Bienvenidos otra vez! So far we're up to Sunday, April 8th on my 2 week adventures! Let's finish this trip up!
We left Arrecife on Sunday evening, and we sailed that night and the
following day, Monday. On Tuesday, April 10th, we arrived back into mainland, Spain to our last and final port
city, Málaga. Málaga is located in southern Spain on the coast of the
Mediterranean. But instead of staying in Málaga that day, we drove to
Granada and visited the Alhambra and the Generalife gardens. Here's a fun fact: more people visit the Alhambra every year than any other tourist destination in Spain, including the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona!
The drive between Málaga and Granada was incredible – we drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains and the
whole countryside was dotted with olive groves.
We arrived into Granada after about an hour and 40 minute drive through the mountains, and we began our tour of the Generalife gardens. This is a photo of the Alhambra from the gardens. You can see the old fortress walls, as well as the majority of the buildings.
We spent all day touring
the Arabic palaces (Alhambra) and the gardens (Generalife) that were built in the years around 1000AD. Here's a little brief history lesson of the influence the Arabic culture had on Spain: The moors
invaded southern Spain in the year 711AD, and they stayed in Spain until the
Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabella, kicked them out, with the war ending
in 1492 with the conquest of Granada. The photo to the right is a picture of a patio in the Generalife gardens, on the top most level. Water was a very vital symbol to the Moorish people, and because of that, they had fountains on all levels of the gardens that were interconnected. The Koran also prohibited the use of animals or human decorations, so they used a lot of vegetation, Arabic writings, and tilings to decorate the palace. 
The majesty of these buildings lies
in the age and detail of the artwork. It’s true that it’s not an
impressive building size wise (there’s no comparison between the Alhambra and
the Sagrada Familia) but the design and artwork that went into making this such
an influential Arabic palace is obvious. The details on the walls, which
include a lot of Arabic writings, and geometric shapes, are
unrivaled by anything I’ve seen. Of course, since it was built it has been
restored several times, but the age of the buildings themselves is quite
impressive.
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| One of the facades in the Alhambra palace |
After spending about 2 hours for free time in the city (we got some delicious pasta for lunch) we hopped back on our tour bus and headed back to Málaga that evening, and got there in time
before our cruise set sail to return to Barcelona.
We sailed the next
day, Wednesday, April 11th, and arrived back into Barcelona on the 12th.
After spending the day in Barcelona, we left for Madrid that afternoon on
another train. Once we got into Madrid, we headed to our hotel (it was
close to the airport) and stayed there until the next morning. On Friday the 13th of April, my parents and
I packed up our stuff, and headed to the airport really early! I was to catch a bus to
San Sebastian at 7:45am, in northern Spain, and they were to fly out back to the states around 10am. It had been a wonderful 2 weeks with them, and I’m so happy I was
able to show them the country that has captured my heart once again.
(Don’t worry mom and dad, I’m not moving here..). We parted ways at the
airport (my bus from Terminal 4, and their flight from Terminal 1).
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| Thank you guys for spending 2 wonderful weeks with me in Spain! :) I loved every minute of it! |
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| The city of San Sebastian from Mount Orgull |
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| The small old fortress on top of the Mountain I found! |
And now, I had one more weekend planned in San Sebastian with my ever faithful travel buddy, Sarah Vowels. From the airport, I hopped on my
bus to San Sebastian. I was planning on arriving there Friday afternoon,
and staying until Sunday night (April 13-15). I was going to get home Monday morning, pretty early. I arrived Friday afternoon,
and it was pouring. Good thing I had brought my umbrella! I walked
to my hostel, and to my dismay, it was the worst hostel I have ever stayed
in. It was terrible. I don’t even want to waste my time telling you
all about it...but from here on out, I have learned to spend the extra 5 or 6 euros for a private room, rather than staying in a "dorm room" type hostel. I left the
hostel and headed out to see the city, but there wasn’t much to do since it was
still raining. I climbed the mountain near the city (more like a steep hill) to get some great views of the city. I walked around and eventually ran to the grocery store
and grabbed some Jamón flavored chips for dinner. I slept in the hostel
Friday night (on top of the bed…) and met Sarah, my friend when her train got
in Saturday at 1pm. Honestly, the first thing I did when I woke up
Saturday morning was check what times the trains were leaving Sunday to change
my ticket to an earlier time. Sarah was okay with changing tickets too,
so we took care of that while we were there. We checked her into the
hostel, and we headed out to see the city.
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| The city lies on a river, with about 6 different bridges! |
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| This is a picture of the city with the Basque flag. |
We explored around for a
while, but we shortly ran out of things to do. So, we decided to go to a
movie. We bought tickets for an 8:15pm showing of Todos los dias de mi
vida (The Vow). We explored some delicious tasting tapas that night
before the movie (probably the highlight of this last weekend).
After the movie we went to bed. We left at 9am Sunday April 15th,
because quite frankly after two weeks of travelling, we were both just ready to
go back to Valladolid.
So..that concludes my 2 week
spring break traveling with my parents to the Canary Islands! I hope you
enjoyed reading about it, because it was a phenomenal part of my
semester! I’m so thrilled to have my parents to share in the beauty of traveling and learning about a new culture. <3 Thank you guys
for coming to Spain! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
I hope you all enjoyed reading my entries from my 2 week spring break! I know I sure enjoyed traveling around Spain and taking the 2 weeks off of school! It was definitely a welcomed break!
Stay tuned for some more adventures before the semester comes to a close!
besos y abrazos,
Erin
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