Granada--La Alhambra

This group of pictures is from when I went to the Alhambra with Mary. I think I will be going to the Alhambra a lot, depending on how many people visit me. For sure one more time when Harriet comes to visit, and that will make it my third time there! However, it is a very big castle, and I must admit, Mary and I went to a few parts of the castle that I didn't go to the first time, so that's encouraging. So yes, Mary arrived in Madrid at about 10:30pm on Thursday night, then took a red-eye bus to Granada, and she reached me at about 7am Friday morning. So I picked her up at la estacion de autobuses (the bus station), which was walkable distance, but I decided to wait for the first city bus of the day to take me there because a few days before, I got an email from the coordinator of the EAP program and she said that one of the EAP student's roommate got stabbed on a Friday morning at 7am (which was the exact time and day that I was to go meet Mary). Scary, huh?? So I was quite paranoid at the time. So I made Mary wait a half hour more. But I think it's reasonable. hahaha Don't worry. I didn't get stabbed. Claro [Clearly]. So yes, on to the pictures!

Mary made fun of my for wanting to take pictures with signs, but I think that they complete the album =)

Highest point of the Alhambra.

View from one of the towers.

I might've had a picture of this from the last time I went to the Alhambra. I don't remember. But it's pretty, no?

I believe that is the Cathedral. You can see it from the Alhambra!

Pretty!

I thought this was very artistic.

I'm a fountain! =P [haha, I think it's funny how you can see Mary's shadow...]

There were many times throughout the week where we had to ask someone to take our picture for us...

Pomegranate! I learned that Granada means pomegranate. Which means...I must buy a pomegranate before I leave...

Me on one tower with a background of the other tower...

View of the city.

A labyrinth. Mary was quite found of it. Although, it wasn't much of a labyrinth since the walls were only about 2 feet tall.

I think this was a prison. They closed it off, but just climbing into that part scared me.

Mary and I with the Sierra Nevada. Although. It might be a different mountain range...haha, the guy who took this for us took SOOOO long! I actually started cracking up at the end because he was taking so long! hahaha

The Alhambra. From a point few people know about. I only know about it because my monitor took us there. Oh yes. I know secret places in Granada =)

Mary and I with the Alhambra

I like how the water perfectly reflects the building.

We forgot flash =X

This picture reminds me of first year, when we took pictures of our teams for Junior SceneIt and Mary took up the whole photo for team Sunshine! hahahaha

So, the pictures are a bit out of order, but when we got our tickets for the Alhambra, it turned out that we had to wait about 3 or 4 hours before we could enter, so we walked around the castle. The next few pictures are on the outer limits of the castle. =)

Mary's first picture in Granada.

I thought this was pretty. =)

Look how happy Mary is to be in Granada.

But the cobblestone steps are perilous. Seriously. I don't know why people talk about cobblestone steps in the stories. They're really quite impractical if you stop to think about it!

So that was our Friday. We walked A LOT. First it was just because the Alhambra is so big, but then after we explored the Alhambra, we were in search of this restaurant that my monitor had showed me. He said that it was definitely a place that you had to eat at, so I thought, yay, I can bring Mary there. But as it would turn out, when we finally did find the restaurant, it was closed until 8pm, and the neighborhood it was in is supposed to be pretty dangerous to be wandering around at night, so we went in search of another restaurant. We decided to go to one suggested by the guidebook that I had. However, it was about 7pm, and to our dismay, we discovered that most of the kitchens don't open until 8:30ish. So we went wandering, looking for any restaurant that might be open, but when we finally found one, it was 8:30 anyway, so we decided to head back to the restaurant suggested by the guidebook. Yes. Mary saw much of Granada her first day here. hahaha

Oh yea. Before we went to the Alhambra, when we had that extra 3 hours before we could enter, we decided to go get tapas for lunch. So I never really realized it before, but man, tapas in Granada is GREAT. Tapas is basically like...an appetizer, I suppose. The translation for "tapa" in Spanish is "top," so I suppose you could say a tapa is like a topper. Anywho, in Granda, you can get free tapas with a drink. And really, tapas are quite fulfilling. So the first tapa we got was fried calamari (nice, huh?) and then the second tapa we got was some kind of shishkobob meat thinger. It was pretty good. Had a taste of curry, which usually I don't like too much, but it was good. Anywho, two drinks, two tapas, a bit over 3 euros for each of us. Nice, no? Come to Granada, and I shall take you out for free tapas! =) [Actually, while we were in search of stuff to do in Madrid, we stumbled across a list of the top ten things to do in Spain and "Get free tapas in Granada" was number one. Oh yes. Now you know how we roll. 8)]

After Friday, we left for Seville early Saturday morning. The next post will have pictures and stories of that trip. But after the weekend, we returned to Granada so that I could go to school. During those three days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; There was a holiday Thursday, and I usually don't have class on Fridays, so we went to Madrid Thursday morning), we did quite a few things. Monday was a pretty chill day. We were supposed to go watch a Flamenco show, but...you know, I'm drawing a blank here. I can't remember for the life of me what the heck we did that night. =X Anywho, Tuesday, I only had one class, and Mary came along with me. And then after class, I took her up to the Albaicin and the Sacramonte. She really liked it up there. The view is quite pretty. And then while we were walking, we ran into some dude who was like, "Hey! Come and look at my cave!" I would've been super suspicious, but my roommate had told me around the time when we first moved in that she met some dude who invited her to his cave, so I figured he might've been the same guy. hahah, turns out the cave was a restaurant, so we got to see the cave, but we didn't get anything at his restaurant. It's ok. Then we asked him if we knew where we could see a good flamenco show, and he said right next door. and then he called someone, and he was like, "yes, they have a show tonight. They usually charge 25 euros, but you tell them that Agustino sent you, and they'll let you in for 20." hahaha, that was pretty funny, but it was a load of crap. We've been researching and most places let you in for 20 usually. hahah, anywho, walking back to my apartment, we ran into a friend of mine from the EAP program [his name is Issac]. I introduced him to Mary and told him that she was visiting me for the week. He said that we had to go eat tapas at this one bar called "Nuestro Bar" He said he'd want to come, too, but I called him the next night and he couldn't make it. Anywho, the bar turned out to be reaaaallly good. They had HUGE servings. I'm really glad he told us about it. I think I'll be going there more often....=P So yea, Wednesday, Mary wandered around Granada by herself while I was in class, and then we went for Tapas, and then we got ready for Halloween.
So we decided we would be Greek Goddesses and go to a club, and party there. Well, the first half worked out. Mary has the pictures, so you should go bug her for them, although, I would like them as well =) But the club we went to ended up being really...empty. We got there around 12ish, and there were maybe 10 people there. AND Mary and I were the only ones dressed up. Yea. it was pretty bad. But a few hours later, around 2am, there were more people and, more importantly, more dressed up people. Before they came though, Mary and I were just dancing on the dance floor by ourselves. I felt pretty silly, but it was fun at the same time. I figured, meh. I don't know anyone here. And then other people started dancing, so Mary kept saying, "see! We started it!" hahah, that was pretty funny. Around 3am, we headed home cuz we had to be up at 5am to catch our 7am bus.

And I shall have to continue with Seville in the next post!