Granada: La Ciudad Más Bonita

I do not hesitate to say that Granada (pomegranate in Spanish), Andalucia, Spain is the most beautiful place in the world. The city is old and ripe with historical significance but has a thriving modern heartbeat. The surrounding nature is green and vibrant. The Alhambra palace is massive and awe-inspiring. Although we only spent 40 hours in this amazing city, it dramatically surpassed any other trip I have ever experienced.

We left Valencia right after class on Friday and got into Granada around 8pm. We were there that night, all day Saturday and Saturday night, then left straight from our tour of Alhambra on Sunday morning to get back to Valencia around 6. The hotel we stayed in was AWESOME with a full breakfast WITH FRUIT, YOGURT AND GRANOLA (rare find) and AIR CONDITIONING. Containing excitement...It was a quick trip, but definitely worth the drive. Granada is in Southern Spain, so it is much hotter than Valencia (98 on Saturday), but not on the water so it has very low humidity. It is very close to Morocco and the influence there is noticeable.

On Friday night, a few of us got tapas at a local bar/restaurant because Granada is nationally known for their tapas. All restaurants there follow the custom of bringing out free tapas with every drink order. I love that. I went straight to bed after in preparation for the marathon day that was to follow.

On Saturday, we were given a list of 5 historic sites to go to and take pictures of, in a sort of scavenger hunt homework assignment. The leaders of the trip got us tickets for a hop-on/hop-off bus, but aside from that, we were free to explore for the whole day (WOOHOO!!!!). Granada is a very small and walkable city, so a few of us walked around for a couple hours, then took the full loop of the tour bus to see the entire city after we got tired/heat exhaustion.

Although the entire city is mind-blowingly gorgeous (read: I saw no ugly or average looking things), I tried to pick out the best parts in order to keep this blog from being too long. Here are my favorites:

Catedral de Granada

 I am usually not a huge fan of church tours, because I honestly think they all look the same. But this cathedral in central Granada is nothing short of breathtaking. It was so expansive on the inside, like probably the size of a football field. Everything was white and gold. The organ took up an entire corner of the room. I had to crane my neck to see the top of the pillars. I could go on for days about how awesome it was, but let's just move on.

Albaicín

Albaicín is a neighborhood (barrio) on a hill of Granada that is a quick walk from everything else. It has a notably strong Moroccan influence at the bottom of the hill, with open markets that sell spices, cool clothes and amazing food. Up the hill turns into a magical, beautiful wonderland of white houses, street art and winding, climbing streets.

Mirador de San Nicolás

At the top of the hill of Albaicín is a lookout point that overlooks the entire city of Granada and the Alhambra. It was a hike and a half to get up there, but 100% worth it. We got there during the day, ate dinner up there, then stayed for sunset. So I ended up with a collection of the same photos in different lights. I climbed the bell tower of La Iglesia de San Nicolás to get an even better view (where the second picture below was taken). Such a cool view and the best way to end such an incredible day of exploration. 

La Alhambra

After getting the amazing views of the palace on Saturday night, we actually got to tour it on Sunday morning. It had huge, sprawling corridors, plazas in between towers, pools, gardens and everything in between. 

Generalife

The Moorish king Mohammed had his own private garden built adjacent to Alhambra, and it is still blooming today. It goes on for several acres and has fountains, gazebos, ponds and killer views of the city.

In conclusion, I will be returning to Granada at some point in my life to experience everything it has to offer with more time. Getting back into classes today made it seem like this weekend never happened, but I have the pictures to prove it (even they don't really give justice). I highly recommend a visit there to anyone who has ever loved looking at beautiful things :)