Granada

We left Sevilla this morning and went to Granada! We went to the Capilla Real where Fernando and Isabela are buried (news flash: they are a big deal here in Spain). Granada was the last strong-hold of when the Muslims controlled the peninsula from 700ad-1500ad, so there's a lot of that influence left. There are little shops selling lamps and Aladdin pants and beaded shoes and leather satchels everywhere. We had dinner at Schawarma King. Then we hiked up the hill to the Mirador (lookout), which has a beautiful view of the city and the Alhambra palace, which we're gonna see tomorrow.
I'm continuing onto day 2 in Granada because I didn't get the chance to post this last night, the wifi was so bad in the hotel! Today we went to La Alhambra palace, which was amazing! It's another Muslim palace, it's huge. It's actually two palaces that have since been connected. Then we drove back home to Alcala de Henares!

 The graves of dear old Fernando y Isabel. No photography allowed? Sounds like a challenge to me

La Capilla Real- The Royal Chapel. where they are buried.

 Perusing the Arabic markets!

Say hello to my lil friend

At Schawarma King. Feeling like a sultan!

Below is also Schawarma King.

And we accidentally wandered into the middle of a political demonstration that marched through the streets and up to this government building!

View from the Mirador of La Alhambra palace!

La Alhambra and Granada

The rest are from La Alhambra.

CORDOBA y SEVILLA

This post covers adventures from today as well as yesterday! I took a lot of photos, so I'm gonna let them (and captions) do the talking.

At the Mesquita (mosque) in Cordoba 

Just look at this place!!

It's just so FABULOUS 

Yep they built a cathedral right into the middle of this mosque. There you can see the arches from the previous picture in the background. 

For dinner I had a soup/stew made of garbanzo beans and tagarnina. I didn't have any clue as to what tagarnina was, but it's a green. I just wikipedia'd it and I guess it's a thistle!

The lovely Jessie and the Plaza de España.

I love this city, it's so GREEN and warm! 

 lovely little plaza

beautiful restaurant! 

 Yeah this is like the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world.

 The Alcazar palace was INCREDIBLE

Alcazar is an Arabic word that means palace.

The next several are just of the Alcazar, which was my favorite part of Sevilla!

The tomb of Cristobal Colon! (That's Christopher Colombus for all you gringos)

The view of Sevilla from the top of the Cathedral's tower

El Rio Guadalquivir. The word 'guadalquivir' comes from an Arabic word meaning "big river"

Tonight we went to a FLAMENCO BAR

Just look at this place!

I hope this flamenco video works!

Afterwards we visited Plaza de España again. It's beautiful by night!

Aranjuez

We just took this morning slow and slept in today. Then this afternoon some of us took the train to this palacio called Aranjuez, south of Madrid. We walked around the gardens and enjoyed the sun. Then we went back to Madrid, I got some gelato (pistachio and hazelnut), then went home to watch the Europe Cup game.

Segovia and La Granja

Today was fantastic! We visited a city called Segovia and an INCREDIBLE palace called La Granja. Actually we didn't have enough time to tour the palace, so we just explored the amazing and huge "gardens." Unfortunately my camera died relatively early in the day, so I'll have to wait to get pictures from Facebook from fellow members of my group for everything after that. In Segovia we walked around the city and went to the Alcazar, the castle that Isabel and Ferdinand called home (yknow, the most important Spanish monarchs ever, who united the kingdoms and sent off Colombus). But my favorite part of the city was the walls of the buildings! Many of them were carved with awesome Arabic art, geometric and floral patterns, which are uh kinda my thing. I took a lot of pictures, and I think that's what killed my camera, but I'll only make you suffer a few faves.