The Alhambra, Albaicin and Hiking

This weekend and last I had the opportunity to do some sightseeing with my study abroad group. Last weekend we visited the Alhambra. It is the oldest example of Arabic art in the world. It was definitely as amazing as everyone said it would be. There are three different parts of the Alhambra that we saw: the fortress, the main palace, and the summer palace for the royal family. The fortress part had amazing views of Granada. It was built of bricks of a reddish color that led to it being known as the red castle by the residents of Granada who saw it being built from the city below. The palace was full of the classic parts of the Alhambra, although much of the original decoration had been stolen by tourists before the Alhambra was regulated. Apparently whole original ceilings had been stolen and can now be found in museums or installed in some old homes around Europe. The summer palace had beautiful gardens, both romantic and traditional Arabic gardens which have less flowers and more fountains. The romantic gardens are like a maze, creating the illusion that you are lost in the flowers. Mostly there were no flowers though, they are supposed to be great in the summer.
This weekend on Saturday we took a tour of the Albaicin, which is the old part of town originally settled by Arabs, then Romans, then Goths. A few of the highlights were San Nicolas plaza and the free "extra eucharist" from one of the convents. When the Christians took over the area they put over 40 convents around it to reeducate the population. We rang the bell at one and the nuns gave us a bag of leftover flat bread, out of which they cut the eucharist for the masses. San Nicolas plaza had a spectacular view of the city, the Alhambra, and the Sierra Nevadas. Apparently it is quite popular with Americans because Bill Clinton brought Hillary there when he was president. He studied in Granada as a college student and wanted to show Hillary the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. I agree, and was excited to learn I will be the second President of the United States who has studied in Granada. The sight was so beautiful my friends and I returned to see the sunset at the plaza on Sunday and shared a bottle of red wine made right in Granada. Both were great.
Saturday night a few of us tried out the Arabic tea houses we had heard about. I had been wanting to try the tea houses since we arrived in Granada, so I was really excited to finally muster up a group to go with me. Just off the main street of tapas bars and discos is a little narrow street of Moroccan shops and stalls, as well as restaurants and tea houses. We each tried a different type of tea and they came brewing in traditional Moroccan teapots, single serving size. We all enjoyed our tea and the nice relaxing atmosphere. Some of the girls tried out the crepes also, which will definitely tempt me to return another night.
Sunday morning I woke up early to go on a guided hike of the hills behind the city. We hiked up behind the Alhambra and continued up into the hills. I felt like I could reach out and touch the snow covered mountains. Our tour guide told me once he was leading a hike when he rounded a curve and saw two black bulls in the path. Luckily nothing happened that time, but I was not hoping for a recreation of that moment. I was also proud I understood his stories, because he spoke in Spanish the whole hike, which was four hours all told. We had lunch at the top half way through, and I was so excited to see the city again at the end. I definitely earned the pizza hut feast my friends from the residence and I brought in for dinner. It may seem like a waste of a chance to try authentic Spanish food, but it was much more affordable to split a bunch of pizzas between seven of us, and pizza hut is much better in Spain. I don't know why... I think they put olive oil on the pizza. I also learned that Spain in the second biggest producer of olives in the world. And I discovered that I really like green olives!!! Overall, I managed to check of a bunch of things on my do list this weekend and had a great time exploring my new home for the next 4.5 months!!!