Dancing Lessons from God

Granada

Posted on Saturday, November 16, 2013 | 0 Comments

The last week of October, Robbie and Chloe had their half-term break. Since I had decided to stay longer in England, I got to go with the family on their trip to Spain (I'll be honest, this was one of three reasons I stayed longer than I had originally planned, the other two being not having to buy a ticket to come at Christmas time and getting to be with my family). We started out in Granada and spent four days there.

This statue is of Christopher Columbus submitting a proposal to the Queen to sail west and find an alternative route to China, which as we all know, resulted in the discovery of the Americas.

The old town of Granada is exactly what I imagined Spain to look like. I can't really think of how else to describe it. Stucco buildings and terra cotta roofs with cobbled streets. Of course, I've never been one of many words and as you all know, I do much better by just taking photos. Here's my adorable mom and dad:

From what I could see, the Spaniards are HUGE fans of Prosciutto. Many of the restaurants had ham hanging from every inch of the ceiling and grocery stores had huge selections of this stuff. Crazy businesses.

Granada is also home to the Alhambra, which was one of my favorite things we did in Spain. The Alhambra is a palace that changed hands between various Muslim and Christian dynasties and went through several periods of deterioration and renovation since it was originally built in 889.

Our last day in Granada we got up at about six in the morning to get into the Alhambra. I was bummed at first, because the 8am entrance were the only tickets available, and as we all know I am by no interpretation of the phrase a "morning person". But the light was so beautiful while we were there, so in the end it was definitely worth waking up before the sun. I'm a sucker for some nice lighting, it's true.

The Nasrid Palace was easily the most beautiful part of the Alhambra. This palace was built by the Muslim emirs during the Nasrid dynasty. It reminded me so much of India, yet it had a distinctive Spanish flair to it. It was such an interesting blend of cultures, which resulted in this incredibly peaceful and beautiful environment.

I think this is possibly the best face I have ever seen Robbie pull.

Note where they are sitting, on their iPhones, completely ignoring the cool ruins around them. When asked if they wanted to climb to the top of the building (maybe two flights?) to see a view out of the city, they declined, sat on this bench, and swiftly pulled out their phones. Oh boy.

Labels: Spain, Travel