Not a Care in Santander: La Alhambra en Granada

April 29, 2012

Happy Spanish montheversary! I can’t believe I’ve been in Spain for a whole month. Where did the time go?

We added Granada to our list of places to travel because we had been learning about La Alhambra in our art history class and the most famous Muslim palaces in Spain. When we woke up in the morning it was pouring down rain. We couldn’t believe it because all the weather reports said it was supposed to be sunny before we left and we had only packed warm weather clothes. We busted out our umbrellas and hiked to the top of the hill to see it anyways. Because we’re young, naïve college students we didn’t think that we would need to get tickets ahead of time to get in. We got to see the outskirts of Alhambra but it wasn't anything impressive. We were devastated that we traveled all this way and were so close to seeing it, yet so far away.

Our original plans were to leave later that evening for Malaga because that’s where we booked a hostel. It was important to me to see the Alhambra and I figured that in the context of my life I could handle paying a little extra for two hostels in one night (we were too late to cancel our reservation) and that seeing this monument would be more important than laying on the beach in Malaga. It was a tough decision to make because half the group wanted to stay and half the group wanted to leave. In that moment I had to think for myself and do what was best for me.

A man playing flamenco on the walk to Alhambra.

Paraguas- Umbrellas

This picture accurately described the day- Sad and wet

Oresta and Marisol warming up at Alhambra cafe

Cafe y leche con Alex, Me, Natalie

Cool staircase

Me in the "free" part of Alhambra.

That may or may not be a fake smile

My poor wet feet

I was so pleased I made the decision to stay, and in the end the others were too. We had a chance to stay in an amazing hostel that just opened up, relax and sleep (not on a bus for once), and see more of the town. It was just what I needed to relax my poor feet, aching body and get a chance to dry out the puddles I collected in my shoes. We met a group of Australian guys and British girls in the hostel common room that we went out with in the evening for tapas. Whenever you order a drink they give you free tapas. One of the waiters loved us and kept on bringing more and more and more food so there must have been at least 10 different tapas to try.

The brand new hostel we stayed in. I felt like a princess

Me, Natalie, and Alex out for tapas in Granada

On day two of Granada we woke up at 6 am to hike back to Alhambra to try and have better luck at getting tickets. Waking up early paid off because we made it in time! The second we stepped into the first garden I knew I made the right choice to spend extra time in Granada. I loved every minute of it.
My favorite part of Alhambra was the view from the tower overlooking all of Granada. I probably took a million pictures of that alone. I had fun putting my photography skills to good use snapping pictures of everything I saw and trying to shoot from different perspectives, using different light, and compositions. It was cool to have learned about Alhambra in class and then have the opportunity to see it with my own eyes. Although I tried, pictures can’t possibly reveal all its beauty.

When we got back to the hostel to gather our things we met an American girl named Megan who has been living in Madrid for a year. She an aupair and nannies for a family in Madrid and teaches the children English. She told me all about her experience and how much she loves her job because she works, travels, and gets to learn more Spanish. Talking with her inspired me and got me to start thinking about what I want to do after I graduate. She opened my eyes to the idea of coming back to Spain. I have the rest of my life to have a “real” job, whatever that means. Maybe becoming an aupair or teaching English in Spain will be in my future.