It seems my time in Granada is dwindling. The weeks have been flying by and the next few are booked of fun things to make the most of my time here. It has been a long time since I have seen my family, so just in time for a little homesickness to kick in, my sister Sarah and her boyfriend, Chris, came to visit: the perfect cure! Naturally, I wanted to show off my new-found home and I had a few things planned out for them. One of which was the huge monument in Granada, the Alhambra. Since Muslims had a huge influence on the culture, art and architecture in Southern Spain, it seemed fitting to show them the Muslim palace that sits on the hill across from my school. I had not gone inside yet, so I was especially excited to see the amazing-ness that I have heard about inside this beautiful palace. First we went to the gardens of the palace, called the Generalife. They have beautiful courtyards and grew many vegetables and fruits for their own consumption. Next, we moved on to the Nasrid palace, which is the real beauty in the whole complex. The intricacies of the stone work and wood ceilings are breathtaking.
Beautiful courtyard, too bad it was raining!
Stone and wood carvings.
The Arabic writing on the walls.
An amazing ceiling.
Sorry for the construction!
Besides the Alhambra, we did a lot of amazing things together. Many things that I haven't done yet. We climbed to a look-out called San Miguel that had an amazing view of the city, while also seeing the old city wall that used to protect Granada. We also went to another area called the Sacromente, where there was an old Jewish religious building. The building was mostly abandoned, but once again, it had amazing views, so we sat and ate some fruit and then walked around the Albayzin (the "old city"). It is beautiful in that area. Many of the houses have white walls, red-ish roofs and beautiful terraces. When I thought of Spain before I arrived, I thought of houses and neighborhoods such as this. I'm glad I was able to explore more and see different things while I was with my sister.
Beautiful landscape.
Sun shining through the clouds.
San Miguel look-out.
Sacromente.
Weirdos at San Miguel look out.
The rest of the time, I showed them around different neighborhoods and fed them the local foods. They loved the concept of tapas! I'm really glad that my sister got to see the city that I quickly fell in love with. It was good to have a close friend/sister experience things with me while abroad.
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