Granada

So the last I left you all we had just arrived in Granada. Granada is such an exciting place to be (mainly for the history buffs out there). Sadly we were only there for 2 full days, which isn't enough time to do the city justice. Because of this, Granada has quickly climbed my list of cities to go back to. Granada has a history that focuses on the battle between the Moors and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Granada originally was a Moorish kingdom, and thus was Muslim. On their conquest of unifying Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella came in, battled the Moors, and destroyed much of the city. This victory gave the King and Queen la Alhambra, the castle that sits on top of a hill overlooking the city. We went there, but sadly didn't get to go in. It was high tourist season and all of the tickets were sold out for the days we were there (they only sell 7000 a day). It was quite a hike to la Alhambra, but the view from the top is picturesque, providing a 360 degree view of the Sierra Nevada mountains with the city resting below. Once Ferdinand and Isabella had taken over, they spent most of their time and money building a grand cathedral and burial spot. Inside the cathedral one of the walls is adorned with statues depicting important scenes from the bible, and of course statues of the king and queen themselves. Their tomb was made of white marble and was very ornate with detail. It was impressive, but what I found most interesting was their coffins. There are stairs that take you underneath where their coffins are laid. Their coffins were made of wood and were completely opposite of the grandeur of everything else from their reign. I was expecting something a bit more elaborate, but coffins aren't meant to be seen, which made me wonder; did they envision this? Thousands of people coming a day to see where their bodies were laid to rest? I certainly can't imagine that for myself, but then again I'm not a king or queen. Besides their tomb, there is a musuem which has some of their favorite paintings, their royal clothes, the crown and scepter, and some personal belongings like Isabella's rosary beads. Isabella and Ferdinand are such a big part of Spanish history that it was really cool to see that.

The city of Granada is lined with narrow cobblestone streets and alleyways. It's fun to wander through discovering cafes and family-owned shoppes. But my favorite part of Granada without a doubt is the free tapas. For anyone who has been to Spain, they know that Spain isn't exactly cheap and the euro still isn't American friendly. So when there's something free - you have to take advantage of it. Whenever you order any drink (soda, beer, wine, etc.) you get a freeplate of tapas. Order another drink, another plate of tapas. They are pretty generous portions considering and can easily be your dinner. We spent our evenings bar hopping trying all of the different tapas offered by the places. It was a lot of fun and really tasty. From Granada we took a 4 hour train ride to Algeciras, riding through sunflower fields and olive orchards. We were so excited and antsy to get to Morocco and see our friends. We hadn't seen Youssef since we left the boat and hadn't seen Taha since new years eve. Our ferry was scheduled to leave at 8:45, but we didn't end up setting sail until 45 minutes later. We sailed past Gibraltar and arrived in Morocco an hour and a half later. We stayed outside for most of the time, enjoying being back on the ocean.