for later that evening.  Travelling on a budget we learned a great way to save money is to just buy local food and eat in your hotel.  Same with alcohol, buy a few bottles and mixers; throw on some awesome tunes; dance and drink until you´re more than ´contenta´; then head out to the bars.

That´s exactly what we did.  We planned to have a little dinner picnic in the Plaza Mayor but a short rain shower prevented that.  So we ate, drank, danced and got ready in our room.  Some of the girls were out on the patio smoking when they met our next door neighbors.... 5 gorgeous Basque men.  What are the chances :)

Well they were ready to check out some of the bars so we took a vote between us girls and decided it would be in our best interest to join them.  Well, to not go into too much detail, we all had a great night dancing, talking, destroying Salamanca (party-wise).  I crawled into bed around 5 am exhausted which turned out to be earlier than most of my travel buddies who well watched the sun rise with our new Basque friends.  We exchanged info with one another so if I ever make it to Pais Vasco, I have a few contacts!

The next day, everyone suffering a pretty bad resaca (hangover), we decided to try and catch an earlier bus back to Madrid.  Luckily, I got the last seat on one of the buses that was leaving shortly after.  So I departed from the girls who still had a few hours to wait and wanted some food.  I arrived in Madrid in no time, as I once again slept the entire way back.  Salamanca was a crazy experience for a quick weekend getaway and one that I´ll never forget!

Galicia, Spain

With another Puente (three-day weekend) on my hands and with a travelling-bug getting under my skin, I jumped at the opportunity to take a road trip with some of my colleagues. Talking to Stef and Isabel, we decided that the northern part of Spain was a bit of uncharted territory for us. Speaking specifically of Galicia region—I heard of its terrific cuisine and breathtaking scenery. The typical cities of Galicia including Santiago de Computense and la Coruna are must sees for tourists but having only a few days and no desire to mingle with tourists, we decided on the little-big city of Vigo.

Stef said she had some other friends interested in going as well.  I had heard stories of Lena, the crazy New Yorker that could put Courtney Love to shame with her antics and Sonia, the sweet litte Spanish girl that makes you wonder how she got involved with such insane Americans.  So with a decent sized group of ladies, we realized the cheapest option of transport was just to rent a car.  Between the 5 of us, we got a nice 4 door- BMW.  Sounds fancy but Beamers here are actually quite affordable.  Stef found us a really nice hotel for relatively cheap, especially since it wasn´t anywhere near tourist season. 

 

So early Saturday morning, we all met on the subway to pick up our car.  5 hours later we arrived in Vigo.  The city itself doesn´t have the majesty of Toledo or the vastness of Madrid but the countryside driving into the city itself was absolutely awe-inspiring.  Rolling green hills with scattered boulders and hidden towns was something out of Don Quixote.  (though Don Quixote was placed nowhere near Galicia)

We checked into our rooms and after deciding where we were all sleeping, we took a little siesta and got ready for the night.  Isabel´s sister and friends gave her some recommednations of bars and resturants we had to try.  First we stopped and this nautical/ astrology themed bar with amazing drink specials and yummy tapas.  We sat around the 5 of us talking about life, culture, our futures and whatnot while we steadily drank beer, wine and the bar specials.  I could already tell that I was going to get along great with Lena and Sonia.  Though we all had completely different personalities and backgrounds, we had many more important things in common: laughing, drinking and just having fun!  This was also one of the first big experiences I'd had with Stef.  After this trip, we were new partners in crime and gossip.  When we had our fill, we headed off the find this amazing resturant Isabel´s sister said was a must: EL CURUXA

Well, the ancient part of the city is a maze of winding streets and hidden entrances.  So everyother person we stopped to ask for directions sent us in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go.  Eventually, we came across it and got our table.  At first, I was a little disappointed and crabby.  The place didn´t look like anything special, especially having walked around for like 45 minutes trying to find it.  But as soon as food arrived, all my doubts disppeared.  Never have I had such delicious seafood in my life.  People always told me that Galicia had incredible pulpo (octopus) and mariscos (shellfish) but MADRE MÍA! Adding a few bottles of wine, it was one incredible dinner. 

Finishing our last glasses of wine, we ventured to meet one of Sonía´s old roommates from la universidad that lived in Vigo.  She agreed to bring us to some of the hottest clubs in Vigo. And man, she wasn´t joking.  As we arrived to the main street, we were surrounded by groups and groups of attractive men.  Almost as if Vigo puts attractiveness in the water! We went bar hopping, talking up the guapos as we went.  Then we arrived to 20th Century... the most amazing bar I have been to to date.  Completely decked in Americana and full of single men, we spent the majority of the night in a complete haze.  We finished the night at another club but I couldn´t remember much of it if you´d paid me.  Around 6am the group of us came stumbling in, in amazement of Vigo´s nightlife.

We got up relatively early, considering our late night.  We decided to take advatage of the rented car and drive to a nearby little town called Baiona that has one of the most spectacular Fortresses in Spain.  When we first arrived to this little piece of heaven, we parked and walked around the beach at the 'ria' that led to the Atlantic Ocean.  We strolled along the shores and into this old missionary turned church.  After exploring and taking our fill of fotos, we got back in the car and headed closer to the fortress.  We stopped and looked in a few shops, ate some icecream, explored an exact replica of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus's ships.  Finally, we made it to the Parador de Baiona (The Fortress). 

                                     

Have you ever had one of those moments when you first walk into a place and know that you will remember this for the rest of your life? This is how I felt when I walked into the walls of the Parador.  Words cannot even explain the beauty of this place.  I really felt that I had time travelled from 2010 into the 17th Century.  Everything seemed so untouched by the outside world. Everything grew wild and I could feel the history seeping through the cobble stones.  I had transported myself into my own little fairy tale of Kings and Noble Knights.  I imagined myself even getting married in the lush gardens overlooking the water.  I think all of us were in awe of this breathtaking place.  We took advantage of the photo-ops but for the most part, we walked in a sublime silence.  Like we all knew that this was something special. 

Sadly, after a few hours and countless pictures, we left this magical place.  We decided for enerygy and money sake, that we'd buy a few things at the local supermarket and eat dinner inside our hotel room that night.  Isabel went and had dinner and drinks with a few of her friends while the girls and I ate, drank, danced and gossiped for hours.  Once we got to the point where we could go to sleep or head out for night 2 on the town, we opted to quickly get ready and down the rest of our drinks.  We knew that we wanted to make one more appearance at 20th Century and a few other bars/ clubs before we left.  We danced the night away, filled with the bubbling joy of todays excursion.  Still exhausted from the previous late night and knowing our long journey home, we came back to the hotel at a modest 3am. 

The morning came ever so quickly as we all slowly climbed out of our beds to get back in the car for our long journey back to Madrid.  As we individually said goodbye to each person as we got dropped off, I knew that we had done more than just bond on this super-puente.  We built memories that would last a lifetime :)

Santander, Spain

After over 8 months living in Spain, it started to wear on me that I had yet to travel anywhere(without counting my 5 day trip back to the States the end of October). I had always been talking about travelling with another teacher, Nikki. So one week, I was sitting in the teacher’s lounge and looked at her and said, “Dude, we are booking the cheapest flight we can find for one of the following weekends!” She enthusiastically laughed and said “Alright, let’s do it!” We met up that Sunday after lunch and went to her place to search airlines. The cheapest flights around Europe can be found on easyjet.com, ryanair.com or vueling.com. During January, most of these sites had great offers as most people didn’t travel right after the holidays. We discussed where both of us had already travelled in the past because we both wanted to go someplace new. Furthermore, we didn’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money. From another teacher’s idea, I suggested arriving to our destination early on a Saturday, sightseeing and shopping all day, having a long dinner and partying all night. After all that, then we would head straight to the airport for the earliest flight back to Madrid. My reasoning was, hey- we’re young and energetic; then we don’t have to spend money on a hostel. Nikki was skeptically feeling my optimism and agreed to the idea. As we looked, we finally decided on Santander in Northern Spain. We felt that other European cities would require more time and money than we had. Plus, Santander isn’t really a hot tourist destination. So if our plans of doing a 24 hours trip bombed terribly, then we wouldn’t feel like it was a complete waste. Santander looked nice enough but not that fantastic that we would ever feel like going again. With our minds made up, we booked the trip for 2 weeks later.

We told all our friends and family about what we had dubbed “Our Grand Aventura.” No one else shared our optimism and told us we had to be certifiably insane to go 24 hours straight. We shrugged off their comments as the anticipation grew for our trip. Luckily, Nikki’s roommate was from Santander so she made us a list of things we had to see. We did a little research online for maps and transportation. By Friday, we were all smiles for the next morning. However, Nikki didn’t get done with classes till after 9pm on Fridays. Afterwards she still needed to run home, eat dinner and shower. Because our flight left at 7am, we agreed that it would be easier for her to sleep at my place as we would have to wake up at 4:00 and public transportation didn’t start that early. One of our administrators, Cat told me about this bus service that picked you up at your door anytime to take you to the airport for a lot cheaper than a regular taxi. So we had our pick-up a 4:30. Well, Nikki didn’t get to my place till after midnight. Not exactly the way you want to start off a 24 hour ‘aventura’. 4 o’clock came ever so quickly but we got up with a jump. Nothing was stopping us now!

We arrived in Santander by 8 in the morning. We caught the city bus to the city-center as we laughed with a wide-eyed anticipation. Dawn had yet to arrive and none of the coffee shops were open just yet. Nikki and I didn’t waste a second. We immediately found the main street and hit the main Cathedral first. Next, was a cute little fish market that had just been set up by the vendors. After that was the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall). In less than an hour we had already marked 3 things off our list. Daylight had finally arrived so we decided it was time for our first coffee and some breakfast. We asked some people where we could find the tourist office and set off to get an actual city map. Right away we were met by a morning rain shower as we found the tourist office didn’t open till 10. We walked around the ‘jardines’ and near the docks, umbrellas in hand, as we waited.

10 o’clock arrived and we got all the information we needed for the day. We decided the best approach would be to start from left to right. So we back tracked a little to hit some of the things we had missed. We stopped at every interesting church, house, market and monument in the center of Santander. We stopped a little after noon for another coffee and little snack. Then we decided to reward our high-spirits with a little shopping. When we had reached the furthest left point of the city, we walked back towards the center to find lunch. Well, we found this neat little indoor market/ bakery where we bought this absolutely AMAZING cheese. We bought a huge chunk and later some bread which more than made a great lunch for us. Nikki and I had made it back to the center and sat in one of the main plazas to watch the locals and plan the next part of our trip. After our little ‘descanso’, we went to a few more sites and then continued to the right side of the city which was planned to be the best part: the beaches. We walked leisurely along the bay watching the boats sail by. Finally at around 4pm we made it to the Peninsula de la Magdalena. We knew after about 10 minutes of walking next to the sea that this trip was well worth anything we would go through in the next 12 hours that followed. Our spirits still soaring and fatigue still being kept at bay, we skipped along the beaches collecting shells, posing for photos and sat in amazement of the absolute beauty of this city.

The beaches slowly turned into lush green grasses as we followed the upward trails towards the Summer Palace built on the impressive cliffs of the sea. Being a weekend in Spain, all the large tourist attractions closed their doors to the public by 2 in the afternoon. But Nikki and I weren’t disappointed in the least as our eyes had plenty to fixate on. Following the trails around the peninsula we saw old armada ships and an outdoor zoo whose only inhabitants left during the cold winter were walruses and penguins. We continued until we found ourselves on the other side of the peninsula and dusk finally approaching the coast. We ventured into the darkness onto El Paseo de Reina Victoria where the most luxurious houses in Santander can be found. Previously, we had stopped to buy some postcards from the cutest little vendor and asked him for a ‘native’ place to sample some delicious Santanderian cuisine. With his recommendations in hand, we took off to find us dinner. Unfortunately, the vendor’s favorite restaurant was closed for vacations (a very typical reason in Spain as most entrepreneurs take vacations whenever the mood strikes them). So we found another local pub to have a quick ‘cana’ and some rabas (fried octopus pieces). We walked around some more looking for our next destination as the first real signs fatigue reared their ugly head. Not really interested in waiting for a table, we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant we had come across earlier in the day. Nikki and I shared a plate of loaded nachos as we reviewed the last 16 hours and other typical girl talk.

After a heavy dinner, tire pains really hit us hard. We found a few local bars to sit back in as we shared a bottle of vodka and coffees. A fabulous mixture! Haha. The weather itself was quite pleasant (ranging from probably 15 degrees C/ 50 degrees F) but being outside for going on 18 hours, Nikki and I just couldn’t seem to retain any body heat. Feeling our breaking point approaching, we kept our fingers crossed that the bus station would keep its doors open throughout the night so we could find a corner to snuggle next to and take a nap until our bus arrived 5 hours later. No such luck. So we sat huddled together outside the station, cursing those walking around in light jackets as we sat shivering in our coats, gloves, hats and scarves. When I hit my point of no return, I pleaded Nikki for us to walk around and perhaps find some café still open at 3 am where I could regain feeling in the fingers. All we found was an indoor ATM that gave us an opportunity to get out of the wind and sit comfortably for awhile. Feeling a bit better, the two of us gathered our strength and took one last stroll of the city trying to remember those ‘this is going to be SO worth it’ feelings we had just hours before.

Finally around 5 am we went back to the station that finally opened their doors where we waited in silence/ half asleep for our bus to take us to the airport. Once there, we each found a bench and set our alarm for a 45 minute cat-nap until it was boarding time. At this point, thoughts of looking ridiculous to other travelers were the last things on our mind. As we took our seats on the plane, neither of us spoke a word as we both were asleep before the flight attendants could even start their safety speeches. In no time, we were back in Madrid utterly aghast at what we had just ‘accomplished’. We sat on the metro, too tired to speak until we just turned, looked at each other and let out a small chuckle as we both shook our heads in disbelief. “Well that was interesting!” Nikki said as we parted ways to our different metro lines. I smiled as we said goodbye and went straight home to the comfort of my bed where I stayed until I had to go to work the next morning. Nikki and I saw each other later the next day as one of our colleagues came to us and asked jokingly how our trip had been. We looked at each other with devious smiles and both said, “It really was an Aventura!”