Monday, January 11, 2010

Trip to Granada

I went to Granada in November by train, it took about 4 hours from Huelva. I stayed at a hostel called Posada de Colon and it took me about 3 hours to find it, hostels seem to be hidden most of the time (same as Smile hostel in Lisbon). This picture is a view of the Alhambra palace built by the Moors. There is a church that overlooks the city and has a great view of the palace where people gather to sightsee and listen to authentic spanish flamenco music! The guy on the guitar here was awesome. Bill Clinton said that this was his favorite spot in Europe. I have to agree that it is an awesome place.



The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers. They would use the palace and surrounding gardens for meditating and praying. They call the palace a "paradise on earth." Column arcades, fountains with running water, and reflecting pools were used to add to the aesthetic and functional complexity. In every case, the exterior is left plain and austere. The Muslim rulers lost Granada and Alhambra to the Christians during the crusades in 1492. Too bad for them, because this place is really awesome. It has very similar architecture to the Alcazar in Seville, also a Moorish built palace.
















I met a few people at the hostel, a guy from Italy who made the best quiche I have tasted, on a hot burner! I met a couple from France who were about my age. They were very hippish and had dreds and a musk to them, and were very nice people.....Wendy and Frenchfry. I couldnt pronounce his name so he said it was fine if I called him that. Matilda, another french hippie also joined us. We walked around the city and talked about America, Italy, and France and all thier differences. Wendy told me that French people only seem rude to outsiders because tourists forget to say "hi" before they start demanding directions or food. The Italian said that he didnt like Italy as much because the natives arent nice and outgoing.



All of the hippies that I met were traveling around Spain, other areas in Europe and Africa. They had one bag each, a blanket, and a tent. They said that they bathe in rivers and lakes and they sleep in thier tents most of the time. They said that this hostel was thier home for a comfy bed and a chance to wash thier clothes. They also said that they stay in camps that give them a place to stay and food in exchange for work. Wendy said that she made the weaving for chairs at one, and Frenchfry made the framing for the chair or worked in the gardens. They said that they would stay at these camps for months at a time. Free as the wind. It was a fun trip.

Below is a picture of the main cathedral. It seems to be hidden in the maze of streets and buildings around, but when you finally get to the area where it is located, you will definetly know it is there. I had to cringe my neck to see the top of it. It was outside of the catedral that I began to like flamenco music, there were two guitarists sitting outside the cathedral steps playing a Paco de Lucia song, and they made it look easy and smooth, and sound awesome. I tried to immulate, and  found that the flamenco guitar is super hard to play.




To let you know that I was there: (I thought it would super cool to drink my Alhambra beer with the Alhambra in the background).





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