Mis Experiencias en el Extranjero: Granada

I'm still very behind on blogging! But, I have no trips planned for 3 weeks, so maybe I'll have time to catch up on this without piling up more experiences to blog about!

On October 8, I went to Granada with a group of friends. Granada is a city in the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Spain and was a 3 hour train ride from Sevilla. It is a VERY famous city in Spain because it was the final stronghold of the Moorish dynasty in Spain and was finally conquered by the Catholics in 1492, allowing Spain to become a unified country!
The main attraction in Granada is La Alhambra - the palace of the Moorish rulers - which was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is the best example of Arab architecture in Spain and is the country's top tourist attraction. It was a pretty incredible place! The intricacies of the Arab architecture were breathtaking - there were walls and arches and vaulted ceilings covered with carvings of geometric designs, arabesques, and Arabic script! The towers of the palace also afforded breathtaking views of the city of Granada below and the Sierra Nevadas. Next to the palace was the garden complex called Generalife (no, it's not pronounced like "General Life"). The gardens were beautiful as well and had lots of flowers and fountains. My friends and I took some jumping pictures there and got stared at by Asian tourists and yelled at by a Spanish guard, so that was fun!

Sunrise on the train ride to Granada

Inside the Nasrid Palace of La Alhambra

INSANE Arabic architecture!!!!
This ceiling was the most incredible thing I saw there!

Natalie, Cailtin, Megan, Emily and me in the Nasrid Palace

Court of the Lions

Palace of Carlos V
One of the best examples of Renaissance architecture in Spain!

Jumping around in the Palace of Carlos V

Lunchtime with the stray cats!

Partial view of La Alhambra from one of the towers

View of El Albaicín from La Alhambra

Panorama of Granada from the main tower!
BREATHTAKING!

Pretending to be members of the Moorish dynasty!
Everyone's a little bit racist...

Jumping in Generalife...before getting yelled at...

View of Granada and La Alhambra from Generalife

Fountains in Generalife

After spending 6 hours in La Alhambra, we visited the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) which houses the tombs of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I - the famed Catholic monarchs who unified Spain and made Granada their capital after the conquest of the Moors (or as we affectionately call them, Ferdy and Izzy. It was pretty incredible to see their tombs and some of their items, like Isabella's crown, scepter and robes! To end the day, we hiked through the steep and narrow streets of the neighborhood of El Albaicín to the viewing point where we could see panoramic views of La Alhambra on the other side of the mountain. It was awesome! Granada was a very tiring day trip, but it was well worth it to experience the history and stunning mountain views!