Weekend in Granada

Well, folks, another week has flown by here in Spain. I honestly can't believe that week 6 is starting tomorrow! I've been pretty busy now that the semester is in full swing. As predicted, Don Quijote has been taking up the majority of my time, but I managed to do a few other things with my week ;) Here are the highlights!

1) Extending my Visa

Before coming to Spain, I received a visa for 90 days. However, as a yearlong student, I have to apply to extend my visa in order to stay until June. This past Tuesday, I had my appointment with the Spanish government to process all the necessary paperwork and whatnot. The department of foreign affairs is located in La Plaza de España, my absolute favorite building in Sevilla. We visited this impressive building on my first day here, and I immediately fell in love with it.

La Plaza de España

While this building is fun to walk around as a tourist, it was quite intimidating to have to come here for official business. However, everything went smoothly; my paperwork got processed, I got fingerprinted, and I will be able to pick up my yearlong visa in a month!

2) Olive Oil Tasting

This week in my Spanish Culture and Cuisine class, we learned all about Spanish olive oil, which was incredibly interesting and delicious. Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean, and people have been harvesting them for centuries. There are about 10 different types of olive trees that grow in Spain, each one producing a distinct type of olive. We tried olive oils from 3 different regions in Spain: Alicante (northern spain), Jaen (southeastern spain), and Sevilla.

olive trees grow all over Spain!

My professor poured each oil into a separate cup. Before we tasted it with bread, we had to sip the olive oil and drink it plain. I was a little bit grossed out by this idea, because I've only ever had olive oil when mixed with other foods or with bread. While the taste was a bit strange, it was not terrible, and I found out that it makes a big difference when you are taste testing. Trying the olive oils by themselves, I was able to pick up different tastes that were completely masked when eating them with bread! My professor has made me kind of olive oil crazy, and I want to go around and try more types of olive oils while I'm here!!

3) Weekend in Granada

La Alhambra

Obviously the highlight of my week, my two days in the city of Granada were absolutely fabulous. Granada is about three hours east of Sevilla by bus, and is located at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was definitely nice to be in a more mountainous area, because it was slightly cooler, and I had been craving some fall weather! 

Upon arriving on Saturday afternoon, we headed to La Alhambra, the most iconic site in Granada, and possibly all of southern Spain. The Alhambra was a fortress of the Nazari Empire, the last Muslim empire in all of Spain. The architecture here is absolutely stunning. Every room or courtyard we walked into was decorated using primarily tiles, wood, or stucco, but each had a very unique, ornate design. 

Perhaps the most well known room in La Alhambra is El Patio de los Leones (Courtyard of Lions), the main patio of the Nazari dynasty. This courtyard is extremely beautiful. In the center is a fountain with 12 lions, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Gardens at La Alhambra

The gardens of the Alhambra are extraordinary as well. One could easily spend hours meandering through them. We spent only 3 hours at La Alhambra, and I desperately want to return in order to have more time to tour!! 

After visiting the Alhambra on Saturday, we had free time to tour around the city to sightsee and have dinner. One of the things Granada is most famous for is its tea, so on Saturday night, a few friends and I went to a tetería, or a tea shop and tasted chai, vanilla, and a typical spanish black tea, all of which were delicious!! If you are ever in Granada, I highly recommend going to a tea tasting.

Typical tea pot and cup in Granada

On Sunday we got up early and went and walked around El Albaicín, the historic neighborhood in Granada. The highlight of this tour was going into one of the chapels in the Granada Cathedral to see where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Spain were buried. In the US, Ferdinand and Isabel are most famous for being the ones who funded Christopher Columbus' trip to Spain. Here they are most famous for their role in La Reconquista, or the Catholic Reconquest of Spain. It was Ferdinand and Isabel who defeated the Nazari empire in Granada in 1492 (coincidentally the same year Columbus set sail!)

Catedral de Granada

After our tour of the Cathedral, we had a little free time to ourselves, and then we returned to Sevilla post lunch. My two days in Granada went by so fast. If possible I would love to return and explore this city more. If you are ever in southern Spain, Granada is a must!!!