A bus. New besties. And Granada.

Yesterday (at the CRACK OF DAWN) we left beautiful Barcelona for Andalucia, or the south of Spain. The bus ride wasn't so bad, except for the what-seemed-like millions of stops...apparently it's some national law that drivers can't drive over a certain amount of time. This led to many awkward Spanish rest stop discoveries...and to the forging of new friendships...we welcome to the group, Shannon! She's a year-long BCA Barca student and our new favorite person.
So as we're driving to Granada, amidst the hysterical laughter at the results of the "movie game" or me and Macie's rousing chorus of "I'll Make Love to You", we look out the window...and it's basically a blizzard. Good way to start off Granada.
Luckily, it wasn't that cold today, as we got up early to visit the neighborhood that is situated around the famous Alhambra. It's called the Albaicín, and it is one of the most beautiful places I've seen yet...

The entire area was made up of these lovely white-washed houses with wrought iron balconies and flowerpots full of geraniums. We wandered the twisty calles (streets) with our art history professor, Gustavo, mentioned in an earlier post...Shannon has brought to our attention that the man not only looks like a Castro, but could also potentially be Tevye from Fiddler.

This is Gustavo either explaining Arab-influenced art...or asking God why he's not a biddy-biddy rich...

So we finally got our first glimpses of the Alhambra...this beautiful palace that shows off the Arab-influence that existed in Granada. We were able to see it from the Albaicín, surrounded by the mountains that envelop the city of Granada.

Morning haze over the Alhambra.

So after a lovely lunch of manchego bocadillos and café con leche, we got a tour of the Alhambra. The architecture was gorgeous, and the grounds of the palace afforded the most INCREDIBLE views of Granada. Here's a few shots from the tour...

The reflection is amazing...

Granada is GORGEOUS

Me, Shannon and Amanda enjoying one of the gardens.

So after getting lost with Shannon after our tour (oops) and a little rest at the hotel...Macie, Amanda, Shannon, Alana, Sonia and I left for dinner at a restaurant called RAFA. I was in love. With a couple of pitchers of sangria, we laughed our way through dinner, and are now all thoroughly exhausted and ready to sleep on the bus tomorrow when we drive to Sevilla!
Hasta luego, and l'chaim!