Apologies for the lack of blogging... I'll try to catch up quickly since there is a lot to tell!
I left off at the 3 hour bus ride to Granada. I enjoyed this one more because I got to nap some and also see some southern countryside, including a high speed train that's under construction. Spain has a few of these lines currently and has plans to expand the system further, which will significantly reduce travel time to Barcelona and Madrid from all over the country. Civil engineering FTW!
We made it to our Granada hostel without incident, which was a marked improvement over Seville. There was a very pleasant outdoor courtyard, coffee/tea available, and clean, spacious rooms, so we spent a little while relaxing to prepare for more touristy sightseeing. After a delicious dinner of salad (we chose that restaurant specifically so we could get vegetables!) where the waiter asked if I was from Spain since I apparently pronounced my order well (!), we walked up a large hill to Spain's number one tourist destination, the Alhambra, a gorgeous Moorish palace and fortress built in the 10th century. Because it's such a popular destination, the number of visitors is controlled, so we bought a ticket package in advance which allowed us to tour part of the palace at night, and come back the next day to see the rest of the grounds.
As a general rule, lighting in the palace was pretty dim, making for a great atmosphere but poor photos. With a little imagination, though, you can see how incredibly detailed everything was. Walls and ceilings were all intricately covered in tiles, carvings, or a combination of the two.
A typical wall pattern... no big deal...
Typical walkway and intricate ceiling decorations:
Me blending in to the tiled pattern!
After, we wandered around our neighborhood for a bit and found some kind of benefit concert in a plaza, filled with a crowd of all ages dancing, and many more people just enjoying the environment... I don't think this would happen in Leon, but it's a bit warmer in Granada!
The city overall seemed a bit more modern than Seville, and it was pleasant to just walk around and get a taste of the style of architecture and life there.
The next morning, we went back to the Alhambra to see the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife Gardens. We didn't have a tour or a guide so I can't tell you much beyond what I learned from my guidebook and Wikipedia, but because it is late here, I'll let you do as much or little research as you please and instead show some pictures, which say much more :)
At this point, my camera battery was running pretty low so I stopped taking a picture every 30 seconds, but I spent a little more time exploring the hill below the Alhambra with two other girls. We went up a ways to the tan building in the photo below, which turned out to just be a hotel, but we stopped there and pretended we were rich and had a glass of wine in the cafe.
And thus came to an end our short three-day weekend! We headed back to the hostel, collected our bags, and took a long bus ride to Madrid and another pretty long bus to Leon... The free wifi is not quite incentive enough to choose the bus over the train and I think I'll choose more wisely in the future! I got home at about 3 am and was extremely pleased to have my own bed!
I left off at the 3 hour bus ride to Granada. I enjoyed this one more because I got to nap some and also see some southern countryside, including a high speed train that's under construction. Spain has a few of these lines currently and has plans to expand the system further, which will significantly reduce travel time to Barcelona and Madrid from all over the country. Civil engineering FTW!
We made it to our Granada hostel without incident, which was a marked improvement over Seville. There was a very pleasant outdoor courtyard, coffee/tea available, and clean, spacious rooms, so we spent a little while relaxing to prepare for more touristy sightseeing. After a delicious dinner of salad (we chose that restaurant specifically so we could get vegetables!) where the waiter asked if I was from Spain since I apparently pronounced my order well (!), we walked up a large hill to Spain's number one tourist destination, the Alhambra, a gorgeous Moorish palace and fortress built in the 10th century. Because it's such a popular destination, the number of visitors is controlled, so we bought a ticket package in advance which allowed us to tour part of the palace at night, and come back the next day to see the rest of the grounds.
As a general rule, lighting in the palace was pretty dim, making for a great atmosphere but poor photos. With a little imagination, though, you can see how incredibly detailed everything was. Walls and ceilings were all intricately covered in tiles, carvings, or a combination of the two.
A typical wall pattern... no big deal...
Typical walkway and intricate ceiling decorations:
Me blending in to the tiled pattern!
After, we wandered around our neighborhood for a bit and found some kind of benefit concert in a plaza, filled with a crowd of all ages dancing, and many more people just enjoying the environment... I don't think this would happen in Leon, but it's a bit warmer in Granada!
The city overall seemed a bit more modern than Seville, and it was pleasant to just walk around and get a taste of the style of architecture and life there.
The next morning, we went back to the Alhambra to see the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife Gardens. We didn't have a tour or a guide so I can't tell you much beyond what I learned from my guidebook and Wikipedia, but because it is late here, I'll let you do as much or little research as you please and instead show some pictures, which say much more :)
At this point, my camera battery was running pretty low so I stopped taking a picture every 30 seconds, but I spent a little more time exploring the hill below the Alhambra with two other girls. We went up a ways to the tan building in the photo below, which turned out to just be a hotel, but we stopped there and pretended we were rich and had a glass of wine in the cafe.
And thus came to an end our short three-day weekend! We headed back to the hostel, collected our bags, and took a long bus ride to Madrid and another pretty long bus to Leon... The free wifi is not quite incentive enough to choose the bus over the train and I think I'll choose more wisely in the future! I got home at about 3 am and was extremely pleased to have my own bed!
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