Granada

Granada was incredible! It is absolutely the most beautiful city I have seen in Spain, and I am so happy that we were able to spend the weekend there. The city is small and manageable, and set against the Sierra Nevada mountains, with incredible views. We had beautiful weather the whole time, and really fell in love with the city.

We arrived by bus (more on that later) on Saturday afternoon, and the weather was great. We spent the afternoon exploring the neighborhood, and visited Granada's cathedral and the Capilla Real, which houses the remains of Isabel and Ferdinand (which are actually kept in these small lead coffins, underneath more ornate marble tombs... not quite as elaborate as I'd expect for such important people). Both sites were impressive and very fun to see. The afternoon beers in the beautiful weather, facing the Cathedral were pretty awesome too.


The highlight of the trip, as we expected, was the Alhambra. The Alhambra complex has three main parts: the gardens, the Alcazaba, and the Nasrid Palaces. It was built by the Moors in the 1300s, and captured by the Catholics in 1492. We spent most of Sunday there, and honestly, could have spent another full day. The complex is huge, and actually has a beautiful Paradore there, which we found out about too late. If we are able to return to Granada, it would be amazing to stay right there on the grounds in the Paradore.

The gardens were beautiful, and had incredible views of Granada and the mountains.




The Alcazaba was the military end of the complex, and very cool to see. It has three main towers, from which you can see forever! It was exceptionally windy up there though...

By far the most amazing part of the complex was the Palace. The Islamic art and architecture were stunning, and the Palace just kept winding and turning. It is hard to imagine how this was built, and how much effort and care went into it. I have never seen anything like it, and it will be hard to beat! Incredible. This may be the highlight of our time in Spain... we'll have to wait and see!




Unfortunately, after the beautiful weather, great views, and overall amazing trip, things had to turn south. On our bus trip home, our bus broke down on the side of the highway! We were stranded for an hour or so, until a replacement bus came. This was definitely their second-tier bus, as it had no leg room, and was about 85-degrees by the time we arrived in Madrid. Ugh! Overall though, a small price to pay for such a great weekend!


Steve's brother Jeff arrives tomorrow, along with his friend Stephanie. We're excited for some more visitors, and we're hoping we can get out to some of the neighboring sites with them one day this week. Could we be any luckier?