Granada

This past weekend our group went to Granada, about five hours south of Madrid. It is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains and was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain. In fact, the city is known for the Alhambra, which in itself was a Moorish city (including citadel/palace, homes, and gardens) located on a hill in Granada. The Islamic moors controlled the "city" until 1492 when the keys to Alhambra were handed over to the Christian king. While most of the Islamic aspects of the city were preserved, there now exists some distinctly Christian aspects as well because King Carlos V felt like he needed to have his own palace right next to the Islamic one. The Alhambra was completed in the 14th century.

One distinctive feature of Alhambra is the water located throughout. Beginning in the higher gardens and continuing through the palaces, city, and lower gardens, there are numerous fountains and waterways. The Moors, having been desert nomads and hence without water, wanted to prove their wealth by the amount of water visitors would encounter upon entering Alhambra. The really cool thing is that all of these fountains are powered without the use of electricity or pumps of any kind. The water is pooled from the river higher up in the gardens and by utilizing a series of downhill waterways where the openings get smaller each time, the water is able to spray and sprout out of fountains due only to natural pressure.

Outside of Alhambra, Granada had a number of cool sites. One was the Capilla Real where the last true king and queen of Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, are buried. [Granada is also home to a pretty fountain depicting Christopher Columbus asking this king and queen for money for his trip to America.] Next to Capilla Real is La Catedral, a huge and very gorgeous church that took 181 years to be built from the time the plans were first drawn up. The towers that were originally part of the plan were never completed.

Sonya and I also explored a lot of the city on our own, discovering the Monasterio de San Jeronimo, the church of San Juan de Dios (where the remains of the saint are located), the botanical garden of the University of Granada, the Puerta de Elvira (which is part of the original Moorish wall and marks the entrance to the old city - see the above "door" looking arch), and lots more. From the large hill in the Old City, we took gorgeous pictures as the sun set on the rest of Granada.

Though Granada was beautiful, my FAVORITE part of the entire experience was the Arab market. Ok let me describe how I discovered its existence. So on the very first night, Sonya and I found our way to La Catedral, which was very close to our hotel. We went in two different souvenir shops, and upon leaving the second one, right alongside the building, it was like there was a tiny door and beyond, an entire alley, connected to other alleys, FILLED with little Arab shops! Ok so granted it might have been scary had it been dark and had I been alone (it took me back to the shops in Jerusalem!!), but there were SO many cool things there! Basically I bought a lot and everyone was making fun of me and asking me how I intend to transport all of this home. Literally I will need to hire a personal cargo plane if I buy much more. haha. At any rate, Lydia, Scott, and Paula can be assured that I found their gifts there:) The even better news is that I will be going to Morocco in April, where I already have plans to buy more Arab-made things!

All in all it was a great trip. Granada has a lot of history and the old feel of city, combined with the great tapas bars, made for a very fun weekend. The four star hotel and yummy breakfasts were also nice :)

So after missing class this past Friday for Granada and feeling really guilty about it, I turned around and booked my flight and hostel for Prague in the Czech Republic. I leave this Thursday evening and return next Monday night (hence missing class on both Friday AND Monday). Regardless, I am SO excited about this trip. I've heard from so many people that Prague is gorgeous, and obviously since I am 50% Czech, this makes it even more exciting. The only downside is that a girl who was just there said it was snowing. I mean it isn't summer or anything in Madrid, but Spain is farther south than the Czech Republic, so I guess I need to pack some sweaters. This brings me to my next point.

Since it is snowing there, I have a request for all readers: Please watch the news and make sure that no Lufthansa planes go down due to ice on the wings and such craziness. And for those of you who told me not to worry after the Hudson River plane crash because everyone survived, I must point to the crash shortly thereafter where EVERYONE, including civilians on the ground, died when the wings built up with ice. That's all.

Oh and I've already been stressing about how I will get all potential souvenirs home. Since I am flying and since I must tote my luggage around the city, I will be packing very lightly. That probably means I will have to control my gift-purchasing :)

Hope all is well at home. Look for another update after this weekend's trip to Prague!