Granada, Spain

We arrived by train in Granada, Spain on the late afternoon of July 20. We were so tired from the train and traveling that we spent most of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel, and later went out for a nice dinner.
The following day we woke up nice and early to go explore the Alhambra, a large palace complex built in the 13th century by the Moorish rulers of that period.  Its central palace is ornately decorated with finely crafted details using simple available construction materials like wood and clay.  The palace is amazingly well preserved considering it´s age, and that it endured an attack by Napoleon´s troops.
It was interesting to walk through the extremely large complex because you can see that through the centuries, different rulers built their own houses and buildings within the complex, thus creating varied architectural styles. But for the most part it was done in Moorish architecture (Islamic architecture), which was a big change from the Roman architecture I had been used to seeing! I really enjoyed it. There was so much detail in every piece of work. We learned that the Alhambra was built to resemble paradise on earth.
Here are some photos from the Alhambra:
  Everything was so beautiful and peaceful looking! Look at the detail of the wall carvings:
We had a great time exploring the Alhambra!
When Chad arrived he told me he was worried that during our 2 weeks together we would have a few days of rain and I laughed and said ¨no, no, no… it never rains in Spain!! Spain never has bad weather!!¨ Of course he thought I was crazy and didn´t stop making fun of me for the whole trip. But really, from my limited experience in Spain (my 2 months living in Barcelona), it hardly ever rains in Spain in the summer and it seems to me that the weather is always beautiful! (Beautiful being of course: extremely sunny and above 40 degrees Celsius every day). So, when we had a full 5 minutes of rain during our visit to Alhambra, I got told by Chad how wrong my bold weather statements were about Spain. But I still hold my belief that Spain has incredible weather, and 5 minutes of very refreshing rain does not make bad weather!
After our visit to Alhambra, I stayed at the hotel and Chad ventured out to find a grocery store. He returned with some snacks and beer. At the grocery store, Chad was faced with a wide selection of beer, all of different brands and types. He saw this very mysterious looking can of beer called ¨Sin¨ and was intrigued. He bought a 6-pack for us. When he returned to the room he opened one of the beers and when it tasted a little different, he asked me what ¨sin¨ meant in Spanish. The word ¨sin¨ means ¨without¨, and immediately Chad realized that he had bought us a 6-pack of non-alcoholic beer. We had a good laugh and drank some wine instead.
All in all, it was a short, but really good visit in Granada.