I have been to Granada twice now and it never fails to amaze me. The main attraction is the Alhambra, which is a huge castle that was built in the 13th century. It stands on a giant hill and the castle is so big that there was once an entire city inside of it. What is even more amazing is how in tact all of it remains. When I walked through it I could see that it was still filled with life. In fact there was so much that remains that I felt a bit overwhelmed by everything. The gardens are still maintained, all of the walls are perfectly standing and have all of their original detail, and there are running fountains which function by gravity and the slope of the mountain. My favorite part about the Alhambra, however, was when we climbed the mountain across from Alhambra. The walk seemed like a lot of work until I got to the top and saw how magnificent the view was. At the top there is a perfect view of the Alhambra as well as the rest of the city. From the view on the other side the whole scene looks like it is taken directly out of a fairytale because it is so incredible.
Although the Alhambra is the main attraction I also really enjoyed the city itself. I found the town center had a lot of life and many friendly people. The second night we were there, there was a small concert going on in the middle of the town. Everyone was dancing including children, teenagers, young adults, older adults, and even senior citizens. Anyone who wanted was able to join in or just stand to the side and listen to the music. It was a great community event and really gave me a feeling for what the city is like; a very relaxed, happy, and community oriented ambiance.
Another part I loved about the trip was all of the beach escapades. We went to two beaches during this trip. One was just outside of Granada and the other one was in Malaga. The beach outside of Granada is called Salobreña. I have never seen a beach like this before. Instead of sand it has stones, very round palm sized stones in white and grey. When I first got there I was really shocked by this fact. Although the stones were not the most comfortable it was such an interesting location that it didn’t matter. Some of the students even made a stone castle instead of a sand castle. It was not your average fine sand beach, but this is what made it such a fascinating location.
I continued to learn and see much more when we went to Malaga. Our first activity was a tour of the city as well as a tour of the Picasso Museum. Seeing the original Picasso work was amazing. All of the paintings that I had seen so many times on postcards and puzzles and mugs and much more were all in their original frames in this museum. His artwork ranges from small black and white sketches to magnificent and very large colorful paintings. The museum has pieces that I would not have expected to be from Picasso and the tour guide was wonderful at explaining everything and anything that we did not understand.
The last stop in our adventures to Granada and Malaga was to the beach in Malaga. The beach itself appears to stretch on for miles. Even though it is a very popular vacation spot we all had plenty of space and it was very relaxing and enjoyable. Overall, the entire trip was a perfect combination between educational and cultural stimulating activities and fun and relaxing activities.
