Hotel Ac Palacio De Santa Paula Granada

... where we made some new friends from Miami. We ended up tapa-hopping all night with Diane and Roguer, who knew of the good streets to wander down.
We were used to getting a little bite with a beer in Madrid, but in Granada you can get a whole meal! By far the best value in Europe is Antiguilla. With each drink (even if it´s a coke!) you get an entire ham and cheese sandwich, AND fries. Stay for a second drink? Then it´s a mini hamburger and a ...

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... br>On Saturday we went on a hike up into the hills surrounding the Alhambra. At first we all thought it was going to be pretty easy because the beginning of the path was not hard at all but as the hours went by we all were starting to lose steam. The views were beautiful and it was great weather for hiking, a little overcast and cool, but bad weather for picture taking. Halfway through we took a break for lunch and then made our way down. Even ...

... wa s asunday, so of course we pretended to go to mass, ran around and took some pictures, and then booked it outta there before we got yelled at. We also checked out their Arabic quarter....Granada and Sevilla were 2 of the 3 major Arabic kingdoms in like, the 1100s or something. This place was gorgeous too!! The gardens were amazing with soo many fountains, a MAZE garden, wihch we got lost in for a bit, and even a peacock running around somewhere in there. There were all kinds of ...

... those 2 monarchs and their kids have their sarcophagi. One was Phillip the Handsome (!) who is responsible for naming the “Phillipines”. Ya learn something every day. One invasion, French soldiers dumped all 5 of the sarcophagi into a nearby creek; bones all over everywhere, lost for good. Don’t let anyone tell you the remains of Isabel or Ferdinand are inside a box somewhere; they aren ...

... formal for me.  I felt very comfortable in Granada, in general, as if I was in a place para las artistas.  Now this is only an impression I got after spending barely 2 days total there, but it's something more felt than observed. La Alhambra!  What is not to love here.  Constructed during the XIV during El Reino Nazarí (The Nazari Reign), it's now one of the most frequented places in Europe.   Granada was the last muslim capital in Spain ...

el hoy era muy bueno. espanol, guitarra, and compas classes all went quite well. came home, took nap, stumbled into restaurant called "jardines del zoraya" (gardens of zoraya). zoraya is an old female arabic/farsi name that means "rich," apparently very common in this part of the world. it was there that i heard my first live flamenco since arriving here in spain. bummer cause my camera ran ...

... toooo rough :) Ive been here for about two weeks, and I'm just now starting this blog. So, highlights of the trip thus far: We went to the Alhambra one of the first few days. SOOOO PRETTY. THe designs are absolutely incredible. Every inch of wall is covered with these little details and beautiful ceramic tiles. Even the ceilings are carved out of wood. I'll post pictures eventually, but it was incredible. One of my favorite things here ...

... familiar feelings of coastal Spain. 'Why go back to the hostel?' someone said, 'Why not stay out?' They were not challenged. We went for beers and found a place we'd settle on for the majority of the night. A place we'd stopped at briefly the night before. A place that serves Alhambra on tap and quality complimentary tapas to accompany it. But with a twist. I forget the name of the place. Here ...