Wednesday, Day 28 (Granada)

Hola mis amigos!

Sorry these are a little late, the lack of wifi, or questionable wifi, hasn’t been helpful!

Katie and I woke up this morning and to have our last breakfast together in our homestay (toast, of course). The night before, our host parents had told us that they would walk with us to the institute with our bags.. Unfortunately, they didn’t wake up, haha. So, we weren’t able to say bye one last time. We had said by the night before though and we left them a nice thank you note. We did steal a few last minute pictures of our homestay though.

(Kitchen)

(Living Room)

Once we met the rest of the group and our bus, we rode for SIX hours through the countryside. I’m thankful I had my travel sickness medicine; not the best ride for the weak stomachs. We got to the hotel and thankfully the bus was able to pull right up front. The hotel was three stars, had wifi, and okay air conditioning. We met back up with the group around 4:00 to visit the Cathedral of Granada.

The Cathedral was one that was ordered to be built by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand I, which took 181 years to finish. It was awesome to get to see the Cathedral because we spent so much of our history class talking about Reina Isabel y Rey Fernando (Queen and King). They are even buried there, so we were able to see their tombstones underneath the smaller Cathedral, along with the queen’s crown too. We weren’t able to take any pictures inside the smaller Cathedral though, which was disappointing. Some of the brave souls in the group managed to snag a few, but not without a lecture from the security guards. The pictures wouldn’t have done the Cathedral justice, anyways. We were able to take a few in the larger Cathedral where they still hold mass on Sundays. I cannot begin to tell you how creepy it is to be in the church of that stature and power. It’s a little hard to wrap your mind around!

(Entrance to the Cathedral)

 

(Ceiling of the Cathedral)

 

(Seat for the Priest)

We headed back to the hotel shortly after to get ready for our night out with the group. We met our professors and the rest of the group outside to take a bus to our Flamenco tapas dinner. Flamenco is a type of dance in Granada. We had questionable tapas for dinner (a weird cheese/meat plate, salad, calamari, and questionable pork). We all finished dinner a little too hungry tonight, but we didn’t mind too much. The flamenco show was so interesting! We definitely got to experience a little piece of Granada’s culture tonight.

(Katie and I before the Flamenco dinner)

(Flamenco dancer)

(Flamenco dancers)

 Before heading back to our hotel, our bus drove us to the old Jewish quarter of town. We walked through the old houses to get to a view of the Alhambra (old Muslim/then Christian palace that we will visit tomorrow). The view at night was incredible! We headed back to the hotel not long after though to quickly go to sleep. It will be a long day tomorrow! Hasta Luego!

(View of the palace at night!)