Hotel Saray Granada

... only the lions were gone for restoration, so the courtyard was empty. But the views were incredible.
That night we hiked up through the Albayzin (the moorish quarter) to catch the sunset from St. Nicholas Church. Everyone comes up, hangs their feet over the edge, has a beer (or bottle of wine in our case), and enjoys the sunset.
After all that walking, it was tapas time. Right around the corner from the viewpoint was our first stop at Bar ...

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... cheap which is great for us college students. You can order a beer or sangria for 1.50 euros and with it you get a tapa (which is like an appetizer). Unfortunately usually you don’t get to choose what the tapa is and so we’ve had some pretty strange things before!

On our own some friends and I have explored some different areas in Granada. The people here seem pretty friendly and even though there can sometimes be a language barrier we can ...

... water hot, fed by slaves (this society like most operated off slavery).

Three days was just right for Granada. Next morning, we’ll leave for the airport (3 Euro bus) and pick up our Ford Fusion to drive 83km east/south to the coast and our next stop: Nerja. It will be a day at the beach and to collect stones in the Med. The Romans called it Mare Nostrum – or Our Sea.

Buenos noches,

... some people heading to a disco, I bar hopped with Kim and Steph and called it a late night. Wednesday I slept in and rolled out about noon with Steph.  We hiked up to a park that sat on a hill next to the La Hambra.  There were peacocks, and great views everywhere.  You could see downtown Granada, the Sierra Nevada's and the La Hambra.  The only downside was that it was sweltering and 1:30 in the afternoon.  Trekking anywhere in the heat of a Spanish day for a Marty is treacherous ...

... going back to the beautiful vista to check out the Alhambra from afar. After eating our kebabs, we trekked up a hill/road about for 15-20 minutes amidst beautiful sunshine throughout. We finally made it up to the Mirador de San Nicolas and viewed what Bill Clinton considered "the most beautiful site in the world" (true statement). The view was magnificent: the Alhambra about 2 km away, demonsted the architectural prowess of the 1500's by the Islamic influence of the Arabs ...

... Real World" experience, where the 16 of us will all live together, cook/eat together, and have a week of work challenges together for a week. Then I will be exploring around Europa for another week looking for adventures and life lessons about different cultures. It should be interesting! After leaving my study abroad experience in Barcelona five years ago, this is my first ...

Hola! First off, I can´t work out how to turn off the bold font on the Spanish computer, so we can all pretend that this is just a really exciting entry (just like all the others right?) Next, it is so unbelievably hot here, I am living the summer holiday to the absolute maximum (and all those reports of how cold and rainy it is everywhere else? They only make it better!!!!....what?....oh you all know I´m shallow) So Granada. The big one has been covered, the Alhambra ...

... we have been to yet on this particular trip. It was completed by early 1700 and is built in the Renaissance/Gothic style. Today we plan to tour the rest of Granada including the Alhambra, the Gypsy quarter, and the Arab quarter. Of note, we are aware of the bombings this morning in London and will be as vigilant as we can.