It has been such a long time since I have blogged, but the last couple weeks have also been busy in Valencia. We had our midterms last week and although they were a lot easier than I expected, I prepared as if it was an exam back at MSU. Most of the students were rewarded with a weekend trip after that long week. No, it was not free but it was an organized trip by the school so it was cheaper than it would have been going alone and we did not have to plan anything this time. So I must say, Granada was gorgeous.
For a little history on the city of Granada and why it is an important city to Spain. Granada was the last city to fall during the Catholic Reconquest of Spain against the Moors. So, Granada has the biggest Moorish influence than any other city in the south of Spain. One of the biggest reasons for this is because of La Alhambra, which was not just a castle for the sultan while he was there, but I also learned last weekend that the inside of those walls also held their city for all of their people. The Moors lived in Spain from 711 to 1492 when Granada fell. That is an incredible amount of time to live in one country. One would think there would be nothing left from the Moorish reign in Spain since that was so long ago; how could they be more advanced at that point in time? Well that is dead wrong because they were more advanced than we could ever hope to be in today’s day and age. They built amazing walls and huge buildings with stone, marble and wood without the help of any large power machine. They created towns with their own strength and much of it still stands today. There has obviously been some restoration, but the fact that they were able to build what they built in the first place is still mind-blowing to me.
Even before I left for my time in Spain, I knew I wanted to go to Granada to see La Alhambra, so this trip was a definite for me. About 45 of the students went on the trip, so we had a pretty full coach bus for the long 7 1/2 hour bus ride. It was nice bonding, we all felt like we were in high school again going on a chaperoned trip. But without Guillermo and Ralf it would have been much more difficult, so we were thankful for them. Everyone was appalled and so excited when we saw the four star hotel we had for the weekend. It was a huge upgrade from the nasty hostels that many of us have had the displeasure of experiencing so far. We had a couple of hours of free time to relax and look around the town before we went to the Flamenco show. Our hotel was near the University, which now constitutes a larger part of the town. This area is also separate from the old town of Granada, so we stayed in the more modern part of the city.
We could not see much of the area, however, because it started to rain. And it was a cold rain. Luckily it was time to leave for the Flamenco show. The bus ride to the show was quite the adventure. We headed into the older part of Granada that was created by the Moors. So, the streets were much tighter than in the more modern area. The Moors were also very smart, so they knew to defend themselves from the other men on horseback it would be better to have smaller roads that also wound around. The curves in the street would help give them cover from their enemy if they were being chased. So, the bus ride to the show was an adventure as our bus driver maneuvered through the streets with precision and never hit a garbage can, a car or a wall even though we were inches away from all of those at some point. The Flamenco show was incredible. The guitarist was amazing and the three women and the one man all danced so beautifully. I don’t think I have ever seen someone dance the Flamenco before, but I don’t think it would get any better than the authentic show we had in the town of its creation. It’s really a one person dance with a lot of stomping heels and toes. It doesn’t sound like much, but watching how fast they danced made it very intriguing.
The next morning we had our tour of La Alhambra. The weather, however, was not welcoming to walk through an open area for three hours. It was about 32-34 degrees all day. It started snowing when our bus pulled up to La Alhambra and began to hail later on during the tour. Even though we were popsicles by the end of the tour, it was breathtaking and worth the cold weather. It is impossible to put into words what we saw there and the pictures are amazing but definitely don’t do La Alhambra justice either. However, we also learned a lot about the history of La Alhambra that we can assume was true during the Moorish reign and what he know now after the Catholic takeover. There was so much in those three hours, it’s very difficult to recount everything we learned.
The first room entering the original Moorish castle is pictured to the right. The intricacy in the marble walls, the wood ceiling and the beautiful ceramic tiles are found throughout the castle.
Pictured above is the Court of the Lions. It was meant to look like an oasis in the desert because since they came from the desert, what they looked for was an oasis of trees and water. In the middle is a basin sitting atop multiple lions with four different rivers that bring water to that point. The 124 columns around the square represent a forest of trees. Adding up 1-2-4 also makes 7, which is significant to the Moors because this Oasis can be considered a seventh heaven.
This is the Generalife, which was a summer home where the Sultan would stay for naps during the day to cool off, but he would return back to his palace for the night because it had more protection.
These are just some of the incredible pictures I took while on our tour of La Alhambra. Granada is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountain range, so the winters are very cold and their summer is very hot, even though it is in the south of Spain. As you can see, it was very open but since there is very little documentation from that time it is hard to say what they did to stay warm. After this visit, I understand why other people need to book their trip five months in advance. It is truly a wonderful piece of Spanish history and I am so thankful to have had the experience.
After our trip, we returned to the hotel to warm up and take some siestas. We were all exhausted but ready to go out that night for tapas. Tapas are found everywhere in Spain, but they have some different tapas in Granada, such as Croquettas. Delicious and a great dinner for me and a couple friends.
Sunday we took a walking tour through the older town of Granada before we left. It was amazing to see the amount of buildings that remain from centuries ago, even if some were crumbling a little as we passed. The architecture was very distinct between the Muslim homes and the Catholic homes.
Pictured in the left is a dilapidated house that has unfortunately not received the restoration already given to other older houses. The houses that are left to crumble are uninhabited and it is very sad to see the beautiful architecture left to rubble.
At the end of the walking tour, our guide left us at the church of Granada. This church is actually the fourth largest in the world and seeing just the façade made it believable. It was huge. Unfortunately I did not have time to go inside because we had to eat lunch still and only had so much time for lunch and to find our way back to the hotel to meet the bus.
However, this shows a decent image of the front of the church and I could not fit the entire church in the picture.
The ride back to Valencia was a long trip but the scenery left us in awe at first because we have been living in sun and the beach and leaving Granada we found ourselves in a winter wonderland in the middle of the mountains.
Overall the trip was incredible and very insightful. This is the kind of Spanish history I love learning about because it is such an interesting past that is taught very rarely in the states. Although it was freezing and it felt like we were back in the Midwest for the weekend, it was worth the trip and I highly recommend a trip to Granada for anyone who finds themselves in Spain.
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