This past weekend marked the last weekend trip I took with some classmates, where we decided to bus out to the south of Spain in Granada and Sevilla. Ugh, so hot! The bus ride to Granada was 5 hours, and in that time I managed to sleep and watch National Treasure. Wow, I thought I didn't like Nicolas Cage the first time I watched it but then I saw it again in Spanish and now I really don't like him, haha!
Our hostel in Granada was conveniently situated next to La Alhambra, a famous Moorish palace that lost Muslim control when King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella took over the area. We went downtown the first night we got there to check out the famous tapas in Granada, but called it a night pretty quick since most of us were exhausted and had to get up early the next morning to make our reservations to enter La Alhambra.
Our hostel, Posada Doña Lupe
Calamari tapas in a weird Spaghetti-O's-esque sauce
La Alhambra was in no way, shape, or form like any other royal palace I've ever visited in Spain to date. Its Arabic influences distinctly set it apart from the European style of architecture that I've seen a lot in the past two months. Some of the palace was unfortunately under construction, but the rest of it made up for it. Around the palace were also some of the largest and most gorgeous gardens ever.
The photo doesn't really do it justice, but there's a lot of intricate detail in every nook and cranny of La Alhambra
One of several outdoor courtyards of the palace
An exterior view of just a small part of the palace
You can see just a little bit of construction going on in the center of the courtyard here
"In these rooms, Washington Irving wrote his stories about Alhambra in 1825"
The overlooking view from the palace
The afternoon heat got to us pretty bad, so that part of the day was pretty much a blur. It wasn't until later in the evening when we headed up to a viewpoint called San Nicolas that things started looking up. As the sun went down, we were able to see all of La Alhambra lit up, as well as the rest of the city. There was a lot more Moroccan influence there, with vendors selling Arabic food, henna tattoos, and a small mosque.
Um, 90+ degree weather will do this to you
La Alhambra as the sun was setting
The henna tattoo my friend got - just 5 euros!
We ended up bumming around Granada slowly for the rest of the night until 3am, when we had to catch an overnight bus to Sevilla. We arrived in the city around 6:30am (oh, it hurt SO bad having to get off that bus) and checked it out before the rest of the town woke up and opened. Once things started rolling, we visited the royal palace El Alcázar of Sevilla. The city has a river running through it, so we strolled by a couple of the bridges, finishing off our short visit to Sevilla with a trip to el Museo de Bellas Artes before hopping on a 6-hour bus ride back to Madrid.
The cathedral in Sevilla
The royal palace, El Alcázar de Sevilla
Cannot believe I was even functioning at this hour of the day to take a photo that early in the morning
The fire department in Sevilla
At the time, it just seemed like this is what you were supposed to do in front of ancient castles - pose like a moron
One of the two larger bridges crossing the river
Going back to Madrid was bittersweet this time around, knowing that this was the last long weekend trip I would take in Spain. At the same time, it's such a relief knowing that this was also the last time I'd be living out of my backpack 2-3 days at a time - dirty, tired, and exhausted ALL THE TIME.
Getting ready to finish one more week of classes and then it's back to the US of A. See you all next Saturday!
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