Sevilla Week Five: Granada y Almería

This week we went on a four-day study trip. Monday we drove the four hours or so to Granada where we checked into our hotel. We then went to lunch by the river. In Granada and places near by tapas places have different rules than in Sevilla. Instead of ordering tapas, you order a drink and get a free tapa of their choice with it. It’s a great way to try new foods.

After lunch we visited the Alhambra y Generalife. The forces of Ysabella y Ferdinand captured the city of Granada in 1492 and ended the long Reconquista of the Iberian Penninsula. It was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain and it still feels more Muslim in style and architecture than any other city we’ve seen yet. The Generalife is located slightly north of the city up on the hills. It’s the Moorish king’s summer palace and has an incredible view of the city. 

From there we went to the Alhambra that was the Muslim fortress and it’s very close to the Generalife. Nazarí style is all about horror vacui or a dislike of open space so they fill everything up with incredible detail.

 We had time and money to get dinner for ourselves Monday night so we decided to go on a tapas crawl. Verónica, one of our group leaders for this particular viaje, is about thirty and super cool. She came with us and found some great young and interesting places to go to and we had a really fun time. Granada is awesome. I’m going to try to find a weekend to go back and visit a bit more. 

Tuesday we visited the Capilla Real, which is a cathedral-type thing that holds the tombs of Ferdinand y Ysabella. They were the people that united two parts of Spain under one rule by their marriage and are considered the most important and best of the catholic Spanish rulers. They were pretty damn cool in my book. I have now seen the tombs of almost all the Spanish rulers from the time of the Reconquista to present. Crazy times. I love this country. We then had free time and my friend Cade and I decided we wanted avocados. Nothing tastes better than an avocado eaten plain with a spoon after months without any. From there we hopped on the bus again and drove to Guadix for lunch and then on to Almería. We checked into the hotel and had a few free hours. My roommate, Gabbi, and I are big fans of the TV show Suits and we hadn’t seen the last few episodes so we had a bit of a geek out session over the new ones. I’ve missed living with Gabbi and we were both glad that we had the same roommates this trip as well. We all ate dinner in the hotel together and then turned in for an early night.

Wednesday we went to the cathedral and walked around the city a bit. We then visited Los Refugios, which is the enormous bomb shelter underneath the city used during the Spanish Civil War. It’s a long, two-level maze thing made out of concrete that goes on for miles. It held over 30,000 people for bomb scares during the many years of the war. Pretty scary stuff. Afterwards we found a restaurant/tapas place that had Moroccan food and pigged out on hummus and beat pureed something or other. Then we all met up at the beach and listened to hip/hop oldies and sang along. I really love our group. After a short lecture about the large greenhouse area close by and its influence on Spanish agriculture and immigration, we had dinner in the hotel where I bonded with Helena even more. Our trip leader, Juanka, and his wife, Lorena, have this adorable daughter who I’ve talked about before. She’s four and honestly the cutest thing ever. She thinks I’m really funny and loves to play with me. It’s easy to make her laugh by just pretending to try to eat her fingers and tickle her. She sat on my lap all throughout dinner and we got into a giggle fest. I adore this little one. Now every time I’m not with the group she asks where I am and then greets me with a running jump. I’ve got a friend :D

Later that night we all met up in Gabbi and my room and played never have I ever. It’s a stupid and pretty hilarious game that got us bonding even more. A bunch of us went out to a few bars afterwards and had a fantastic night.

The next morning we packed up and drove to Antequera for lunch. Despite our bonding, tempers began to flare after a week in close quarters and we were all glad to be back in Sevilla by 7pm. It was really sweet getting home actually. My host mom seemed happy to see me and the three of us had some interesting conversations over a good meal. I feel like we’re settling into a “familial routine” and it’s nice. Four of us went out to a hookah bar for a chill night and drank tea and talked. I got home no later than 1:30 and it was perfect.

Friday my roommate and I both slept in to noon and stayed pretty close to home all day. I have a few tests this coming week and so I reviewed all my art history terms. Gabbi’s intercambio has connections with the best night club in Sevilla and managed to get all of us in for free that night with free drinks and a VIP service. We went all out with clothes and makeup and as fancy as we could. Her intercambio and about four of her friends met us there and we had a great night. These ladies are fun and super sweet and genuinely loved talking to us in Spanish and then we would help them with their English. We got a little photo happy with Alyssa’s camera and giggling issued followed by a night full of dancing. It was the first night that everyone in our group came out to the same place and it was surprisingly smooth.

Saturday was a reading and sleeping day. These long trips with our group riding on buses for four plus hours a day are exhausting. I was in bed by 1:30 last night after another chill night with a few friends.

This morning we were supposed to go to Doñana to ride horses on the beach but because it was drizzling the tiniest bit they cancelled the viaje. We were all ready to go, by the bus having walked 40 minutes to get there and the other dumb Americans from the Center started whining about the rain. Us Portlanders wanted to go but because of them it was called off. Silly people. Don’t they know that a light drizzle means we get our swimsuits on and sunbath in the nice weather at home! They’ve rescheduled for the other people on the trip but it’s for after our program is over. Oh well. We’re getting reimbursed and are going to try to plan it ourselves for an upcoming weekend. A few of us walked around for a few hours and went to the fútbol stadium and bought tickets for a game tomorrow night. Through the Center we got a deal and they were only 5 euro instead of the normal 20. I haven’t been to a game here yet so I’m excited. The rest of the day today has been more studying and reading. Marisa’s parents are in town this week and this afternoon they came by the house and we had coffee and pastries with Josefa. Josefa seemed really nervous and kept looking at me for reassurance, it was super cute. Marisa’s dad tried to speak Spanish to her but really can’t so I ended up translating most of it. It was good practice. I think my Spanish is better than I thought. I’m learning! Yay!

Anyway I’m on to a new week. We have very few classes in the Center this month because of a long 10-day trip we’re taking next week and then Semana Santa (Rome!). !Hasta Domingo!