This weekend we went to Granada with ISA. The trip was long, but gorgeous. Driving through the mountains.
On the way there we watched a pretty good movie, “Juana La Loca”, a movie about the Reyes Catolicos’ daughter… The Spanish are obsessed with the Catholic Kings… naturally. So there was Ferdinand and Isabell, they had four children. Isabel, Juan, Juana, and Catalina (who went to England and then didn’t bear any sons, Boleyn sisters… bam. Church of England.) So Juana marries Philippe the beautiful. They’re happy at first… then he decides to start messing around with her handmaids… Juana’s brother and mother die, at the same time she finds out that her husband is cheating on her. She goes crazy. Really crazy. In the end Juana is the rightful heir to the throne of Spain… Philippe is from Catalan I believe. They unite kingdoms… Juana’s crazy still. And the whole country knows it… then Philippe continues to mess around. Turns out he has syphilis and then dies. Juana gets crazier yet. Then she spends the rest of her life visiting his corpse. Kisses it? No bigs.
Very interesting movie. Not going to lie. I might find it on Amazon or Ebay when I get back to the states…. Haha.
So we got to Granada then. We stayed in the best hotel ever. 4 stars. Bangin breakfast. Attractive men working at the desk to answer our every question. It was some good times.
We wandered around Granada a bit. We went to the crypt where Ferdinand, Isabell, Juana the crazy and Philipe the beautiful are laying. Saw their caskets… they were some tiny people back in those days. Kind of weird that I was that close to like over 500 year old bodies… but cool. They had all of the clothes, crowns, jewelry, swords of Ferdinand and Isabell too. Super guay!
Then we got some gelato and then went back to the amazing hotel.
We reunited in the lobby with everyone from our ISA program and the peeps from Sevilla were there too. They seemed nice. Chatted a bit. Told them about Fallas. They asked if we were going to travel during Fallas. We responded. “No, it’s only the biggest party in Europe. 3rd biggest in the world… nbd. We’re going to watch the city burn itself to the ground. Palabra.”
So we climbed up to the top of the city, took some pics of the Alhambra. Pretty. From there we went to this cave and watched some flamenco. Also super guay! And muy divertido!
Then we went to a couple of bars. Had some sangria and a beer. (Each time you order an alcoholic beverage in Granada they give you free food.) We got some French fries, pasta and mini ham sandwiches. Pretty guay. No voy a mentir.
Then we went back to the awesome hotel. I took a long shower. It was lovely.
The next day we went to La Alhambra. It was gorgeous. There really aren’t words to describe it. Apparently it is said to be like heaven on Earth… I could see that. I imagine it would be even more heavenly in the summer when all the roses are blooming…( Next trip. )
Then I spent the afternoon shopping. Eve and I went to the “secret” Moroccan market. Bought some good stuff.
Then I met up with Jenielle and Emily. We bought gladiator sandals. I can’t wait to bust those out…. : )
From there we went to a chocolatería. Had some chocolate con churros. Deliciousness. And then we decided to get some ‘real food’ i.e. bread and cheese from Mercadona. I also sprung for the cookies with chocolate in the middle…
We spent the rest of the night chilling in the hotel. It was nice. I took another long shower. I am assuming that was my last long hot shower I will get until I am back in the U.S.---so I definitely made the most of it. Haha.
On Sunday Anne and I woke up early for breakfast. (I miss eggs for breakfast. And cereal… Well just breakfast in general. We don’t eat more than a piece of toast in the morning here, which kills me. If I could, and I do many times at home, eat breakfast food for every meal.) So this hotel had breakfast close to what we had in Madrid. Scrambled eggs. Bacon. Ham. Different kinds of cheese. Croissants and other pastries. Yogurt. Cereal. Rice pudding. Fresh fruit. Ya….. we didn’t need lunch either day.
Then we watched some TV. First I turned on a movie with Renee Zellweger, Bradley Cooper and a creepy child. I think the child’s voice had to have been creepier in Spanish than English…Anne got freaked out when Bradley Cooper died by swarm of flies. So… I turned it off. Then we watched some Scooby Doo, some top 40 before settling on an Animal Planetish show about various animals and their babies in the wild.
Started with penguins. Dads taking care of the eggs, sometimes the mom doesn’t get back in time. It’s sad.
Then lizards giving birth. The babies are on the own after like 2 seconds out of the womb. ‘Learn to grab onto the tree. K bye. I’m gonna split.’
From that it was various chimps. Monkeys. I had a moment where I wanted to really watch ‘Planet of the Apes”… haha.
Then it was seals. Ya, the babies are black, and when the moms go hunting the babies often die from the heat. Or the wolves prey upon them, and the other mom seals watch and don’t do anything. Putas.
On to deer and waterbuffalo. Cute little buggers. Have to learn to walk soon, or mom leaves you to die on the ground….
Then lions. Lion King is like right on. Moms band together. There can only be one dad. If you’re not his kid, watch out, he will kill you.
Hmmm, then it was lemurs. (LOVE them.) But this one left her weak baby to die… it was crying. Quite sad.
Then they went onto rats. I turned it off for a minute. Baby rats are gross. (I turned back on Renee Zellweger/Bradley Cooper/creepy child movie. Anne freaked out again… )
Then Elephants. If I were an animal out in the wild, and a mom, I think I’d want to be an elephant. All the moms get together to help the baby stand up. Put all their trunks together. They’re not putas like the seals… letting the babies that aren’t their own be left behind. Or watch them get killed. So yes, elephants are pretty guay.
It was a fascinating program. We haven’t watched like any TV while we’ve been here… so sorry for the play by play of the program, but it was good.
The last 20 min in our beloved hotel room were spent watching only one of my favorite shows… Storm Chasers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We didn’t have enough time to watch them actually catch the tornado though… kind of sad. But I’ve seen every episode in English, so it was all good. We had to check out.
The bus ride back was long. But beautiful. Lots of mountains. Granada was definitely at a higher altitude. My shampoo bottle spat in my face when I opened it… like when you’re been on a flight. Interesante.
We watched a French movie in Spanish on the way back. “Amelie.” It was cute. Set in Paris. Saw a TON of things that we saw in person only a week before. It was fun. And I miss that beautiful city. No lies.
It was nice to get back though. Valencia is most definitely home. And once again they greeted us with explosives.
Granada was pretty, but small. Not a whole lot to do there… So herein lies my fear of returning to the U.S. To Mosinee, WI. To Decorah, IA. If I thought Granada was slightly boring and small, what’s life going to be like when I return? That thought kind of freaks me out right now….
Anyways, it is officially Fallas week. The city is crazy. Today they put up all the Fallas.
We went to the Mascleta, and then walked through the streets. Then we went to a bullfight. It was interesting. We saw 6 different bulls.
First there are these guys with pink cloths waving them around. There are probs six of them total. Their job is to tire the bull out a bit.
Then two guys with big long sticks with sharp things come out on horses. They stab the bull in the neck. Throughout the whole ordeal, I had the most fear for the horse. They have no say in anything. They are blindfolded…and the bull comes and attacks them… not cool.
After that, three guys come out with two white things. No protection whatsoever. They just have to run really fast. We almost saw a guy get clipped by the bull one time. I enjoyed it. He ran behind the boards for protection.
Then when all the white things are in the matador comes out. These guys have to be pretty cocky, or else they suck, and then they and the bull suffer. We saw one guy who failed at killing the bull. It was like a 10 min ordeal after he stabbed it with the sword. It was horrible.
We also saw a matador that killed it perfectly. 2 seconds after he stabbed it, the bull dropped to the ground. It was well done, and he was the cockiest out of all of them. Go figure.
When the matador does a good job, the crowd waves white handkerchiefs to say ‘good job.’
Then bigger draft horses come out. They hook the bull up to the horses. Drag him around the ring and then out.
It was an interesting experience. When the matatdor did a good job, and the bull didn’t suffer, I really enjoyed it. But when it took forever, and they still failed to kill him, then it was hard to watch. But I liked the cultural experience of it all. I learned a lot.
Julieta split after like the second bull. She didn’t like it.
But Jenielle, Emily and I stayed til the end. Then we walked down Grand Via. Looked the book fair. I’m probs going to buy some books in the near future. I haven’t had my Barnes & Noble fix in forever though, and it’s kind of similar to that. Haha.
I came home. Had some dinner. (Ricardito kept holding Ricardo’s beer tonight at dinner. Apparently he held onto a firecracker a bit too long today… That’s what happens when you let six year olds play with firecrackers all day. ) It’s all over in the streets though.
Then I met up with the gang. We got some chocolate con churros and then watched the fireworks by the river.
I don’t know when I’m going to sleep this week… prolly all day Saturday.
There are firecrackers and other explosives going off 24/7. It’s the background noise to my life now. Besides ‘Bad Romance’ being played in the courtyard down below. We have a Falla in our neighborhood… I don’t know if I’m happy or annoyed with that fact right now...
Pues, !hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment