Granada, and my new favorite activity!

Granada, though still rainy most of the time, has been much more enjoyable than C��rdoba.

Even when Granada is a bit chilly, and overcast, it can be breathtaking. There are hills and mountains, lots of little shops, and plenty of culture. Brynna and I decided to wander upwards into the hills the second day we were here, and it turned out to be a great idea. For the duration we were up there, the rain stopped, and it warmed up. There were amazing views, and the area felt very quaint, and was really beautiful.

Later on that day, we took a bus up the mountains to the Alhambra. From wikipedia: The Alhambra (literally "the red fortress") is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs of Granada in southern Spain. It is massive, with lots of stairs, winding pathways, gardens, gates, intricately decorated walls and ceilings, and many fountains.

There is a lot of history in this building, most of which I unfortunately forgot after the tour ended. In any case, it was immense, a palace for sultans, and a place that is worth visiting.

Then the current (last) day in Granada. May be my favorite day in Spain so far!

Brynna and I woke up in time for breakfast, which we missed yesterday due to exhaustion and shutting off of alarms, and it was much better here than at previous hotels. Then, of course, we walked around the city. It turned into such a good idea, since so many interesting things then happened. Possibly my most favorite, is we decided to look at all the graffiti we could find. There is a LOT of graffiti in this town! A lot of it is politically charged, extreme right, and anti-governmental in general. Yet for the most part we didn't actually understand the full meaning of the graffiti, we just admired it for the incredibly impressive art that it is. I'm going to dedicate a full post to just pictures of the graffiti.

We saw a lot of the graffiti when we decided to get as far up as we could. We just chose a sidestreet, and with a general destination of what seemed to be a good vantage point, we climbed upwards for over half an hour. Extremely steep streets, but luckily the rain held off for the climb and most of our visit to the mountain (which was almost as high as the Alhambra).

The views from where we ended up were almost indescribable. It was the entire city, laid out before us. Pictures will help do it justice:

Of course, while Brynna and I were up there, we couldn't help but attempt to take pictures with us and the city as the backdrop. This could have been difficult for some, since there was no one around to take them for us, but with the help of a stone wall, some rocks, and an automatic timer, we had no problems! Of course, we also did the holding-the-camera-away-from-you shot, which came out decent (besides the crazy wind-hair):

Then, reluctantly, we climbed down the mountain and were back among the ground-dwellers. We had scouted out a little restaurant called Kanela before the climb, and went there for lunch, where we had a delicious bocadilla. We ordered a tuna with tomatoes, and it turned out to be tuna with a light tomato sauce mixed in! This was a genius move on the cook's part.

Lastly, possibly my absolute favorite experience thus far: the Arab Baths. Brynna and I made the reservation this morning, and went not really knowing how it would turn out. The Hammam is supposed to be a place to cleanse the spirit, body and mind, and were also originally used as a meeting place to discuss business. There were several elements to this visit. There were three pools, one with hot water (102 degrees F), one with cold water (68 degrees), and one with warm water that we guessed to be ~85 degrees. You change into the bathing suit, and then alternate between the hot, cold, and warm water as desired. We also chose to pay a few more euro to get a massage! So one by one the customers (in total there were about 20 of us) were called up for their massage. After the massage, back to the pools for more luxurious swimming in the arabic rooms, with columns in the water and star shaped lights in the ceiling. There was a sauna as well, which (like most of the place) smelled like Jasmine, with steam so thick you couldn't see the other end of the not-very-large sauna. This place was heaven on Earth. Of course, cameras aren't allowed, so here are some pictures from the website:

I can't reiterate this enough, this place was so amazing that Brynna and I both agreed we could live there. We also think it's about time Massachusetts got an Arab Bath. Who wouldn't want to escape the awful New England winter and relax in the most soothing, warm setting possible?

Tomorrow we leave for Toledo, where we'll take another placement test and start classes on Tuesday.