Granada, España

I made it! Last Sunday I landed in Madrid, and after a 5 hour bus ride, arrived at my home for 2 weeks- Granada. I´m taking one on one Spanish three hours per day and learning a lot! Granada is beautiful....and everything is so cheap! For a glass of wine, chips, olives, and your choice of rather large tapa, pay only 2 eeuros, less than $3. Really nice bottles of wine are about $10 at the grocery store and I bought a dress for only $12!

 

out for tapas with my classmates from Holland 

 

There is a lot of history here in Granada; it was the last place the Moors lived before finally being conquered by Queen Isabel and King Fernando. The Moors built their palace here and it still stands- the Alhambra. My mom arrives today for 10 days so we will visit it last this week. Yesterday I went on a field trip with my language school to Alpuharras- little pueblos high in the Sierra Nevada. We got a tour of a pork curing  factory enjoyed some authentic paella, and hiked up to an old castle! 

                                  Alpuharras- nestled in the Sierra Nevadas, it is the highest city in Spain

                                                                        pork curing!

                                                           Hiking to the Castle (el castillo)

                             atop El Castillo with the Sierra Nevadas in the background

 I was a little jet legged this week but I promise I will post more next week!

The next adventure

One week from today I will be on an all night flight to Spain! My first two weeks will be spent taking one on one Spanish lessons in Granada, then my mom is coming to visit! We are planning on checking out Morocco. After she leaves, I'll be spending about a month hiking the 800k on the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. It's a Catholic pilgrimage; the movie The Way is about it, so watch it and see what I'll be doing! After that, my cousin Paige is meeting me in Pamplona for Running of the Bulls. August my best friend Kelsey (she visited me on the AT too!) will be meeting me in Italy for a week with our sorority sister Jessie. Those are the only things I have planned, the rest will be going with the flow!

I'm currently home in Machias, first time in 6 months. I left St John May 2, and flew to Tucson to meet my Dad who was there for a conference. After a few days of hiking and eating Chipotle (my favorite!), we took the train to New Orleans (luckily we scored a sleeper car!). It was my first time in NOLA and the jazz music was fabulous as was the food- oysters, gumbo, beignets! Then it was back on the train and north to Maine! My island blood isn't used to the chilliness up here!


                                                                     Bourbon Street