Granada y La Alhambra

Where to begin? This weekend was definitely my favorite in Spain thus far. A group of 13 of us decided pretty last minute to go to Granada for the weekend. It's a 5 hour bus ride away, not too bad, and La Alhambra is one of the must-see attractions in Spain. Granada is located in Andalusia in the south of Spain where there is a lot of Muslim influence dating back centuries. La Alhambra is the Muslim palace/fortress that overlooks the entire city of Granada.

A group of us caught the bus from Madrid on Friday night and got into Granada around midnight. We checked into our hostel, El Granado, which was very nice and clean. The receptionist was so nice despite us getting in so late! We dropped our stuff off in the rooms and decided to go out for a little. We grabbed some food on the street and found a nice bar to hang out at. We made friends with the bartenders and had a nice, low-key night. Saturday morning we woke up decently early to walk around the Muslim part of town. It was all uphill since it's partially built into the mountains, but the view we had at the top was phenomenal.
You could see the back of the Alhambra. Afterwards, we grabbed lunch and booked it to get to the entrance of the Alhambra by 2 - our ticket time. We had to sprint up a giant hill and we just made it. We took our time walking around up to the palace and apparently we missed the entrance time and had to walk all the way back to the entrance and buy a new ticket. It was pretty frustrating but once we got into the palace, it was worth it. The view was incredible. You could see the entire city and the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was so amazing.
Afterwards, we found a little Arabic tea shop and we got the best tea I've ever had and crepes! So delicious, and it felt great to see down for a while.
Saturday night, a group of us went to a tapas bar which Granada is famous for. Whenever you order a drink, they automatically bring you a tapa. Great system. Then we went up to the rooftop terrace of the other group's hostel and just relaxed for a while. Once it got late enough, we went to a big discoteca. It was a lot of fun!

Sunday morning we woke up and went to Mass at the Cathedral at 12. It was beautiful and the cathedral is enormous! After, we went to see the Reyes Catolicos (Catholic Kings) that are buried in the Cathedral. We got to see the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabel, as well as Felipe II and Juana. Incredible. Next, we walked to Sacremonte, another part of town where the gypsies live. Every year on the feast of San Cecilio they have a festival. There was lots of food and drinks and dancers! We couldn't stay too long but it was great to see. Overall, it was an amazing weekend and I couldn't be happier that I decided to go!