Mediterranean Travels: La Alhambra and Granada

After Cartegena we headed south in the bus to Granada. Granada was a fun town—we didn’t get to explore much ourselves and it was super cold, but the views of huge snow-covered mountains overlooking the city were amazing. We spent most of the day exploring two places—La Alhambra and the historic Arab neighborhood called Albaycin. La Alhambra was really amazing—a Muslim mosque and palace constructed on a hill overlooking Granada, which were later used by Christians as a church. Yet all the Arabic decorations remain on the wall. There are palaces and rooms with huge and intricately decorated ceilings and walls, connected by gorgeous gardens and winding paths. The Generalife is one of those special palaces—with fountains and gardens and ceilings that would blow your mind. For lunch we ventured up to the neighboring hill and wandered through the winding cobblestone streets of Albaycin until we found the main Mosque—overlooking the hill with La Alhambra and the Generalife, with the entire city of Granada spread below and the snowy mountains overlooking from above. Lunch was at a Middle Eastern restaurant—an epic meal of mint tea, lentil soup, and chicken coos-coos.