Exploring Granada

October 4th

To continue our  seemingly endless plethora of parties, today the city of Granada was hosting a welcome event for all of the foreign exchange students.  It had started at 11:30am but Nathalie didn't leave our apartment to go try and find it until 1:30pm.  I had thought it was in Plaza Nueva, the large central plaza between the Alhambra, Albayzín, and Ayuntamiento (town hall), but when Nathalie and I walked through the plaza we found nothing going on.  We assumed that we were too late, but as it turned out we had gone to the wrong the plaza.  Nathalie and I decided to walk toward the Alhambra.  She hadn't seen the gardens of "Carmen de los Mártires" so we took the path to the right after passing through the ancient arch.  

As I've written about them before, I really love the gardens of "Carmen de los Mártires."  Sculptures and fountains are everywhere while wild peacocks roam the grounds.  Nathalie and I walked along the many paths and then headed back down the hill toward the center of the city. 

Down in the center, I met up with my friend Jolene who I had visited in Córdoba.  She was here in Granada with her UC program and had the afternoon free.  I showed her my apartment and she stayed for lunch.

That afternoon I kept exploring and ended up in the Plaza de Toros area where I hung out with some of the students from my program.  Plaza de Toros has a large coliseum where bull fights and other sporting events are held.  The majority of students from my program live in that area which is a mile or two east of the city center.  The best tapas restaurant that I have yet found is in the Plaza de Toros.  "El Nido de Buho," serves large, delicious tapas and olives with every drink.  Its the best food for a middle price (tapas generally range between 1 and 2 euros).

While having tapas at El Nido,  I spoke with the other Californians who I was with and we decided to make reservations for the Arab Baths.  We called and made reservations for Monday (we had a four day weekend due to a school holiday).

That night we had a party at our piso, as Antonio's best friends from Almería had come to visit him for the day.  I had a lot of opportunities to practice my Spanish as the majority of those people invited were Spaniards.