Granada

This weekend we took a bus trip to beautiful Granada, Spain. When we got there Friday evening, we made a pit stop to see a cathedral and to experience our first gift shop (of which there are many). Later that night we met a guide to lead us around the old section of the city. The moon was full this weekend, and we had a great view of it from the top of the hill we climbed up. Granada has a big gypsy and Moorish influence, and they have a superstition that the moon signifies death. Also, if a gypsy woman offers you rosemary you shouldn't even look at her: if you do you are cursed with bad luck. So with the moon full, there were plenty of rosemary-wielding gypsy woman around. After we were finished touring the old section, we went to see a Flamenco show in some caves! They were very talented dancers: with a lot a stomping and clapping involved. Here's a very good representation of what I saw Friday night, including the setting. The wailing-singing the man does typically accompanies this kind of Flamenco dancing. On Saturday we got up early to make our time slot for La Alhambra and the Generalife--both of which are beautiful. As testament to this I've already posted over 250 photos on Facebook. After shopping for souvenirs for a while, we visited a Chapel. On Sunday we woke up to drive back to Alicante. On the way we stopped at one of Granada's many cave houses, which in this case was an actual home! The house was quite large and had two level connected by stairs, which apparently is atypical. It was cool inside, which was a welcome reprieve from the sweltering Granada heat. It was a great way to spend my last weekend in Spain!

The beautiful cathedral we stopped at during the way into Granada. The girl on the bottom on the picture is Amanda: I guess she was tired.

 The old section of Granada we visited.

A great view of the almost-full moon and La Alhambra at night.

The Flamenco cave experience! This woman was one of the best dancers there, in my opinion.

One of the many exquisite features in La Alhambra.

Lindsey and me in front on the pond. Side note: the pond did have fish in it, but I don't think it was properly oxygenated because they looked awfully lethargic to me.

The famous lion fountain in La Alhambra.

A fabulous view of below from the balcony.

There were some wedding pictures going on. What a beautiful couple!

Another fountain! My friends and I wanted to take pictures in front of that purple plant on the right, but the security guy standing there didn't share our enthusiasm for the idea.

Though it's very similar to the previous fountain, but I swear it's a different one!

The chapel we visited on Saturday.

Inside the cave house! The man on the rightish in the lavender striped shirt is Paco, one of the owners of this cave house.












One of the rooms in the cave
house. The rooms were all
decorated similarly to this one.